Omer Day 46 – Wednesday is the festival of Shav’uot – or Pentecost. As we have counted
the days between Passover and Pentecost together there is great anticipation as to what
we will hear from the Holy One on that day. We all need to be ready to listen to God
when the 50’th day is reached.
This week’s reading, Bamidbar, begins the Book of Numbers, the fourth of the Five
Books of Moses. This book of the Torah opens on the first of Iyar, one month after
the inauguration of the Tabernacle, and several weeks before the Israelites will depart
from Mount Sinai and begin their journey to the Holy Land. In this week’s portion the
Israelites and the Tribe of Levi are counted separately. God instructs the Israelites on
how to camp in the desert, surrounding the Tabernacle. The Levites are informed the
procedure for dismantling the Tabernacle before traveling.
Let’s read from our Parsha:
Num 1:1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on
the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land
of Egypt, saying,
Num 1:2 “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by
fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head.
Num 1:3 From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you
and Aaron shall list them, company by company.
Num 1:4 And there shall be with you a man from each tribe, each man being the head of
the house of his fathers.
…
Num 1:17 Moses and Aaron took these men who had been named,
Num 1:18 and on the first day of the second month, they assembled the whole
congregation together, who registered themselves by clans, by fathers’ houses, according
to the number of names from twenty years old and upward, head by head,
Unity and difference are two contrasting, or even conflicting, themes of our time. On the
one hand there is a quest for unity, linking together, forgetting our differences and being
one. This applies in human relationships, in the business world, and is an element in
international politics. On the other hand there is the sense of distinctiveness, of a unique
identity, of an individual pathway and destiny.
How does this work for the group of people who call themselves Christian? Is there room
for difference, or do we all have to be the same? Of course, there are varied communities:
there are Methodists, Baptists, Lutheran, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and so on. And yet,
despite these differences, whether we like it or not, whether we recognize it or not, we are
all one people.
There is the same dual tendency within any single community, or even within a family.
Each person is an individual, with his or her unique characteristics, and at the same time,
we are one together.
Our Parshah (Numbers 1:1-4:20) gives us a hint about this dual feature of the Israelite
people and by extension this is applicable to us.
In this Parshah God tells Moses to count the people as individuals and also by their
families, within their tribes. During this process, Moses and Aaron have with them twelve
men, heads of each of the tribes, who are now given the name “communal leaders”, that
is: leaders not only of their individual tribes, but also of the entire community.
Commenting on this, the Lubavitcher Rebbe suggests that each tribe in fact represents
a distinctive pathway in life and in service of God. We see this from the distinctive
blessings which Moses gives each tribe at the end of his life. The counting by tribe and
by families within the tribes expresses the significance of being different and distinctive.
At the same time, all the different pathways join together in the single, united totality of
the Israelite people. This should be the model of the totality of the Christian community.
Each community (Baptist, non-denominational, Catholic…etc) is different and distinct.
Where we seem to fail in general is recognizing that we are all part of the same people –
the community of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
This is why the leader of each tribe is involved not only in the counting of his own
tribe but also that of the entire community. Indeed, as head of a tribe he is also called
a “communal leader”: his responsibility extends beyond his own Tribe, to every one
of the Israelite people. So, from what is modeled in the Torah we can conclude that
the tribal (denominational) leaders are responsible not only for their own tribe or
denomination, but for the entire community.
This presents a useful paradigm for each of us today. We are each unique, with
distinctive qualities. At the same time we form the totality of Christianity. Further,
like the heads of the tribes, our responsibilities are multiple: to our own selves and
our own group, and also to the entirety of Christianity. This combination of individual
distinctiveness and unity should be and could be the secret of our strength. It’s what
Yeshua prayed for his followers. It’s something that we should all strive for.
These audio files are stored (for free) at archive.org. CoM does not control or approve other content on archive.org