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Thoughts on the Parsha ~
Parshas
Bamidbar
E for Effort
By:
Daniel Listhaus
וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל משֶׁה
בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי לֵאמֹר: פְּקֹד אֶת בְּנֵי לֵוִי לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם כָּל זָכָר מִבֶּן חֹדֶשׁ וָמַעְלָה תִּפְקְדֵם: וַיִּפְקֹד אֹתָם משֶׁה עַל פִּי ה' כַּאֲשֶׁר צֻוָּה:
“Hashem
spoke to Moshe in the Wilderness of Sinai saying, ‘Count the sons of Levi
according to their fathers’ house, according to their families, every male from
one month of age and up shall you count them.’ Moshe counted them according to
the word of Hashem.”
-Bamidbar 3:14-16
After
commanding Moshe to take a census of B’nei Yisroel,[1] Hashem
commanded Moshe to separately take a count of the Levi’im. Unlike the
rest of B’nei Yisroel who were counted only from age 20 and older, the Levi’im
were counted from the age of one month old. From a logistics perspective this
posed a slight difficulty. Instead of 20 year old men bringing their shekalim
to Moshe to be counted, as was the case with the rest of B’nei
Yisroel, Moshe had to go around to all the tents to get the count of all
the infants in shevet Levi. Rashi[2] comments
that when Moshe was commanded to count shevet Levi he responded, “How
can I enter into all their tents to count the nursing infants?” The Gur
Aryeh[3] explains
that certainly Moshe was not complaining about the extra work that this
particular counting would involve, but rather that Moshe was making a valid
point with regards to modesty. After all, if Moshe himself had to be the one to
go around and count the infant Levi’im who were nursing in their tents,
how could Moshe enter? It would be a breach of modesty and privacy! Therefore,
as Rashi continues to explain based on the Medrash, Hashem told
Moshe, “You do that which is yours and I will do that which is Mine.” Moshe
went around to each and every tent but did not enter. Hashem would then
announce by each tent exactly how many babies were inside. Problem solved.
Moshe was commanded to count the infants but could not enter the tents to do
so, therefore the solution was for him to go around and stand outside each one
and Hashem would tell him how many were inside. This is why the passuk (verse)
ends by saying “Moshe counted them according to the word of Hashem”. Not
merely that Moshe fulfilled the commandment of Hashem, which he certainly did,
but that the only way he was able to accomplish it was literally “by the word
of Hashem”. Moshe needed Hashem to count and tell him the numbers because doing
so himself and entering the tents would be a lack of tzniyus.
This Rashi
is hard to understand. If Hashem was going to have to tell Moshe the number
of babies in each tent anyway, why did Moshe have to go around in the first
place? Granted when it came to counting the rest of B’nei Yisroel there
was a special mitzvah for each member to bring a shekel to Moshe
to be counted, in such a situation we could understand that Hashem commanded a mitzva
to be done and that is how it had to be done. However with regards to the
infant Levi’im, where they did not bring shekalim and Moshe was
unable to go in and count himself what was the point of having Moshe go around
to each tent just to have Hashem tell him the number of babies inside? If Moshe
needed to completely rely on Hashem for this, why didn’t Hashem just tell Moshe
the total numbers without making him go around to each and every tent?
Perhaps we
could learn from this Rashi a fundamental lesson when it comes to
keeping the Torah and mitzvos of Hashem. As Jews we are commanded to
fulfill a tremendous amount of commandments. Not just commandments which are
one-time objectives, but cyclical ones as well – whether once mitzvos that
are once in life time, every fifty years, seven years, yearly, monthly, weekly
daily, multiple times a day, and even constantly, there is no question that mitzvos
come in all shapes and sizes. We obviously know that those who think all we
have to keep are the 10 commandments are ignorant beyond belief, and the same
is true of those who believe that there is a simple list of 613 mitzvos.
Yes, we have the Aseres Ha’dibros and taryag mitzvos, but those
are only the skeletal structure of the mitzvos which infuse our daily
living. Each and every mitzva has so many details, conditions and
qualifications that the aggregate permutations and combinations are virtually countless.
Every detail of every movement from the order of tying one’s shoes, cutting
nails and washing one’s body, to the laws of berachos and intricate laws
of kashrus; and from the perplexing laws of tummah and restrictive
laws of shabbos and yom tov, to the many laws of business and
money matters, every single activity we do throughout each moment of every day
has a mitzvah associated with it with details and differences depending on each
specific scenario. One would think it is impossible to be able to remember all
of them, let alone live by them. Forget about being difficult, how is it even
possible for a person to be able to live by so many rules without one’s head
exploding with the number of things to remember? Yet, people do it and people
love it. Where does this capacity of seemingly borderless capability come from?
The answer
is that it was given to us with the Torah.[4] Hashem did
not just give us the Torah and wish us luck. Rather, with the Torah He gifted
to B’nei Yisroel the power to be able to keep it if we put in our hishtadlus
(effort). Indeed, to be able to live a complete, pure life as a Torah Jew
is impossible unless two key ingredients are present: absolute effort and siyata
d’shmaya. Our job is to put in everything we can and Hashem promises that
he will help us by giving us the strength to go beyond our own capacity.
This is
the lesson that Rashi is teaching us. Hashem commanded Moshe to do
something which was not possible for him to do on his own. However, Moshe was
still expected to do as much as he could and from that point, siyata d’shimaya
would kick in and help him complete the task.
This is
what Shavuos is all about. We already know that it is more than a commemoration
of an event that took place in the past, because in reality it is a re-receiving
of the Torah as we did on Har Sinai. However, it is even more
than that. It is also a celebration of our changed selves who have the renewed
ability to reach goals and keep the Torah and mitzvos to incredible
degrees with the same siyata d’shimaya which accompanied mattan Torah,
a present and a promise for those who
put in the requisite effort.
May Hashem
help us over this Shabbos and Yom Tov of Shavuos re-accept
the Toras Hashem and help us recognize our borderless capacity which we
receive along with it as long as are willing to put in the effort. As Hashem
told Moshe, “You do your part, and I will do Mine.”
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