The children of Israel

(Bamidbar 1:52)

The meaning of each man by his flag – that one

flag's tribe should not mix with another's.

(Ibn Ezra ad loc)

by his flag by their divisions: Degel ["flag"]

did not originally mean a banner or flag, for that is the meaning of ot,

as in each man by his division with the flag staffs [beotot]

(2:2). Rather, it should be understood as

Onkelos and all the ancients interpreted it as "an organized group"

(Onkelo renders it as tiksiya, a greek term meaning order and group).

Degel is distinguished from "camp" [mahaneh] in that

the former involves specific people ordered in a certain way, while the latter

can be a makeshift group which people may join through happenstance. Notice

that throughout the parasha degel is used in reference to human

beings, and not to a banner or flag: and those encamped on the front or

east side: the degel of the Judah camp (2:3),

and so with all the verses. However, the term was eventually borrowed to refer

to a banner, because each degel had its own banner, and so we get: and

his banner of love was upon me – vediglo aliy ahava (Song of Songs 2:4) – the banner that I carry

on my person upon which is written the word "love" – which is of

course all a metaphor. Similarly we have flagged from the ten-thousand –

dagul mirevava (Song of Songs 5:10),

which means that his beauty distinguishes him from the multitude of other

people as if he were carrying a flag or banner in his hand so that everyone can

recognize him from a distance.

(ShaDaL ad loc)

Hamifkad

– the Census

Moshe Meir

…take the sum of all the congregation of the children of

who are fit to go out to the army in Israel, you shall count them [tiFKaDu]

by their legions you and Aaron. (Bamidbar

1:2-3)

This passage calls for a census to be held and it views that

project in a positive light. It stands in contrast to an opposing scriptural

voice which opposes the idea of taking a census:

And the king said to Joab the captain of the host that was

Dan as far as Beer-sheba and take census [uFaKDu] of the people, so that

to number the people [liFKoD] the Israelites…And Joab presented the

sum of the number [miFKaD] of the people to the king; …And David's

the iniquity of your servant, for I was very foolish! (II Samuel 24)

There is a third voice which stakes out a middle ground

between the other two. It remains aware of the negative attitude towards the

census, but finds an indirect method for it to be held:

When you take the sum of the children of Israel according

to their numbers [liFKuDehem], let each one give to the Lord an

atonement for his soul when they are counted [biFKoD]; then there will

be no plague among them when they are counted [biFKoD]. Shemot 30:12)

What is the point of this ambivalence towards the census? We

can begin our journey of understanding by tracing the various meanings of the

Hebrew root PaKaD, from which the word miFKaD – census – is formed (the

"f" and "p" sounds are represented by the same letter in Hebrew).

One meaning of PaKaD is "to remember":

And the Lord remembered [PaKaD] Sarah as He had

said, and the Lord did to Sarah as He had spoken. (Bereishit 21:1)

Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and say to them,

Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'I have surely remembered [PaKaDeti] you and

what is being done to you in Egypt'" (Shemot 3:16)… And the people believed,

and they heard that the Lord had remembered [PaKaD] the children of Israel,

and they kneeled and prostrated themselves. (Shemot 4:31).

Now she arose with her daughters-in-law and returned from

remembered [PaKaD] His people to give them bread. (Ruth 1: 6)

PeKiDa has an additional related meaning: being present and

making an appearance in which the one who appears also investigates the

situation:

Then you shall know that there is peace in your tent, and

you shall visit [uFaKaDeta] your habitation and miss nothing. And you

the grass of the earth. (Job 5:24-25)

You have tried my heart; You have visited [PaKaDeta]

pass my mouth. (Psalms

17:3)

The semantic field of PaKaD moves around the notion of an act

of counting which produces clear knowledge. Knowledge is control, and so the

counter appears and is revealed. Remembering is parallel to counting; it calls

up the hazy and forgotten past towards the clear, the known, and the

remembered. Sometimes the very appearance of the "counter" – even if

no counting or remembering is mentioned – is referred to by Scripture as

PeKiDa. This brings it closer to another section of the semantic field – the

notion of a command – PeKuDa:

So said Cyrus the king of Persia: "All the kingdoms

of the earth has the Lord God of the heavens delivered to me, and He commanded [PaKaD]

me to build Him a House in Jerusalem, (II Chronicles 36: 23)

