BS”D
EXILE EXPERIENCE:
PARSHAT BEHA’ALOTCHA
Shir Smiles shiur 2021/5781
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
There
is an anomaly in the middle of Parshat Beha’alotcha that demands
exploration and discussion. There are two verses bracketed between two inverted
letter “nun”s that divide the parshah and, according to many commentators,
should be considered an additional, separate book of Torah, making our count
not five books, but seven books of Torah. (Dividing Sefer Bamidbar into
two books, one book before this “addition,”, and a separate book after the
division. Sefer Bamidbar then becomes three books instead of one.) These
two verses record how Bnei Yisroel journeyed through the desert: “When the Ark
would journey, Moshe said, ‘Arise, Hashem, and let Your foes be scattered, let
those who hate You flee from before You.’ And when it rested, he would say,
‘Reside tranquilly, O, Hashem, among the myriad thousands of Israel..’ ”
The
major question here is why is this considered a separate Book even though it
seems not to have any mitzvoth? To this, the Kli Yakar counters that
indeed, the mitzvah of Pru urvu/be fruitful and multiply is alluded to,
for Hashem should rest on the myriad multitudes of Yisroel.
Rabbi
Schlesinger, however, focuses on the use of the letters “nun” that appear as
the brackets for this section. Rabbi Schlesinger explains that the numerical
equivalent of “nun” is fifty, alluding to the fifty levels of understanding
the Torah. It is a level of depth of Torah understanding we cannot fathom.
In
an explanation that is even more esoteric, the Be’er Hatorah cites the
Netziv as understanding that these two verses form the division of darkness
and light within our nation, much as darkness and light were divided at
creation. When Hashem led Bnei Yisroel out of Egypt, the generation witnessed
Hashem’s visible Providence, with open miracles of redemption. The generation
Hashem would lead into the Land would see His Providence only hidden within the
natural world. This second generation would enter the Land in the relative
darkness of the natural world. This short passage of two verses is the
transition between the generations and the world views, and points to the goal of
living in the natural world while still having Hashem reside within us and
recognizing His presence.
According
to Rabbi S. R. Hirsch, these two verses form not only a transition between the
generation that left Egypt and those who entered the Land, but also the
differing realities of the current world and the world as it will be in the end
of days. Moshe is asking Hashem to arise and fight and disperse those that
would vilify Him and cause others to turn against Him until the end of days. At
that future time, all will recognize Hashem, and His presence will rest on the
myriads who have come to recognize and accept Hashem, and bend their will to
His will.
This
is the secret of Jewish survival throughout our Diaspora, notes Rabbi Zaks. As
we travel from one nation to another, we carry the Ark of Torah with us, and we
ask Hashem to destroy those enemies who threaten us physically through pogroms
as well as those enemies who would destroy us spiritually through assimilation.
When we are at rest and comfortable, we worry about assimilation, and we ask shuvah
Hashem/Hashem to return the dispersed and assimilated Jews to our people.
Moshe
Rabbenu recognized the lure of other cultures and the danger they would present
to Bnei Yisroel. According to Rabbi Schlesinger in Eleh Hadvorim, this
is what Moshe was alluding to when he asked Yitro to stay with Bnei Yisroel and
be “eyes” for them, for Yitro, having come from another culture, would
recognize the slow but insidious encroachment of an alien culture and could
warn Bnei Yisroel of these dangers.
When
Torah rests and is found in only one place, warns us Rabbi Shimshon Pincus, we
are in danger. However, when we carry the Torah with us from place to place,
into each of our homes, we protect the Torah and it protects us.
If
we then think of the Torah as the model and plan for the world, adds the Shvilei
Pinchas, we can intuit that the world is divided into larger and
smaller areas, just as the Torah has larger and smaller passages. We can
further intuit that the world’s structure resembles the pattern of Kabbalah,
the seven attributes of Hashem represented in Kabbalah corresponding to the
seven millennia of the world’s existence. The fifth attribute is hod/splendor.
When we realize that the Beit Hamikdosh was destroyed near the fifth
millennium, lamenting the destruction of the Beit Hamikdosh as, “Hashem has
made me desolate, davoh/wretched all day long,” davoh
being an anagram of hod, we realize why these two verses under
discussion form the fifth book of Torah in our count of seven books. We can
also see how the first letters of the first four words in Parshat Masei,
recording the stops in the travels of Bnei Yisroel through the desert, form an
anagram for the initials of the four nations under whom we were subjugated in
our exiles: “Eileh masei Bnei Yisroel/These
are the travels of Bnei Yisroel.” The four nations are Edom/Rome
(our current exile), Modai/Medea/Persia (the Purim
history), Bavel/Babylonia, and Yavan/Greece
(Chanukah). We are now left with only a remnant of the splendor that was in the
days of the Beit Hamikdosh.
