Thursday, May 17, 2007

Parshat Bamidbar

Parshat Bamidbar begins with G-d's commandment to Moses to count the Children of Israel. Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhak) comments: " Because they were dear to Him, He counted them often. When they left Egypt, He counted them (Exod. 12:37); when [many] fell because [of the sin] of the golden calf, He counted them to know the number of the survivors (Exod. 32:28); when He came to cause His Divine Presence to rest among them, He counted them. On the first of Nissan, the Mishkan was erected, and on the first of Iyar, He counted them." G-d counts all of us by name and knows and loves us all.
The Kabbalists comment that YISRAEL-Israel- stands for Yesh Shishim Ribot Otiot LaTorah- There Are Six Hundred Thousand Letters in the Torah. 600 thousand is also the number of Jews that left Egypt and represent the entire Jewish nation. Since a Torah is unkosher if even one letter is missing, clearly the Sages are trying to teach us that every Jew counts and is important. We each have a role to play in G-d's plan.
On a global level, each nation has a mission to carry out and each one matter, no more than the other. Remember, every single Jew and every single person have a task in perfecting the world for the Coming of the Moshiach.

1 comment:

WomanHonorThyself said...

amen..perfecting ourselves and the world around is is a formidable task!