The command – PeKuDa – is

the presence of the commander [haPoKed], connecting it to the semantic field

described above. Let us now return to the question of the MiFKaD – the census –

and why it is viewed in both negative and positive ways. Now the discussion

between David and Joab quoted above can clarify matters. David says: and take census [uFaKDu] of the people, so that I

may know the number of the people. The census

and the counting will produce knowledge. Knowledge is control; that is how one

should reign over a people. Joab, in contrast, says: May

and the eyes of my lord, the king may see it. The census and

counting create knowledge – and also set a limit: such is the size of the

group, and no more. In contrast, an unnumbered group is without limits – a

condition that allows for more and more increases.

Beyond the question of

the census, there also arises the question of knowledge. Knowledge means

control over reality, but it also dissolves the dimension of mystery which

allows for flourishing and creativity. That is why the relation to the census

is ambivalent; that is why it has both positive and negative aspects. That is

why David first counts, but later is haunted by guilt.

And I will betroth

you forever;

I will betroth you

with righteousness and justice,

And with goodness

and with mercy,

And I will betroth

you with faithfulness,

Then shall you shall

know the Lord.

(Hosea 2:21-22 – from the haftorah for parashat Bamidbar)

The covenant between God and His people, and between the People Israel

and its God, exists and is present before God. However, the covenant is

reciprocal, and so in order that these goals be realized something is also

required of the other party – which is us.

The second chapter of Hosea (the haftorah of Bamidbar) is completely

devoted to a very passionate and moving account of this covenant. It describes

the relationship between God and the People Israel as a relationship between a

man and a woman, as a marriage. It employs terms reminiscent of the Song of

Songs, which, according to tradition, is also an extended allegory of the

God-Israel relationship. It speaks of the People Israel betraying the covenant,

and of the covenant's future restoration, which is described with great

sensitivity and pathos, concluding with the following two exalted verses: And

you shall know the Lord.

And I will betroth you The betrothal is between God and Israel,

and it stems from the righteousness, justice, goodness,

and mercy that appear here as divine attributes…

And I will betroth you with faithfulness

– It must be insisted upon that everywhere in Scripture the term emunah

today [Modern Hebrew], i.e. something like the Latin fides the English faith

and the German glaube. In Scripture, emunah always means faithfulness:

And I will betroth you with faithfulness refers to faithfulness between

the betrothed man and woman.

However, next come three key words: ve'yada'at et hashem [and you shall know the Lord]. Righteousness,

justice, goodness, mercy, and faithfulness are

divine and eternal; they are not contingent upon human circumstances and

behavior. However, the betrothal's fulfillment depends upon one great

stipulation: and you shall know the Lord. Knowledge of the Lord is the

condition for the covenant's renewal; without it the covenant exists only

potentially and is not actualized…

Whether or not man is aware of it, God acts for mercy, justice, and

righteousness. However, that only has significance in reality if man learns and

knows it, and accordingly: I will betroth you forever; I will betroth you

betroth you with faithfulness, on the condition that and you shall know

the Lord. The actualization in reality of the covenant between Israel and

its God depends on the People Israel.

(Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz, z"l, He'arot le'Parshiyot ha'Shavu'a

pp. 78-88)

Seven qualities serve

before the Holy Throne, and these are:

Wisdom,

Righteousness and Justice, Goodness and Mercy, Truth and Peace. As is

written: And I will betroth you forever; I will betroth you with

righteousness and justice, and with goodness and with mercy, And I will

betroth you with faithfulness,

Then shall you shall

know the Lord (Hosea 2). 

Rabbi Meir said: What

does Scripture mean to teach us with And you shall know the Lord? It

teaches that every man who

possesses these qualities is of one mind with the Omnipresent.

(Avot DeRabbi Natan 37:8)

Pray for the

Peace and Wholeness Depend on Its Lovers

…in the world to

come, when The Holy One, Blessed Be He will bring the exiles back to Jerusalem, He will return them in peace, as is

written, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; May

those who love you be at peace (Psalms 122:6). And it is also written, I

will extend to her peace like a stream (Isaiah

66:12).

