Chasidut sobre Números 31:60
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 30,12. “when you take a census of the Children of Israel according to their numbers, each shall pay the Lord a ransom for his person when being counted.”
Seeing that G’d so loves the Jewish people that He feels personally oppressed by their troubles, He gives them an advice on how to save their lives/souls from the attacks of the evil urge.
It is a fact that the “life”, i.e. continued existence of all phenomena in the universe, however exalted they may appear, is due only to the brightness that emanated from the Creator Who had to restrain Himself by garbing Himself in various veils of appropriate thickness in order to prevent His brightness from fatally harming the creatures He exposed to it, and He has to provide them with nourishment to enable them to remain alive.
We have an explicit Biblical verse in Nechemyah 9,6 spelling this out; we read there: ואתה מחיה את כולם, “and You keep them all alive,” [by providing appropriate sustenance. Ed.] If this applies to the universe’s creatures generally, how much more so does it apply to G’d’s favorite nation, the Jewish people. (Compare psalms 135,4-“for the Lord has chosen Yaakov for Himself.” The Jewish people are a means through which G’d illuminates the universe, as we know from Isaiah 2,5: בית יעקב לכו ונלכה באור ה', “House of Yaakov, let us walk by the light of the Lord.”) From internalizing the meaning of these verses we come to the conclusion that when we pass through a period of distress and troubles, one that has been brought about by G’d’s having to discipline us, He Himself is also experiencing part of this pain. We have already mentioned elsewhere that the root of evil befalling the Jewish people is actually one manner in which G’d reveals that He is –“G’d.”
Our verse commencing with: כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל וגו' לפקודיהם, reminds us of the meaning of the root, as we find it in Numbers 31,49 לא נפקד ממנו איש, ”not a single one of our number is missing.” [After the 12000 men who took part in the punitive campaign against Midian had returned. Ed.] G’d tells Moses that if he is interested in raising the status of the Jewish people from their depressed state, (after the sin of the golden calf), he is to see to it that each of the men between 20 and 60 pray to the Lord to redeem them from the attacks of the perennial antagonist, Satan who is always at work trying to seduce them into transgressing His commandments. [Contribution of a half shekel to the Temple treasury is merely a symbolic gesture of atoning for the guilt stemming from their involvement in that sin. Ed.]
Seeing that G’d so loves the Jewish people that He feels personally oppressed by their troubles, He gives them an advice on how to save their lives/souls from the attacks of the evil urge.
It is a fact that the “life”, i.e. continued existence of all phenomena in the universe, however exalted they may appear, is due only to the brightness that emanated from the Creator Who had to restrain Himself by garbing Himself in various veils of appropriate thickness in order to prevent His brightness from fatally harming the creatures He exposed to it, and He has to provide them with nourishment to enable them to remain alive.
We have an explicit Biblical verse in Nechemyah 9,6 spelling this out; we read there: ואתה מחיה את כולם, “and You keep them all alive,” [by providing appropriate sustenance. Ed.] If this applies to the universe’s creatures generally, how much more so does it apply to G’d’s favorite nation, the Jewish people. (Compare psalms 135,4-“for the Lord has chosen Yaakov for Himself.” The Jewish people are a means through which G’d illuminates the universe, as we know from Isaiah 2,5: בית יעקב לכו ונלכה באור ה', “House of Yaakov, let us walk by the light of the Lord.”) From internalizing the meaning of these verses we come to the conclusion that when we pass through a period of distress and troubles, one that has been brought about by G’d’s having to discipline us, He Himself is also experiencing part of this pain. We have already mentioned elsewhere that the root of evil befalling the Jewish people is actually one manner in which G’d reveals that He is –“G’d.”
Our verse commencing with: כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל וגו' לפקודיהם, reminds us of the meaning of the root, as we find it in Numbers 31,49 לא נפקד ממנו איש, ”not a single one of our number is missing.” [After the 12000 men who took part in the punitive campaign against Midian had returned. Ed.] G’d tells Moses that if he is interested in raising the status of the Jewish people from their depressed state, (after the sin of the golden calf), he is to see to it that each of the men between 20 and 60 pray to the Lord to redeem them from the attacks of the perennial antagonist, Satan who is always at work trying to seduce them into transgressing His commandments. [Contribution of a half shekel to the Temple treasury is merely a symbolic gesture of atoning for the guilt stemming from their involvement in that sin. Ed.]
