Musar sobre Números 10:40

If one understands the deeper meaning of this commandment, one also gains an insight into the mysteries of Creation. We find a statement by Rabbi Eliezer in Yevamot 63 that anyone who neglects to fulfill the commandment to be fruitful is considered as having the sin of spilling innocent blood on his hands, the reason being that the Torah says in Genesis 9,6: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed." Since the Torah goes on to say : "Be fertile, increase, etc.," it is clear that failure to do so is considered a mortal sin. Rabbi Yaakov says: "Failure to try and have issue is a way of diminishing G–d's image in this world, since the Torah (still in verse 6 of this chapter) adds: 'For in His image did G–d make man.' Immediately afterwards follows the commandment to be fruitful." The Rabbis taught in Yevamot 64 that Numbers 10,36 ובנחה יאמר: שובה ה' רבבות אלפי ישראל, "When the ark came to rest, Moses would say 'return O Lord, You who are Israel's myriads of thousands,'" teaches that G–d's Presence is not found when Israel numbers fewer than 22000 souls." If Israel would number 21999 at any time and one of those Israelites failed to perform the מצוה of פרו ורבו, that person would be responsible for preventing the whole people from enjoying the Presence of the שכינה in their midst. We have now had three separate statements on the seriousness of failing to comply with the commandment to be fruitful. A) Failure to try and reproduce is equivalent to committing bloodshed; B) Failure to try and produce issue diminishes G–d's image in the world; C) Failure to fulfil this injunction prevents Israel from enjoying the Divine Presence in its midst. Prior to the statement quoted in the name of Rabbi Eliezer, the same Rabbi Eliezer is on record saying that a person who fails to marry is not an אדם, seeing that the Torah says of man (אדם) that "G–d created him male and female. He called their name Adam." (Genesis 5,2). You should appreciate that the statement of Rabbi Eliezer is to be understood as a general rule, whereas the subsequent statements are פרטים details, i.e. applications of the כלל. We must first understand Rabbi Eliezer.

Then came Moses and the Jewish people and built the Tabernacle with its furnishings and repaired the break in the conduits between Heaven and Earth, and restored the connection to the pools of blessings interrupted through Adam's sin. They succeeded in drawing down מים חיים, "life-giving" waters, from the Celestial Regions. The Jewish people succeeded in having G–d reside on earth again, but not on earth, only within the "Tent," i.e. the Tabernacle. This is the mystical dimension of the words: "They shall make for Me a Temple so that I can dwell in their midst." As a result of this development G–d's Presence can be viewed as like that of a guest who travels from place to place. The choice of the words "I shall dwell amongst them," as distinct from "I shall dwell down on earth," is a reference to the fact that G–d's Presence travelled with the Jewish people wherever they went. G–d did not take up residence in a fixed abode then, and this is alluded to in the verse: ויהי בנסוע הארון, "Whenever the Holy Ark would start travelling, etc." (Numbers 10,35).

The paragraph dealing with the construction of the trumpets and when they are to be blown (10,1-10), describes an "awakening," a recipe how to dispose of the forces of קליפות, the negative forces rampant in the universe, the evil urge. We know from our sages that the blowing of the Shofar on New Year's day is meant to "confuse" Satan, to frighten him into realization that Israel prepares to do penitence (Rosh Hashanah 14). For this reason, the trumpets were blown daily in the Holy Temple, since it is not enough only to offer sacrifices, one must awaken oneself to remorse, confession, etc, in short also do תשובה. This is true even of the יום שמחתכם ומועדיכם, "the day of your joy, or your fixed holidays," since on such occasions a person is apt to relax his usual standards, and the evil urge is more likely to cause him to sin in some fashion. The need for repentance when war comes to our our land is even more pronounced, since success in battle depends on one's being in G–d's good graces, seeing He is the only reliable source of our salvation. Hence the Torah requires the blowing of the trumpets on such occasions.

