Audio Shiur: Parshat Bamidbar - Yichus

Audio Shiur:
Parshat Bamidbar - Yichus

The counting of the nation emphasizes the importance of demonstrating one's yichus before he could be counted in his tribe or as a full member of klal yisrael. This emphasis on yichus seems to directly contradict a core value of Western liberal society, that judges people on who they are and how they act, and not on their birth. Can we bridge the two value systems? It's not as easy as it seems.

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Audio Shiur: Parshat Bamidbar - Don't Count Your Blessings

Audio Shiur:
Parshat Bamidbar - Don't Count Your Blessings

Chazal teach us that if we want true blessings, then the best course of action is not to count them. Why then does the God spend so much time counting us?

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Audio Shiur: Parshat Bamidbar: Protecting Holiness

Audio Shiur:
Parshat Bamidbar: Protecting Holiness

The final pesukim of Bamidbar outline the responsibility and danger inherent in the job of transporting the vessels of the Mishkan. Why was it so dangerous? What does that danger teach us about protecting sanctity today?
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Bamidbar: The Blessing of Modern Media

This week, Orot conducted its third annual Amadot conference, which focused on the topic of "The World of Communication: Challenges and Objectives."
The introductory panel featured, among others, Rav Yuval Sherlow, a well-known thinker and leading rabbi in the Modern Orthodox community. While many speakers focused on the numerous potential pitfalls that modern media presents, Rav Sherlow also noted some of the advantages and benefits that today's communication tools afford us. I'd like to share some thoughts from his talk through the prism of the Parshah.

During the count of the nation, the Torah lists the count of the Kohanim, beginning with Aharon. Instead of just counting the people present, the Torah also mentions two men who did not make the count:

וַיָּמָת נָדָב וַאֲבִיהוּא לִפְנֵי ה' בְּהַקְרִבָם אֵשׁ זָרָה לִפְנֵי ה' בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי וּבָנִים לֹא-הָיוּ לָהֶם:
Nadav and Avihu died before Hashem when they brought a strange fire before Hashem in the Sinai desert, and they had no children. (Bamidbar 3:4)

This raises a very simple question: we already know what happened. We know why and how Aharon's sons died. Why does the Torah need to mention this painful episode yet again? The Midrash explains that through the Torah's description we learn some new information.

וכי במדבר סיני מתו ? אלא מלמד שמהר סיני נטלו אפופסין שלהם למיתה. הה"ד (שמות כד) ואל אצילי בני ישראל לא שלח ידו.
Did they die in the Sinai desert? Rather, this teaches us that that from Mount Sinai they were already designated for death, as we read, "And upon the nobles of the Children of Israel He did not extend His hand." (Shemot 24)

According to this Midrash, Datan and Aviram died not because of the strange fire that they offered in the desert. The fire was simply the last straw. They had clearly engaged in some type of inappropriate behavior at Mount Sinai that put them in an extremely precarious position. When the brought the funny fire, Hashem decided that He had had enough, and their punishment ensued.
It's interesting to note that the Torah doesn't pull any punches. We might have thought that it was enough to think that they died because of what happened in the Mishkan. But the Torah believes in full disclosure: we learn of their mistakes; their missteps and their sins, so that we can improve ourselves and avoid their actions and their fate.
This, said Rav Sherlow, is one of the unique benefits that the world of communication affords us. While we must always be careful about violating lashon hara, spreading malicious gossip and rumor, there's a corresponding value as well. The Torah commands us, לא תעמוד על דם רעך – "Do not stand idly by the blood of your brother." The world of communication has the ability to bring to the light of day issues and practices that were once hushed up and pushed under the table.
The media has saved numerous children. It has shielded families, protected students and defended women through television stories, internet blogs and newspapers. Modern media has many problems, but we cannot ignore the benefits that it has also brought to our society.
Even when they're not pleasant, sometimes bringing painful issues out into the open isn't just a right. It's a mitzvah.

Parshah Audio - Parshat Bamidbar

Levi: The Protectors of Holiness
Bamidbar, full of names and numbers, describes the wholesale differentiation of the tribe of Levi. What are the ways that God separates the Leviim, and why? Most importantly, what does their separation teach us about our own lives?

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Table Talk - Bamidbar

The Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman, had a deal with community leaders of his city. They agreed not to bother asking him to come to community meetings unless they were considering a new community decree.
Once the communal council wished to enact a decree that the community charity fund would not support the poor from other cities, and would encourage local residents not to accept guests from other cities (to collect money, of course), in order to increase support for the local poor and the needy institutions in Vilna. (Sounds familiar, doesn't it?) So they called a meeting, and of course invited the Gaon to attend.
When he got to the meeting, the Gaon looked at the council and said, "I thought we agreed that you wouldn't call me to meetings unless you were considering a new city ordnance!"
The men answered, "But we are considering a new law!" The wondered what the Vilna Gaon was talking about. The Gaon flashed an angry look at them and said, "Oy you leaders! This law you want to enact is a very old law already established by the Four Lands!"
Still the leaders wondered what he meant, asking the rabbi, "To the best of our knowledge, there is no record of any such law in the record books of any of the Four Lands." (The Council of Four Lands (Va'ad Arba' Aratzot) in Lublin, Poland was the central body of Jewish authority in Poland from 1580 to 1764.)
The Vilna Gaon responded angrily: "I didn't mean the Four Lands of our time. When I said 'four lands', I was referring to the four lands during the time of our forefathers, Sodom, Gemorrah, Admah and Tzovoyim. These were the first localities to enact this vile piece of legislation, to prevent poor visitors to their cities from the outside."

Table Talk - Bamidbar 5767

As happens most years, we read Parshat Bamidbar on the Shabbos before Shavuos - the holiday of the receiving of the Torah. What connection can we find between our parshah and the coming holiday?
The rabbis teach us that before the revelation, the Jewish people display an unusual sense of unity and togetherness. In fact, when the Torah tells us that the people camp at the base of Mount Sinai, it describes the people as a single unit: ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר -- "and he -- Israel -- camped near the mountain."
Parshas Bamidbar begins by telling us that God speaks to Moshe במדבר סיני -- "in the Sinai desert." Rabbi Haim Yosef David Azulai (known as the Chida) notes that the gematria of the words במדבר סיני is equal to the word בשלום. God spoke to Moshe precisely because the Jewish people lived with one-another in peace.
Through this subtle message in the beginning of the parshah, explains Rabbi Azulai, we learn that the very best way to receive the Torah this week is through acts that promote Jewish unity. We should increase our acts of kindness for one-another, as well as our sense of love and caring for our fellow Jews. In this way, we pray that we truly merit to receive the Torah in the fullest sense.