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Kedushat Levi
Based on the considerations outlined, we will try and explain why we have been commanded to eat Matzah on Passover and to offer certain sacrifices in the Temple, and why on the festival of Shavuot we have been commanded to present two loaves of bread which had to consist of leavened dough, as well as a thanksgiving offering consisting partly of unleavened breads and partly of leavened breads.
Matzah alludes to creatures who serve the Lord due to the impact upon them of G’d’s miracles; even the plain meaning of the text in Exodus 12,15-17 alludes to this as it contains a commandment to eat matzah as a reminder to future generations of the speed, i.e. suddenness, with which the Egyptians reversed their attitude as the masters of the Jews, to driving them out with all possible speed as we know from Exodus 12,39 which tells us that the departure of the Jews from Egypt occurred in such haste that they did not even have time to allow the dough for next day’s bread to rise before baking. Consuming the meat of the Passover took place in similar haste, the people being dressed while eating it, ready to begin marching at any moment. (ibid, i.e. ויאפו את הבצק עגות מצות וגו', “they baked the dough into matzah cakes etc.,) The symbolic acts that we, the descendants of the generation of Israelites leaving Egypt at that time, perform on the anniversary of that event, all reflect the suddenness and haste in which the redemption literally overtook them. These acts mirror the impact that G’d’s miracles had on the Jews at that time. In contrast to this, when the same people arrived in the desert of Sinai, prior to receiving the Torah, seven weeks later, they had time to prepare themselves for that event for three days, i.e. the miracles that occurred in connection with that event did not take them by surprise. By that time they had come to realize that G’d’s performing miracles was something “natural,” not supernatural, seeing that the source of these “miracles” was the same Creator Who had performed the greatest miracles by creating the universe. When they reflected that out of all the phenomena in the universe that they were aware of it was only G’d Who could have created them by merely uttering the necessary words, they no longer needed “miracles” to persuade them that there was such a power, [even though it remained invisible. Ed.] To reflect their new found insights, the offerings presented on the festival of Shavuot did not require matzah as a symbol of the Israelites’ recognition that their redemption had been a miracle, in the sense of something supernatural performed by G’d.
The Talmud in B’rachot 54, when stating that 4 types of individuals need to offer thanksgiving offerings (containing also leavened breads) after they had been saved by means of a miraculous event, reflects the sages’ recognition that for the people concerned the miracle had been performed in order that they serve G’d first of all because He demonstrated His ability to transcend the laws of nature. Subsequently, the people who had learned this lesson would become accustomed to serving the Lord for the same reasons that the Jewish people served Him starting with their experiences at Mount Sinai. This is reflected in the part of the thanksgiving offering consisting of leavened breads. The very fact that this offering consists of these apparently contradictory ingredients, indicates that the person offering it is aware of his own spiritual/philosophical progress.
Looking at the history of the Jewish people during their march through the desert, the sin of the golden calf represented a spiritual regression to the level of needing miracles to keep them aware of the greatness of the Lord and the duty to serve Him. The Jewish people only recaptured even the first level of serving the Lord, i.e. through the help of miracles to remind them of Him and His power at the time when the Tabernacle was inaugurated, almost nine months after their having worshipped the golden calf. According to Nachmanides, this is the reason why the Tabernacle is referred to as משכן העדות, “Tabernacle of Testimony,” i.e. its consecration bore testimony to the fact that the people had regained their spiritual level as it had been at the time when they had been redeemed from slavery in Egypt.
The word פקודי in our verse needs to be understood in the sense of something being lacking, absent, as we know from Numbers 31,49 ולא נפקד ממנו איש, “not a single man from us is missing.” [after the punitive expedition against the Midianites) The word appears in a similar sense also repeatedly in the Book of Samuel. Ed.] The Torah hints that even with the completion of the Tabernacle, the former lofty spiritual level of the Jewish people as it had been at the end of the revelation at Mount Sinai had not been restored.