The words הצר הצורר אתכם, in 10,9, are a fairly clear allusion to the evil urge, seeing there is no other foe that bothers us as much as Satan. We have further support for this view in the unusual construction in verse 9, which speaks about וכי תבואו מלחמה בארצכם, "When war will come to your land." Why is the word תבואו in the plural? We would have expected instead וכי תבוא The allusion here is to the ongoing struggle between man and the evil urge. Sometimes man gains the upper hand in this struggle, at other times the forces of Satan gain ascendancy. At any rate both are constantly involved in a state of war. This is why the Torah uses the plural here. Whenever the community is called upon to perform a collective act such as to come to an assembly or to get ready to journey on it is important that they perform those acts by dedicating themselves to fulfil G–d's commands. The sound of the trumpets then is the rallying cry that helps every Israelite concentrate on what is expected of him. Such dedication is required both at the commencement of an activity and at its conclusion, therefore the Torah repeats על פי ה' יסעו, ועל פי ה' יחנו, "they would journey at the command of G–d, and they would make camp at the command of G–d," in 9,18, whereas in 9,23, we have the same instructions in the reverse order, i.e. על פי ה' יחנו, ועל פי ה' יסעו. The Torah informed us that the departure and the arrival at a site were motivated by the same intentions, namely to carry out G–d's will.

The Torah now resumes its narrative of the Israelites' journeys from Mount Sinai, the first such journey having as its objective entrance into the Holy Land, which substitutes for the original גן עדן into which original Adam had been placed. This was in line with the promise recorded in Ezekiel 36,35, concerning the future: "This very land which was desolate has become a Garden of Eden." The advantages of ארץ ישראל are described in the next paragraph (10,29), when חובב בן רעואל in, Moses's father-in-law, is invited to remain with the Jewish people with the unusual words "we are travelling towards the place of which G–d has said: "I will give it to you." The difficulty in this episode is that originally Moses had told his father-in-law that if he would remain with the people, they would let him share the good that G–d had said that He would bestow on the people. Yitro had declined this offer, saying he preferred to return to his own land and birthplace. When Moses repeats his invitation, he describes this טוב, goodness, that G–d would bestow upon the people as something that they in turn would bestow on him (10,32). In what way was Moses' second invitation designed to sway his father-in-law? What did he offer that he had not offered previously? Another difficulty is the repetition of the word טוב אשר ייטיב, "the good which G–d will do good?" A third difficulty is the clumsy wording in verse 29. It would have sufficed to speak of כי ה' דבר טוב על ישראל, "for G–d has spoken well concerning the future of Israel." Why did Moses have to say first "which G–d had said "I will give it to you?"

The reason that men of military age who are engaged in building a house for themselves, or in the planting of a vineyard which has not yet borne fruit, or who have betrothed a bride without as yet having consummated the marriage are free to return to their homes to complete these endeavours is explained by the Rekanati. We are quoting verbatim: "Know that the three categories of people listed by the Torah in 20,5-8 are people who are especially prone to meet with disaster. The attribute of Justice is more likely to seek them out than others. We have proof for this from what happened during the episode of the golden calf. If you will examine the various occasions when the Torah reports the Jewish people as sinning while they were in the desert, you will find that it was almost invariably after they had experienced a spiritual "high." The first set of tablets were smashed because of the golden calf. Our sages explain that the עין הרע the evil eye, had focused on these tablets. After the Israelites had travelled only three days' journey from Mount Sinai, the very next verse (Numbers 10,36) ויהי העם כמתאוננים, רע באזני השם "The people were complaining before the Lord; they spoke evil within the hearing of G–d." All this in spite of the Torah having told us that the Presence of G–d rested over their encampment. The sin of the spies occurred at a time when the people were ready to conquer ארץ ישראל, i.e. they were at a spiritual "high." The sin of בעל פעור occurred immediately after G–d had made Bileam bless the people instead of cursing them as he had been hired to do (Cf. Numbers chapters 24 and 25). After all, Michah 6,5 reminds the Jewish people to remember the advice given to Bileam by Balak how to curse the Jewish people and how Bileam had responded to him. In that admonition of the prophet the Jewish people are addressed by G–d as "My people," i.e. they were on a morally high level at that time. This is the meaning of the statement of our sages in Shabbat 130 that ליכא כתובה דלא רמו בה תיגרא, "There is no marriage contract which does not give rise to some dispute." Thus far the Rekanati.