But
every place in the world has a portion of Torah innately within it. We are
meant to retrieve that Torah, just as we are meant to retrieve the sparks of
Jewish souls lost in these scattered lands. We are meant to be Hashem’s
treasure wherever we are, for the entire world belongs to Him. The Torah of
Babylon (today’s Iraq) is captured in the Babylonian Talmud which illuminates
our eyes with Torah to this day. France brought us our premier commentator on
the Torah, Rashi, and Spain gave rise to Rambam and Ramban, and the list goes
on. Each revealed the sparks of Torah hidden in that corner of the world, while
Yerushalayim itself contains all of Torah.
It
is not only being exiled to these varied places that reveals and redeems the
sanctity of these places, but our personal travels are also meant to accomplish
these results as well. We may think we are enjoying a well deserved vacation,
but Hashem knows that we need to free the sparks of sanctity in a particular
place by reciting some brachot there, or performing certain mitzvoth there,
writes Rabbi Wolfson in Emunat Itecha. Even the different seasons are
meant to highlight different aspects of our journey to elevate the world to
Hashem’s purpose. The tribal flags that we followed in the desert had inscribed
upon them verses to help us in our journey not only in the desert, but
throughout our history, the two verses cited here, and the first verse of
Shema. When we remove the Torah from the Ark to read it and we recite the first
verse, we also recite the Shema. We then recite the next verse before we return
the Torah to the Ark.
All
of Torah was included in the first set of luchot/Tablets. When Bnei
Yisroel sinned with the golden calf and Moshe then smashed the luchot,
these interpretations and understandings of Torah scattered and were absorbed
in different parts of the world, waiting to be retrieved. All these formerly
unknown novel interpretations of Torah from our travels through the Diaspora
will be gathered together at the end of time into these two verses, and these
verses will then be expanded as the whole Torah. The 85 letters of these verses
contain within them the entire Oral Torah. The broken luchot, the
suppository of the entire Oral Torah, was kept in the Ark along with the
complete, written Torah, and traveled with Bnei Yisroel on all their journeys.
From
a simple reading of the text, it could seem that Moshe was causing Hashem to
rise up even though the cloud was already signaling the move. Rabbi Eiseman
uses this reading to teach us that when Bnei Yisroel is totally in sync with
Hashem, we do in fact have the power to influence the world, as Moshe could
influence the spirit of Hashem to rise. This is a vision of our potential.
[This is why we go to great tzadikim who have the potential power to partner
with Hashem and ask them to intercede with Hashem on our behalf. CKS]
We
are the Aron/Ark. We travel through life and experience many challenges.
When we travel through life, writes the Netivot Shalom, the Slonimer
Rebbe, we need to ask Hashem to remove those obstacles that keep us from Him,
and when we rest, to feel our connection to Him. We need the challenges in
order to grow, but we need to use those challenges first to remove ourselves
from evil and then to follow up by doing good/sur meira va’aseh tov. We
accept these challenges and raise them as banners of victory and growth, adds
Rebbetzin Felbrand. Our nesiyon/test becomes our neis/banner.
That
does not mean that every challenge must be really difficult. Many challenges
can manifest as minor inconveniences, such as taking the wrong coin out of our
pocket. Pain is not our enemy, writes Rabbi Rosenblatt. Pain gives us the
opportunity to get closer to Hashem..
When
we take the Torah from the Ark, we have an auspicious moment to approach Hashem
with our personal prayers, writes Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. We are asking
Hashem to disperse the negative influences in our lives, We pray for this in
Aramaic on Shabbat and especially on the yomim tovim when we invoke Hashem’s
thirteen attributes of mercy at this time.
So
we seem to have a complete Sefer Torah with special messages and power hidden
within the larger text of Sefer Bamidbar. The Ba’al Haturim makes
an interesting observation along these lines. The first of these two verses,
referring to the Ark arising and traveling, contains twelve works, exactly
equal to the twelve words in the concluding verse of the Torah. The second
verse, recited when we return the Torah to the Ark, contains exactly seven
words, equal to the seven words in the very first verse of the Torah. Thus,
these two verses encapsulate the entire Torah within them. Further, the Sheveli
Pinchas suggests that if we were to put the two inverted “nun”s
together, they would form the circular letter “samech,” alluding to the
verse, “Somech Hashem lechol hanoflim/Hashem supports all those who
fall.” If we observe the Torah, all of which is alluded to as being contained
between these two “nun”s, we can count on Hashem supporting us through
our travels through life.