Bostoner Torah Insights: Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in Hebrew and English: Parshas Bamidbar – 29 Iyar 5786
Bostoner Torah Insights - Yerushalayim
Bostoner Torah Insights
Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English
Parshas Bamidbar – 29 Iyar 5786
Bostoner Rebbe shlit’a – Yerushalayim
Secretariat Email: bosto...@gmail.com
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
Sefer Bamidbar is commonly referred to as the Book of Numbers, based on the other name given by Chazal to the fourth book of the Torah – Chumash HaPikudim. Aside from the multiple censuses taken in Parshas Bamidbar, Naso and Pinchas, there are also listings of tribal leaders (Bamidbar, Naso, Shelach & Masei), encampments (Masei), numbers regarding battalions and spoils of war (Bamidbar & Matos), as well as numbers relating to Korbanos (Naso & Pinchas). However, it is the name ‘Bamidbar Sinai’ or ‘Sinai Desert’, which most connects this week’s Parsha with the festival of Shavuos and Kabbalos HaTorah, which always falls out the week after Parshas Bamidbar.
The Psikta D’Rav Kahana asks why the Torah was given on the third month of the year. The answer given is that the zodiacal constellation for the month of Sivan is ‘Gemini’ or ‘The Twins’, which indicates that any nation could have partnered with Torah, just as Bnei Yisroel did, if they would agree to be devoted to it. Furthermore, the Midrash asks why the Torah was given in the desert. It answers that just like a desert is ‘ownerless’ and ‘barren’, so must one make himself like a desert in order to merit receiving the Torah properly. Additionally, just as one who is in a desert can feel as if the desert spans endlessly in all directions, so too one should internalize that the Torah is endless, and there is no end to Torah study.
The Pasuk in Yeshayahu says, “Everyone who is thirsty go to the water. Even one with no money, go and buy and eat, go and buy wine and milk without money and without price” (55:1). Of course the commentators explain that the ‘water’, ‘wine’ and ‘milk’ are referring to Torah study. As we begin Sefer Bamidbar we should approach Torah like one who thirsts for water in a desert. As the Mishnah states, we should drink the words of the Chachamim thirstily (Avos 1:4). Certainly, new Torah insights will pique our intellectual interest, but even Torah that we are reviewing for the 101st time requires us to approach it with love and enthusiasm.
Both the first Pasuk of Parshas Behar and the last Pasuk of Parshas Bechukosai, which we read last week, also mention Har Sinai. The well-known Rashi on the opening Pasuk of Parshas Behar, that we mentioned last week, that just as the laws of Shmitah were given in their entirety at Har Sinai, so too all of the Mitzvos of the Torah were given in their entirety at Sinai, is actually a disagreement amongst the Sages on Chagigah 6b.
According to R’ Yishmael, all of Torah was given at Har Sinai in general terms, and the more specific ideas were given in more detail throughout the forty years in the Midbar, when Hashem spoke to Moshe in the Ohel Moed. Rebbe Akiva maintains that all the general and specific information of all of Torah was given to Moshe at Har Sinai, however it was repeated to Moshe throughout the forty years in the desert in the Ohel Moed, and it was repeated a third time in Arvos Moav at the end of Moshe’s life.
Although there is disagreement about how the Torah was given over to generation in the Desert, what is clear is the need for Torah to be constantly reviewed. In order that the words of Torah should not become stale, they were enhanced by each subsequent teaching by adding new details of insight, or they were told over each time in a different setting or environment over the forty year period of the generation. The same Pasuk, or the same Rashi, or the same blatt Gemara, has the power to relate to us differently in the various stages of our lives. As we review the same words each time as we grow older, our life experiences and evolving way of thinking bring unique nuances to our understanding of Torah.
As we say in the Kriyas Shema, “Let these words (of Torah) that I command you today…”(Devarim 6:6). As Rashi explains, “They shall not be in your eyes like an old royal edict, rather like a new proclamation of the King that all come running to read”. Like the words of a favorite song, or the taste of a favorite food, if we truly love Hashem and have a relationship with Him, then His words of Torah will become more and more cherished over time as our favorite book, as one reads and re-reads the correspondence of his beloved.
May this Shavuos provide us an opportunity to not only renew our vows with Hashem as we did under the Chuppah of Har Sinai, but to also renew our relationship with Torah learning. How can one possibly fall asleep, when the Sefer that they are learning from all night is such a page-turner that one ‘just can’t put it down’. However, like anything we want for ourselves, we must daven to Hashem for his assistance. As we ask each morning in our blessings over the Torah, ‘Please, Hashem, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouth and the mouth of your People…and study Your Torah for its own sake. Blessed are You Hashem, Who teaches Torah to His people Yisroel.’ Amen.