This imprint of G–d is the mystical factor that causes the Presence of the שכינה in Israel since the spirituality of the Torah is represented by the souls of Israel. These souls enable G–d to fulfil His promise ושכנתי בתוכם, "I shall dwell among them" (Exodus 25,8). The Torah refers to messianic times and the revelation of G–d's Presence at that time. Concerning that era we have the prophecy of Isaiah 25,9: "On that day it (the people of Israel) will say: "This is our G–d; we trusted in Him, and He delivered us; this is the Lord in whom we trusted." This whole development depends on the progressive evolution of many souls to higher levels. The Ari zal has explained the verse הקטן יהיה לאלף, והצעיר לגוי גדול, נאום ה' בעתה אחישנו "the smallest shall become one thousand; the least, a mighty nation; I the Lord will speed it in due time" (Isaiah 60,22). The obvious difficulty here is that either the redemption comes at a time appointed by G–d, i.e. בעתה, or there is no timetable for redemption, and G–d is free to bring redemption at any time. Different commentators deal with this problem in different ways. The Arizal sees in the verse an allusion to a statement in the Talmud that אין בן דוד בא עד שיכלו כל הנשמות שבגוף, the Messiah will not come until all the souls of the body have been "exhausted" (Yevamot 62). The meaning is that nowadays, while we are in exile, the existing souls of Israel are mostly revolving around themselves and not progressing to higher dimensions. Once these souls have all exhausted their stay on earth, and "new" souls arrive, redemption will occur, and with it the revelation of the original light that G–d withdrew from this earth after the seven days of Creation. G–d called this "the smallest will become one thousand." It is a process of increasing the Jewish birth-rate so that the "store" of souls that has not yet been placed in bodies will be exhausted sooner. In this way the date for the redemption can be advanced dramatically. There is then no contradiction between the words בעתה, and אחישנה. As a result the Presence of the שכינה is directly related to fulfillment of the commandment to procreate. Even though we have quoted proof from a verse in Numbers 10,36 that the Presence of G–d is possible when there are 22,000 souls present (compare page 2 of this chapter), this was only meant to illustrate that G–ds Presence does manifest itself on earth. The extent to which this is possible when all the souls that have been assigned to bodies have fulfilled their task is beyond our experience, and cannot be compared with what occurred in the desert.

As soon as Israel left Egypt, the Psalmist tells us: בצאת ישראל ממצרים … היתה יהודה לקדשו, ישראל ממשלותיו. "When Israel went forth from Egypt,…. Yehudah became His holy one, Israel His dominion" (Psalms 114,1-2). Later in Numbers 10, 14, when the people were divided into four camps, Yehudah again was the first army to break camp and march ahead of the people. Yehudah was also the first of the twelve princes to offer his offering in honor of the dedication of the Holy Tabernacle (Numbers 7,12). This pre-eminence of the tribe of Yehudah also continued after the people inherited the land of Israel, until the days of Samuel, when the people demanded to be led by a king, and the choice fell on Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. As already explained, the position of king was only on loan to the tribe of Benjamin, as apparent from the very name שאול, "something borrowed." Within less than a generation, a scion of the tribe of Yehudah, David, became the king of Israel. Ever since, Jacob's blessing in Genesis 49, 10 that "the scepter of Royalty will not depart from members of the tribe of Yehudah" has been fulfilled.

From this you can appreciate the sanctity of these festivals. Each festival is filled with sanctity and with amazing esoteric secrets. You must also know that there is a new world On High that is so holy and awesome that it is revealed here below only once a year. It begins to be revealed at the start of the Megillah reading. This is the world from which the soul of the righteous Mordechai was derived. Therefore we must arouse Heaven’s mercy so that this world will again be revealed to bestow an outpouring of bounty and illumination upon the heads of those who gather to hear the Megillah reading with pure hearts and full intent. This is the meaning of the blessing, “Blessed are You, Hashem, who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us regarding the reading of the Megillah.” That is, Hashem, may He be blessed, has commanded us to awaken in ourselves the intention to bring that great illumination out into the open. This is what is meant by, “regarding the reciting [or “calling”] of the Megillah.” For the word mikra [“reciting” or “calling”] is used here in the same sense as in the verse, “For the calling of the congregation and the embarking of the camps” (Bamidbar 10:2). To this the congregation must answer “Amein!” with much concentration. It is very, very important to make it known at the Megillah reading when they recite the blessing and come to the words, “regarding the reciting [or “calling”],” that the one reciting the blessing should be envelope with trembling and fear. And when the congregation hears him recite these words they must also be filled with great trembling, fear and submission. For they allude to the summoning of that great, awesome and terrifying world, from the light of which will come an outpouring of bounty and a holy and pure spark to shine upon Israel.