Commento su Numeri 26:23

בני יששכר, The members of the tribe of Issachar, etc. Inasmuch as the tribe of Issachar is distinguished by intensive Torah study, the Torah alluded to this in its very name, יש שכר, "there is a reward," i.e. this tribe more than any other qualifies for reward. Any benefit secured in this life other than reward for Torah study is not worth the name, as it is transient. Our sages in Berachot 28 tell us that one needs to recite a short prayer when leaving the house of study in which one acknowledges that whereas both the secular people and the Torah scholars invest a great deal of effort in their respective pursuits, the former waste their efforts, whereas the Torah students do not labour in vain. The reason is simple. All comforts and riches in this life are transient, do not accompany man to the hereafter. The reward called שכר which one receives in return for Torah study does endure and one can take it with him to the hereafter. By using the word שכר the Torah also indicates that everything in the world which G'd has created, He created only for the sake of Issachar, i.e. the people studying Torah. We find this thought already in Bereshit Rabbah 1, i.e. that the word בראשית ברא implies that G'd only created the universe for the sake of Torah, i.e. the people who study it. Another allusion contained in this verse is related to what we learned in Uktzin 3,12 that in the messianic future (or even later) G'd will make every righteous person inherit 310 "worlds." The author of that Mishnah bases this on the numerical value of the word יש, from the promise in Jeremiah 31,16 יש שכר לפעולתיך, "there is a reward for your accomplishments."

When the Torah continues: לתולע, etc., the Torah utilises the names of the respective families of the tribe of Issachar to describe the conditions which need to be met by the Torah student to qualify for the reward we have described. We are taught in Avot 6,5 that Torah knowledge can be acquired via 48 different paths. The meaning of the name תולע alludes to two of these paths. 1) The student must develop the characteristics of a noble, elegant person, עדין. Our sages in Moed Katan 16 describe David as having possessed this virtue and that is why he was called עדינו העצני (Samuel II 23,8). [This is a completely homiletical interpretation of that whole verse by Rav who describes David as having made himself as delicate as a worm when studying Torah. Ed.] The second aspect of the meaning of תולע is that one needs to make oneself as insignificant as a worm whose only power is its mouth. These two virtues combined represent the ultimate simile for humility, especially when applied to a mighty warrior such as David. If one possesses this virtue one has no need to cultivate any of the other 48 qualities mentioned in that Mishnah.

The Torah goes on לפוה משפחת הפוני. We must first explain why the Torah saw fit to add the letter נ in the word הפוני, although this letter is not one found in the name of G'd. We would have expected the Torah to write הפוי. We suggest therefore that the Torah wanted to allude to the other qualities mentioned in the above-mentioned Mishnah in Avot 6,5 which are recommended for the student who wishes to acquire Torah. One of them is מיעוט שיחה, a minimal amount of unnecessary conversation, plus other such suggestions. By referring to פוה משפחת הפוני the Torah alludes to the mouth seeing the word פוה is related to פה, mouth. The Torah added the letter ו which is the mystical dimension of the עץ החיים, "the tree of life," the activity the mouths of the members of the tribe are busy with when studying Torah more than the mouths of secularly oriented people. The fact that this letter ו appears next to the letter ה suggests the mystical dimension of good characteristics combining within the persons studying Torah. The words משפחת הפוני suggest that one needs to divest oneself of all extraneous concerns, even from idle talk, if one wants to attain the maximum Torah knowledge and observance one is capable of achieving. I have found a comment by Rabbi Moshe Alshich on Exodus 28,31 according to which the mouths of Torah students are in the same category as the holy vessels used in the Temple. This is because of all the things that are sacred nothing is more sacred than Torah. Once the mouth has become a holy vessel it must not be abused to serve secular matters, even if the conversation one conducts is not slanderous or otherwise concerned with forbidden matters. This is precisely what the Torah hints at with the word לפוה, i.e. that any conversation not related to Torah should be avoided. As to the expression משפחת הפוני, the latter נ converts this word into פנות i.e. the turning aside or clearing out of all matters which interfere with the mouth being used for disseminating Torah.