Matzah alludes to creatures who serve the Lord due to the impact upon them of G’d’s miracles; even the plain meaning of the text in Exodus 12,15-17 alludes to this as it contains a commandment to eat matzah as a reminder to future generations of the speed, i.e. suddenness, with which the Egyptians reversed their attitude as the masters of the Jews, to driving them out with all possible speed as we know from Exodus 12,39 which tells us that the departure of the Jews from Egypt occurred in such haste that they did not even have time to allow the dough for next day’s bread to rise before baking. Consuming the meat of the Passover took place in similar haste, the people being dressed while eating it, ready to begin marching at any moment. (ibid, i.e. ויאפו את הבצק עגות מצות וגו', “they baked the dough into matzah cakes etc.,) The symbolic acts that we, the descendants of the generation of Israelites leaving Egypt at that time, perform on the anniversary of that event, all reflect the suddenness and haste in which the redemption literally overtook them. These acts mirror the impact that G’d’s miracles had on the Jews at that time. In contrast to this, when the same people arrived in the desert of Sinai, prior to receiving the Torah, seven weeks later, they had time to prepare themselves for that event for three days, i.e. the miracles that occurred in connection with that event did not take them by surprise. By that time they had come to realize that G’d’s performing miracles was something “natural,” not supernatural, seeing that the source of these “miracles” was the same Creator Who had performed the greatest miracles by creating the universe. When they reflected that out of all the phenomena in the universe that they were aware of it was only G’d Who could have created them by merely uttering the necessary words, they no longer needed “miracles” to persuade them that there was such a power, [even though it remained invisible. Ed.] To reflect their new found insights, the offerings presented on the festival of Shavuot did not require matzah as a symbol of the Israelites’ recognition that their redemption had been a miracle, in the sense of something supernatural performed by G’d.
The Talmud in B’rachot 54, when stating that 4 types of individuals need to offer thanksgiving offerings (containing also leavened breads) after they had been saved by means of a miraculous event, reflects the sages’ recognition that for the people concerned the miracle had been performed in order that they serve G’d first of all because He demonstrated His ability to transcend the laws of nature. Subsequently, the people who had learned this lesson would become accustomed to serving the Lord for the same reasons that the Jewish people served Him starting with their experiences at Mount Sinai. This is reflected in the part of the thanksgiving offering consisting of leavened breads. The very fact that this offering consists of these apparently contradictory ingredients, indicates that the person offering it is aware of his own spiritual/philosophical progress.
Looking at the history of the Jewish people during their march through the desert, the sin of the golden calf represented a spiritual regression to the level of needing miracles to keep them aware of the greatness of the Lord and the duty to serve Him. The Jewish people only recaptured even the first level of serving the Lord, i.e. through the help of miracles to remind them of Him and His power at the time when the Tabernacle was inaugurated, almost nine months after their having worshipped the golden calf. According to Nachmanides, this is the reason why the Tabernacle is referred to as משכן העדות, “Tabernacle of Testimony,” i.e. its consecration bore testimony to the fact that the people had regained their spiritual level as it had been at the time when they had been redeemed from slavery in Egypt.
The word פקודי in our verse needs to be understood in the sense of something being lacking, absent, as we know from Numbers 31,49 ולא נפקד ממנו איש, “not a single man from us is missing.” [after the punitive expedition against the Midianites) The word appears in a similar sense also repeatedly in the Book of Samuel. Ed.] The Torah hints that even with the completion of the Tabernacle, the former lofty spiritual level of the Jewish people as it had been at the end of the revelation at Mount Sinai had not been restored.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 31,3. “Moses spoke to the people, saying: “let men be picked from among you for a campaign, and let them fall upon Midian to wreak G’d’s vengeance on Midian.”
When someone goes out into battle fully trusting in the Lord to help him (believing his cause to be just) he will surely succeed, as he does not engage in battle for his own sake but is concerned exclusively with carrying out G’d’s will. Our verse therefore has to be understood as follows: “let the men to be picked for the army be those who will not engage in the battle for their own sake, i.e. with a view to the booty to be gained, but who do so only in order to be the vehicle for G’d’s vengeance on Midian.”...
When someone goes out into battle fully trusting in the Lord to help him (believing his cause to be just) he will surely succeed, as he does not engage in battle for his own sake but is concerned exclusively with carrying out G’d’s will. Our verse therefore has to be understood as follows: “let the men to be picked for the army be those who will not engage in the battle for their own sake, i.e. with a view to the booty to be gained, but who do so only in order to be the vehicle for G’d’s vengeance on Midian.”...
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 31,7. “they took the field against Midian as G’d had commanded Moses”
It was quite possible that these soldiers or some of them would entertain egotistical notions, such as the amassing of a great deal of loot, as turned out to be the case. By stressing that the soldiers acted in accordance with what G’d had commanded Moses, the Torah testifies that any thought of booty and other advantages to be gained by this campaign did not surface until after the campaign had ended.
