Parshah Summary – P’sha
The parshah opens in the Sinai Desert encampment, with the Children of Israel receiving instructions to conduct a census of men suitable for battle from the twelve tribes, between 20 to 60 years of age. The tribe of Levi is excluded, but included are the two sons of Yosef, keeping the number of tribes twelve. The tribe of Levi, who is to serve as the spiritual leadership, is counted separately. These Levi’im (Levites) are given responsibility for the Mishkan (Sanctuary), and all of its vessels and sacrificial equipment.
Whenever the Children of Israel would break down the camp to travel, the three Levite clans would dismantle and transport the Mishkan, and then reassemble it at the center of the next encampment. They then erected their own tents around it. The Kohathites, who carried the Sanctuary’s ritual objects (such as the Ark and menorah) on their shoulders, camped to its south; the Gershonites, in charge of its tapestries and roof coverings, to its west; and the families of Merari, who transported its wall panels and pillars, to its north. Before the Sanctuary’s entranceway, to its east, were the tents of Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons, who served as the kohanim, the priests. Beyond the Levite circle, the twelve tribes camped in four groups of three tribes each. To the east were Yehudah, Yissakhar, and Zevulun; to the south, Reuvein, Shimon and Gad; to the west, Ephraim, Manasheh, and Binyamin; and to the north, Dan, Asher and Naphtali. This formation was kept also while traveling. Each tribe had its own nassi (prince or leader), and its own flag with its tribal color and emblem.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיְדַבֵּ֨ר יְהֹ–וָ֧ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֛ה בְּמִדְבַּ֥ר סִינַ֖י בְּאֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֑ד בְּאֶחָד֩ לַחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִ֜י בַּשָּׁנָ֣ה הַשֵּׁנִ֗ית לְצֵאתָ֛ם מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם לֵאמֹֽר׃ שְׂא֗וּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ֙ כׇּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמ֔וֹת כׇּל־זָכָ֖ר לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם׃ Hashem spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year from the Exodus from the land of Egypt, saying: “Lift the head (take a census) of the whole (battle ready) assembly of the Children of Israel according to their families, according to their ancestral houses, listing the names, every (battle ready) male, according to their count.” - BaMidbar (Numbers) 1:1,2; Parshat Bamidbar
Rabbi Naftali of Roptchtiz told the following incident: “During the siege of Sebastopol, Czar Nicholas was once riding along one of the walls when an enemy archer took aim at him. A Russian soldier who observed this from afar screamed and startled the emperor’s horse so that it swerved to the side and the arrow missed its target. The Czar wished to reward the soldier who had saved his life, and told him to ask for any favor he pleased. ‘Our sergeant is so brutal,’ the soldier faltered. ‘He is always beating me. If only I could serve under another sergeant!’ ‘Fool,’ cried Nicholas, ‘why don’t you ask to be a sergeant yourself?!’” Rabbi Naftali continued: “And so that is what we are like: we are concerned with the petty wants of the moment and lack awareness of our deeper need.”
How do we become aware our deeper need? On one hand, awareness of our true situation can be stifled by our mental conditioning. Like a chicken in a cage which fails to escape when the door is opened for it, our patterns of incessant thought can obscure the doorway to our inner freedom. This is the message of meditation: learn to still the mind, think less, and you will begin to see clearly. And yet, in more common circles of wisdom, we hear the message that we should think more, that we can understand more deeply if we contemplate our situation, thoroughly thinking it through. So which is it– think more or think less? שְׂא֗וּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ֙ – S’u et rosh – lift the head… This is an idiom for taking a census, which was instructed to prepare the Israelites for battle. But the deeper implication is that before going out to “do battle” with the challenges of life, we must “lift our head” – that is, elevate our perspective to see our situation as clearly as we can, which means transcending our thoughts and feelings. This is thinking less – the practice of meditation. From this elevated place, we can begin to act consciously and intentionally. How כָּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל – all the assembly of the Children of Israel… Yisrael means sarita El, “wrestling” or “striving for the Divine.” It is within the linguistic DNA of our collective identity to “assemble” our thoughts and actions according a higher intention. Meaning: if we want to get clarity on the right path to take, we need to clarify within ourselves: “What is my purpose in doing such-and-such? What am I trying to accomplish?” Without this self-inquiry, we may act out of conditioned impulses that we haven’t “thought through.” Self-inquiry cuts through that unconsciousness and brings us face to face with our power of decision. It doesn’t guarantee that we will succeed, but if we don’t question ourselves, we are almost certain to fail. Once we get clear on what motivates us, we might simply drop whatever we were considering if we find that our intention isn’t good. But, if the intention is good, then we can move onto the next question: לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם – by their families… “Family” consists of those close to us, those we for whom we are responsible and those who are responsible for us, reminding us to inquire: “How will this action affect others?” For example, when considering looking at the news or social media, our intention might be good – we want to be informed. But in asking ourselves how this could affect others, we might realize that, in a given moment, our concern with the horrors of world events could sabotage our ability to be present for our immediate responsibility toward those around us. This brings us to the final question: בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמ֔וֹת כָּל־זָכָ֖ר לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם – by the number of names, every male, head by head… Once we are able to “name” our both our intention behind a decision and what the likely effect of this decision will be, we have to “number” it – we must ask, “Is it worth it?” In other words, if our intention is good but the consequences may be dire, we need to ask which “counts” more; we need to evaluate and decide. Again, this is no guarantee that we will make the right choice, but if we don’t evaluate and decide, it is likely we will make the wrong choice. And if, after careful thinking the situation through, we do happen to make the wrong choice, this too has goodness to it, because we will learn from it. This two-part process of “lifting the head,” that is, the stripping away of thought through meditation, followed by the “numbering of names,” that is, careful evaluation of purpose and consequence, is represented in Kabbalah by the dual sefirot on the Tree of Life of Hokhmah, “Wisdom” – awareness, insight; and Binah, “Understanding” – that is, focused thinking. In this way, there is no contradiction in the advice to “think more” and the advice to “think less” – they are two parts of one process for awakening wisdom: the oscillation between relaxing the thinking mind in meditation, and the deep focusing of the thinking mind in contemplation.
Read past teachings on BaMidbar HERE
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