The Torah continues לישוב, which suggests "sitting," i.e. that in order to study Torah in depth one has to sit down, one cannot study haphazardly a few minutes here and a few minutes there. This too is one of the 48 methods described in the Mishnah as a way to acquire Torah. Sitting down enables one to also activate other qualities useful in the acquisition and retention of Torah.

The Torah continues with the fourth son of Issachar לשמרן משפחת השמרני. The word שמרני suggest שמירה, "observance," something that the Torah student is even more duty-bound to be careful with than the average Jew. A sage in Yuma 86 was asked to give an example for the sin of חלול השם, a desecration of G'd's name. He answered: "if I were to buy meat and not pay cash on the spot." This gives us an inkling of how circumspect a Torah scholar has to be in every single one of his actions. We read in Chovat Halevavot in the fifth section of the chapter dealing with repentance that the pious people in former generations used to rather forego seventy things which are permissible in order to avoid violating even a single thing which is forbidden.

When the Torah continues: אלה משפחות יששכר לפקדיהם, the word פקדיהם is meant in a positive sense. The Torah describes the פקידה as 64,300. [The word Pekidah has a dual meaning; in addition to numbering or appointing, the plain meaning in our verse, it also means keeping something in mind, Ed.] The Torah hinted at two potential achievements here. 1) The terrestrial world can be fit to be the carrier of G'd's Presence, שכינה. This is alluded to in the number 64 being only one less than the numerical value of the name of G'd spelled א־ד־נ־י. The number 64 is the numerical value of the attribute of Justice, דין. Our task is to "sweeten" this attribute by means of Torah study so that we close the gap between what is represented by 64 and to achieve what is represented by the number 65 (compare Zohar volume 2 page 9). This is based on Deut. 22,6: "and the mother (bird) is sittting on the chicks (eggs)." 2) the attainment of life in the hreafter which is alluded to in the Mishnah by the mention of 310 worlds. In our verse this is alluded to by the words אלף ושלש מאות, 1300. [I believe the idea is that we are to imagine the number א=1 inserted within the number 300 making a total of 310. Ed.]

Before explaining the reason behind all this, let me first examine the statement of Rabbi Yoshua ben Levi in Uktzin 3,12 according to which the righteous will inherit 310 worlds. If the Rabbi meant to emphasise the number, why did the word in the Bible (Proverbs 8,21) which Rabbi Yoshua uses, i.e. יש, list the number ten before the number 300? It would have been more convincing if Solomon had written שי instead of יש! I have heard a beautiful explanation about this. The number 310 actually comprises 4 worlds, i.e. the worlds of אצילות, בריאה, יצירה and עשיה. Each one of these words contains or is dependent on the number 10, i.e. the 10 emanations [each emanation is divided into ten parts also. Ed.]. Rabbi Yoshua wanted to tell us that the righteous will enjoy the harmony in four different worlds. However, not every righteous person will enjoy this harmony in equal measure. All the righteous will experience all there is to experience in the lower three of these four worlds. When it comes to the highest of these worlds, the עולם האצילות, however, different souls of the righteous will experience only a fraction of the potentially ten parts of harmony to be experienced in that domain. Each of these parts is again divided into ten, so that Rabbi Yoshua assures the righteous that the minimum of the possible total of 400 "worlds" that each of the righteous will attain is 310, i.e. the total available in the lower three worlds and not less than one tenth of the potential attainable in the עולם האצילות. We need to appreciate further that the "tenth" part which one attains in the highest world is by itself worth more than all the spiritual achievements one has attained in the three lower worlds combined. This is what Solomon alluded to when instead of speaking of שי he spoke of יש, i.e. to remind us that the ultimate tenth one has attained in the fourth world is superior to the 300, i.e. 3×10×10 in the lower three worlds. In view of the aforegoing the אלף (1) which precedes the number 300 in the word אלף ושלש מאות, alludes to the small part of the potential available in the עולם האצילות and is parallel to the letter י in the word יש in Proverbs 8,21. The number 300 may be understood at its face value. The idea that every emanation is divided into ten parts itself so that every "world" is comprised of 100 units is found in Tikkuney Ha-Zohar chapter 69. This then is what is alluded to in the letters שכר in the name יששכר.