Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Bamidbar EACH ONE BY ITS CONTINGENT, UNDER THE INSIGNIAS OF THE FATHERS' HOUSE, SHALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL ENCAMP, AT A DISTANCE, AROUND THE TENT OF APPOINTMENT, SHALL THEY ENCAMP. (Bemidbar 2:2)   "Each one by its contingent, under the insignias" – According to the arrangements which their father gave them regarding the carrying of his bier. (Rashi, Bereishit 50:13)   "Of their fathers' house" seems superfluous; it would have been sufficient to say, "Each...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Bamidbar When the Tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down, and when the Tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up; any outsider who encroaches shall be put to death. The Israelites shall encamp troop by troop, each man with this division and each under his standard. (Bemidbar 1:51-53)     Another story is told of a gentile who was passing behind the Beth Midrash and overheard the voice of a scribe reciting "These are the garments which they...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Bamidbar – Shavuot Take up the head-count of the entire community of the Children of Israel, by their clans, by their Fathers' Houses, according to the number of names, every male per capita. (Bemidbar 1:2) The blessing is not to be found on that which is measured, weighed, or counted. (Tanhuma, Re'eh, 14)   The Blessing in a Census Is Dependent upon the Nation's Moral and Spiritual Standing "Take up ('naso') the head-count of the entire community of the Children of Israel". Israel's worth is determined...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Bamidbar Order and Chaos Deborah Greniman In The Sacred Canopy, sociologist of religion Peter Berger wrote: On a deeper level, the sacred has another opposed category, that of chaos. The sacred cosmos emerges out of chaos and continues to confront the latter as its terrible contrary. … To be in a "right" relationship with the sacred cosmos is to be protected against the nightmare threats of chaos. (p. 26) The parasha of Bamidbar lays out an ideal order – a cosmic order fleshed out in the...