Parashas Bamidbar

29 Iyar 5769

May 22, 2009
Daf Yomi: Bava Metzia 28

Guest Author:
Shlomo Z. Mostofsky, Esq.

President, National Council of Young Israel   

 

During the course of the year, we read various parshiot that are relevant to upcoming events on the calendar. We read Parshat Zachor before Purim and Parshat Devarim, with the Pasuk of Eichah, before Tisha Ba’av.

 

Each year, we read Parshat Bamidbar before Shavuot. However, the Parsha has no apparent connection to the Yom Tov. On Shavuot we read Megillat Ruth. While it relates to the story of the founding of the dynasty of David Hamelech, it seems a bit out of place on a Yom Tov which commemorates Matan Torah. We do not read about the birth of Moshe Rabbeinu the week before Zayin Adar. Why do we then read about Dovid just because Shavuot is his birthday?

 

In Parshat Bamidbar, the Torah states Vechanu Bnei Yisrael Ish Al Machanehu Ve’ish Al Diglo (Bamidbar 1:52). “The children of Israel rested each man according to his camp and each man according to his flag.” This verse has an apparent redundancy since each camp had a flag and each flag had a camp. Why mention both?

 

Rabbi Bernard Weinberger, Shlita, former rabbi of the Young Israel of Brooklyn, in his sefer Shemen Hatov, notes that the camp represented the physical, and the flag the spiritual. On Shabbat, in the Zemer (song) of Kol Mekadesh Shevii, the first stanza ends Ish Al Machanehu Ve’ish Al Diglo, "each man according to his camp and each man according to his flag." Rabbi Weinberger notes that the duality of the camp and the flag is represented by the double wording of Zachor and Shamor relative to Shabbat.

 

He states that Shamor means that on Shabbat a person should strengthen himself in a physical sense. Zachor represents the extra Neshamah we receive on Shabbat, which permits us to transcend the mundane and worldly events of the rest of the week, thereby enabling us to elevate ourselves in a spiritual sense. Hence, the connection between Bamidbar and Shabbat.

 

Rabbi Weinberger extends this example to Shavuot as well. Prior to receiving the Torah, the Jews were commanded not to go closer to Har Sinai than permitted. This represented the physical Machaneh. They were also commanded to separate themselves from worldly pleasures. This is represented by the spiritual Degel.  Thus, we read Bamidbar before Shavuot to remind us of our physical place and our ability to transcend that place through the spiritual, as we did at Matan Torah.

 

The Torah also has a duality. We have Torah Shebichtav, or the written portion of the Torah, in which not even one letter may be changed. Yet, on Har Sinai, we also received the Torah Shebe’al Peh, consisting of the oral interpretations, which, through the Yud Gimmel Midot, permits us to interpret Torah shebichtav and develop Torah Shebe’al Peh.

There is no better example of this than in Megillat Ruth.

 

The Shofet at the time was Boaz. The Torah Shebichtav prohibited a Jew from marrying an Amoni. Boaz held that Torah Shebichtav limited the prohibition to a male from Amon, but not an Amonit, or a female from Amon.  As a result, Boaz married Ruth, and as if to prove that his decision was correct, the Megillah ends by noting that Ruth and Boaz were the ancestors of Dovid Hamelech.

 

Thus, Parshat Bamidbar is a proper introduction to, as well as an integral part of, Chag Shavuot.

 

Good Shabbos.

 

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