Like The Stars - Parshat Bamidbar

[Music] the book of bhamidva numbers begins with god commanding moshe to count the jewish people for a third time the first count was after the exodus from egypt the second after the disaster of the golden calf and now again when the divine presence rests on the jewish people god counts us again why does hashem why does god count the jewish people so often when something is dear to you you count it you check it constantly rashi says at the beginning of the book of shemot exodus god counts the jewish people to show their dearness that they are like the stars that hashem brings them out and in by their number and name what is the connection between the jewish people and the stars at the beginning of the torah it says and god made two great luminaries the greater luminary to rule the day and the lesser luminary to rule the night and the stars as she says they the sun and the moon were created equal in size in luminance but the moon was diminished because it protested and said is it possible for two kings to use the same crown [Music] the stars were only created after the diminution of the moon and only to comfort it for the loss of its radiance by giving it the honor of being accompanied by myriads of lights in other words the entire purpose of the creation of the stars was to make the moon feel better just as the entire creation of the stars was to be there for the moon so the creation of each jew is for us to be there for each other when we're there for each other we're like the stars and we're dear in hashem's eyes