Bostoner Torah Insights: Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in Hebrew and English: Parshas Bamidbar (Shavuos) – 4-6 Sivan 5785
Bostoner Torah Insights - Yerushalayim
Bostoner Torah Insights
Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English
Parshas Bamidbar (Shavuos) – 4-6 Sivan 5785
Bostoner Rebbe shlit”a – Yerushalayim
Secretariat Email: bosto...@gmail.com
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When Klal Yisroel gathered on Rosh Chodesh Sivan before Matan Torah, the Torah states, “Yisroel encamped there opposite the mountain” (Shemos 19:2). Rashi cites the well-known Mechita explaining that the word ‘encamped’ is written in the singular form to emphasize the state of unity experienced during this encampment ‘like one man with one heart’.
This could be another reason why Shavuos is a one-day festival whereas the other ‘Sholosh Regalim’ festivals of Pesach and Succos are seven days long. Each year Hashem wishes Klal Yisroel to be unified on this single day that the Torah was given. Accordingly, there is an obligation on each of us to feel connected to Hashem and to each other on this day, just as we were at Har Sinai.
The Sfas Emes explains that even though Klal Yisroel did not enter Eretz Yisroel immediately after receiving the Torah, rather they remained in the desert for 40 years until the next generation was worthy to enter Eretz Yisroel, it was an opportunity for the nation to live in a supernatural existence, eating Maan inside the Aninei HaKavod as well as countless other miracles. It was with this ‘new normal’ that Klal Yisroel was to enter into Eretz Yisroel in order to raise the natural existence of Eretz Yisroel into something spiritual.
The Sfas Emes further explains that this is hinted at by the phrases in the Torah ‘The Great Hand’ (Shemos 14:31), ‘The Strong Hand’ (Shemos 13:9) and ‘The Uplifted Hand’ (Shemos 14:8), which all refer to the supernatural way that Hashem took us out of Egypt. The numerical value of the word Yad יד or ‘hand’ is 14, which multiplied by three is 42. These correlate to the 42 years of the Yovel cycle that Klal Yisroel worked the land and converted the natural into the supernatural through the agricultural Mitzvos.
The Pri Tzadik often refers to the three fundamental attributes of Olam (World), Shana (Time) and Nefesh (Man) and we likewise refer to these traits frequently in Bostoner Torah Insights.
The 50-day period beginning with Sefiras HaOmer and culminating in the festival of Shavuos is a period whereby we rectify Time. Likewise, the 50 day Yovel cycle and fulfilling the laws during the six years of working the land as well as the laws of every seventh year of Shmittah rectifies the World. Likewise, the average person is generally given seventy years in this world (and only in cases of vigor eighty years see Tehillim 90:10). Since for the first twenty years, one is exempt from Heavenly punishment, it is the remaining 50 years that one needs to perfect and rectify Man.
Just as the five Books of Torah recount the development of the nation of Klal Yisroel, they also correspond to the lifecycle of each Jew. Beraishis represents the newborn infant who is born and then cultivates faith and belief in Hashem from his ‘fathers’ and ‘mothers’ before even learning to talk and walk. Shemos is when a child is young and begins to develop a name for himself or herself and is no longer just another baby. Vayikra is when the child reaches the age of majority and begins reading from the Torah and doing Mitzvos until the age of marriage when the commitment of the young couple is codified in a marriage contract. Bamidbar represents the continuation of life after marriage with all of its encampments and challenges through a desert that one must procure and conserve sustenance for the longest part of the journey through life. Devarim represents the golden years of life where there is no strength but only words of wisdom and memories to share with the younger generation.
May it be His will that our challenges should be manageable and that we should be successful in all that we do to bring about a lasting peace with a love of Eretz Yisroel, love of Torah, love for Hashem as well as love for each other with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu speedily in our times.