(Midrash Tanhuma, Tzav, 7)

…Peace is

not just a matter of an ethical tendency. Working for peace is a constant

cultural effort, sublime and powerful, work towards which all the most

productive forces of the nation should be directed. We must consider: What will

be the end result of all the ever-increasing divisions – the parties, the

federations and the factions, the organization and the minyanim,

the ideological streams and the platforms – if we do not find a single Tel-Talpiyot [Mound of trophies – a poetic reference to Yerushalayim] which will hold high the banner of all the

people, and which will unceasingly and effectively promote the unity of the

nation, smoothing out of the rifts, and the bonding of aspirations. Just as we

recognize and believe that the salvation of Israel will come through beginning

the overt end, – which will be done by us, with the strength which God

has given us to succeed – to purchase the land, to redeem it, to work it and

build it up, to conquer it with cultural and practical conquests. So must we

become more and more aware that the spirit of God which was upon Elijah, to reconcile parents with children and children

with their parents, to make peace in the world, to resolve all

controversies – of which must be revealed also in our spiritual action, action

of the entire nation, by its finest forces, scholars who increase peace in

the world.

(From a letter to the representatives of the Mizrachi to the Zionist Congress, Iggrot

HaRAYaH of Rav Kook, zt"l, letter 671)

"Jerusalem

of gold… at her heart a wall"

Observations

and hope

Forty-two years ago, on Yom

Ha'atzmaut 5727, a young singer named Shuli Natan took the stage. Hers was the

first performance of the song Yerushalayim shel Zahav – "Jerusalem

of Gold," which Naomi Shemer had written a short time earlier.

Like other songs, this song

entered into history in part because it touched upon emotional and nostalgic

motifs. It is impossible to know what might have become of the song if the Six

Day War had not followed quickly upon the heels of its debut, or if that war

had been limited to Israel's southern or northern borders.

I recall meeting a rather

elderly Jew, someone from the same town as my late mother, z"l, soon after

that war's conclusion. He said that the extra verse should not have been added

after the war, that it would have been better to leave it as an authentic

expression of yearning and longing. At the time I listened to his words, but I am

not sure I understood him completely.

Today, more than forty years

after that war, after all the People Israel both in Israel and abroad were

stirred by Rabbi Goren z"l's blast of the shofar and Motta Gur z"l

announcement, "The Temple Mount is in our hands," it seems that that worldly-wise

Jew may have known what he was talking about. If we will have to choose between

the two versions of the song, which shall we choose? Have we really

"returned to the water cisterns"? And what of "the market

square"?

The phrase "at her

heart a wall" is especially interesting and thought-provoking. There is a

tangible wall surrounding the Old City; it is thanks to that wall that we read

the Meggilah on the 15^th of Adar, as in Shushan, "So that the

Land of Israel will be remembered in connection with this miracle" (as RaMBaM states in Hilkhot

Megillah). However, it

seems that Naomi Shemer was principally referring to another wall; after all,

the complete line reads: "The city which sits lonely, at her heart

a wall." That line takes us back to Lamentations: Lonely sits the city

once great with people.

The wall is found, then, at

the heart of the city which sits "lonely." Is it the wall which

divides the city's heart?

The heart is the origin of

human emotion, but it is also the source of reason. Regarding the Tabernacle we

read: and I have granted wisdom to the hearts of all the wise (Shemot 31:6), and RaMBaM (Guide for the

Perplexed 1:39) uses the

term "heart" in the sense of "thought" or

"knowledge."

Thus, the city sits lonely

with conflicting opinions and a heart divided by a wall. After the Six Day War,

all or most of us thought or hoped that the city had been united and that the

tangible wall would become a place where we could stroll, a place connecting

the city's different parts. It seems that we were mistaken in that regard. Apparently,

a city's walls cannot be taken down through war. Perhaps other directions must

be taken in order to speak to the heart of the city and to the hearts of its

inhabitants and in order to genuinely unite the city. Perhaps we also need to care

for the city's neglected areas and for the welfare of their residents.

Perhaps, in these days, all

this seems like a dream. Perhaps the city is presently "captivated by her

dreams." That, however, is no reason to stop dreaming and hoping for the

city's unification, regardless of whatever diplomatic or municipal solution may

be arrived at. May we be granted in our own days to see a city united

together, a city that that makes all of its inhabitants into friends.

Pinchas Leiser, editor

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