It was quite possible that these soldiers or some of them would entertain egotistical notions, such as the amassing of a great deal of loot, as turned out to be the case. By stressing that the soldiers acted in accordance with what G’d had commanded Moses, the Torah testifies that any thought of booty and other advantages to be gained by this campaign did not surface until after the campaign had ended.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Likutei Halakhot
This corresponds to the immersing of vessels: a vessel that is purchased from a non-Jew must be immersed in the ritual bath so that a Jew will be able to eat with it. (Yoreh Deah 120:1). When a vessel is in the possession of a non-Jew, who corresponds to nature, to the essence of impurity, the vessel cannot leave it to enter into the possession of a Jew, into holiness, other than by immersion in a ritual bath, corresponding to providence, to knowledge, as in (Isaiah 11:9) "for the earth will be filled with knowledge as the sea". This is because the food of a Jew must be very holy, and food is sanctified mainly by knowledge, which is a revelation of providence. This corresponds to eating matzo on Passover, because we reveal providence specifically by eating matzo. Adam caused a blemish when he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which corresponds to natural sciences, which are comprised of good and evil. This knowledge is of the realm of evil, a blemish of holy knowledge. This blemish was caused mainly by eating, for the main rectification of eating is specifically through faith, as in "remain faithful" (Psalms 37:3) as mentioned elsewhere. LM I 62. When a person does not eat with sanctity, knowledge, which corresponds to Providence, is blemished and the person falls into the mistaken belief of natural science, as written, (Deuteronomy 8:12) "lest you eat, be satiated and your heart becomes haughty and you forget G-d your Lord and you say in your heart my power and the might of my hand have accomplished this for me". In other words, the person attributes it to nature, as if his sustenance comes from his own power in the mind of his hand and he does not acknowledge Providence. This is the meaning of 'my power and the might of my hand', a blemish in the hands, in the 28 phalanges of the hands, in the 28 letters of creation. This is the meaning of (Deuteronomy 8:18) "remember G-d your Lord for He gives you power". Indeed, everything is the providence of G-d, who created everything with the 28 letters of creation, who oversees everything at all times, and who gives power, for G-d oversees and sustains the world through the 28 letters of creation. Therefore the Jewish people must greatly sanctify their food and eating. This is represented by many Commandments connected with eating and drinking, for the revelation of providence is mainly dependent upon the sanctity of foods. Thus, 'and be satiated and blessed G-d your Lord over the good land': bless G-d after eating, through knowing that everything is from His providence. And over the good land, for the land of Israel corresponds to Providence, as written (Deuteronomy 11:12) "the eyes of G-d your Lord are always upon it". This corresponds to the eating of the manna, as in (Exodus 16:4), "I will rain down for you bread from heaven", for it came down slowly through Providence each and every day, besides other miracles connected with it. Believing that sustenance comes only from G-d, solely in His providence, without any natural causes at all, for He gives power - this is eating manna, as in, the Torah was only given to those who eat manna. Mekhilta B’Shalach 17:17. Therefore when the Israelites first came near to their Father in heaven during Passover of the Exodus from Egypt, they had to eat matzoh, which represents the mind, knowledge, corresponding to manna for by eating matzoh on Passover great knowledge is evoked and we come to know that everything is only providence. This is the essential closeness of the Jewish people to their Father in heaven. And therefore a vessel that has been in the possession of a non-Jew, who represents the realm of impurity, for they attribute things to nature, which is from where judgments and the forces of evil draw their main power, that vessel is unusable for a Jewish meal unless it has been immersed in a ritual bath. In this way, the vessel leaves the realm of nature and enters the realm of knowledge, of providence, of the world of the future, represented by the ritual bath, as explained above. This corresponds to the purification of vessels (Numbers 31:23) "whatever passes through fire you shall pass through fire, for they emerged from fire and fire will consume them". Since forbidden food, which is impure, has been absorbed into the vessel, corresponding to nature, for all impurities and forbidden things are drawn from heresies, that vessel has no purification other than by fire, which is the source of nature, as said, for they have emerged from fire. But as long as forbidden food has not been absorbed into the vessel but has only left the possession of a non-Jew, thereby also leaving his knowledge, for a person's greatest possession is his knowledge, with which he aquires all of his belongings, as in "if you have acquired knowledge what do you lack"? (Nedarim 41a), therefore when the vessel leaves the possession, the knowledge, of a non-Jew, representing the realm of nature, then immersion in a ritual bath is sufficient. A ritual bath represents the world of the future, from where providence is drawn to break and eliminate the realm of nature, through which we move from impurity to purity, from the possession of a non-Jew to the possession of a Jew, who is above nature.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy