Parsha Perspective For Today - Bamidbar 5783/2023 - Making Everyone Feel Counted

okay Booker Tov good morning welcome back to partial perspectives for today thank you for your continued flexibility for simchas so I won't apologize but I'm grateful that you are willing to uh ride this fun adventure of different days with shiram as we celebrate our Parsha series is generously sponsored by Becky Navi cats and family in memory of David Grossman this morning is sponsored by Judy and Mitch tarrigan and family a member of Jerry towergan Yeshua Dove Ben rabba's real on his first year outside is the shamish and by Lee and Danny Waxman of Cedarhurst New York as the air conditioner was Danny's mother whose 10th year outside is well thank you so much to our generous sponsors we greatly greatly appreciate it okay this week we have the privilege and pleasure of the beginning the fourth book of the Torah the book of the mid bar page 770 uh that is not the page page 726 in the Arts girl Stone and here the Torah goes out of its way it deviates from his unusual practice to give us the Topography of the land in which the message is delivered not only that Hashem spoke to Moshe but where the coordinates the geography the topography it was in the desert it was in the omoid it was on the first day of the second month in the second year from what count based on what calculation from when they left Egypt leimore and he did so saying he did so saying the following our book has several names we know this book as the book of if you were to tell people I went to a Pasha class today and we studied the Parsha and the beginning of the book of it's not a trick question you can all get it right the fourth book of the Torah and that is the name addressed in the mentioned in the measures gracious rabba however among we have different names for this book this is all quoted in the oatsar PLO Satora he says first of all it's called safer vaidabir there are several midrashram brishes who refer to it as the book of The Book Of God speaking to Moshe and through Moshe to us that's the name that Russia uses in several places makes sense we have many books who are named after the first word of that book the first word of this book is it makes sense the book be known as alternatively a third option we have which is the book of counting the book of countings it's mentioned this way in the mission mission this is the volume the third book the book of counting it's mentioned several places in shops and many midrashim because that characterizes the book which we'll study in a moment we'll see more in depth in a moment the notion of counting being counted counting or a fourth option so we have yashar the USA Sota you know in Israel if you get lost and you're looking for directions what do they tell you yeah means it's never by the way straight it's never yashar yashar that's another way of saying I don't have time for you yashar yashar yashar means straight be straight be honest have integrity who were the first who taught us this the prerequisites of the Torah there is even before you study and live Torah first you have to live with derekharat with good quality and good character and who taught us that the others so the first opinion the yushami is that safe vibrations is called safer hayasha however the second opinion is the fourth book what we call them isra straight and narrow and that's the korbana either the commentary on the yoshami says it's called safari because because that appears in this safer that a person should be included among those who are yashar honest Integrity straight faithful loyal and so on perhaps it's called The Book of a heaven so because we haven't hear what we sing when we take out the state for Torah our own so we have many many suggestions many possibilities of what this book is called the huskuni offers another suggestion how many were we up to four or five the scooney has another one but Lush and Latin necrasefire numeri numere means numbers in Latin The Book of Numbers which really is a Latin translation of which word The Book of Numbers in the book of counting the last miss parim the Book of Numbers in Latin numeri this is the book of The Book of counting because it's significant now we call up amidbar the desert because that's the first significant word used by motion those are all important words but not unusual or specific words then for a specific word that's used is it a coincidence that Hashem speaks in the mid bar why do we care the climate the topography the geography it's the message that matters why is it why is it where and if I want to quote an important conversation I have with someone I quote the content of the conversation not we were in Starbucks which Starbucks the one on Glades near the turnpike we sat outside it was a hot and humid day the land was very flat no but what did you say what was the content of the conversation who cares who cares where or who cares the topography who cares the climate why does it matter why do we begin so the metrics gives a famous because anyone who does not transform themselves anyone who does not make themselves like a mid bar a desert what is a desert characterized by the core character of a desert is mid-bar hefker it's Barren it's open It Is A Wasteland it's Barren it's desolate it is ownerless the prerequisite the way to acquire the wisdom of Torah is that first you have to wipe your slate clean first you have to purge all your preconceived notions the Torah can't compete with you with your view of the world with your preconceived notions with your biases that you approach the world with if you want to truly receive Torah what do you have to do transform yourself into a mid bone that's what the good morning Irvin teaches the gamara says from the Wilderness telling us about the travels you have to be willing to be a mid bar a Tabla rasa this is today was brought to you by Latin and that's about all the Latin I know ex nilo that's an other Latin phrase that's it I've exhausted all my Latin right there but you have to be a tabular ass you have to be a blank slate a clean white board you have to say Torah teach me I'm not going to impose on Torah my preconceived notions my biases my predilections my preconceived ideas Torah you teach me you engrave and etch yourself on me I'm willing to make myself into a mid bar I'm willing to make myself into a mid bar midburg is a place of selflessness no one has an ego there is no arrogance in the mid bar the mid bar you're trying to survive the middle are mid bar all are created equal and the idea is Torah you teach me I'm not going to teach you Allah teaches the Torah can only be etched and engraved and carved on a person who's willing to kill himself on it so this means like we read last week means you can't sit back casual truly and learn Torah you don't sit back in a recliner you know what happens to the safer that you learn on a Friday night after the meal when you stretch out in the recliner it ends up on the floor in a puddle of drool that's what ends up with that safer that's not Torah Torah mail him you gotta work you got a toil you got to make effort you got to break your teeth you got to try you gotta kill yourself on it you have to kill yourself to really acquire it that which we receive casually and now what you receive comfortably it doesn't last we don't remember it that which we kill ourselves on just think to your childhood think about what you worked hard on which degree and which curriculum which area of study well you worked hardest on you remember the most and you have the greatest emotional connection with and what you casually were a spectator to you came you listened you're playing on your phone while you're also half listening and by the time you left you forgot the entire thing I know in our youth would never the phone to play on while we were in class I got it you doodled what you were doodling with or passing notes to your friend on whatever was the version we did when we were younger but when we listened to casually we don't remember what we killed ourselves on became part of who we are you have to be named Atma however the Bali mustard come along the Bali Muslim say what does it means you could only really acquire Torah you should name this atsumo you have to be willing to kill your sense of self theatsmo is one of my preconceived notions what are my biases what am I imposing on Torah rather than a Torah imposed on me you have to be willing to be may miss atsmo you have to kill the sense of atsmo you have to kill that sense of self if you want to really be willing to acquire Torah it's not a coincidence this job is precious by mid-bur always appears before the holiday of us if you didn't get the memo is next week next Thursday night next Friday in Shabbos that means that this job is purchased by mid bars the shop is before shavuas this fired him refer to the Shabbos to Shabbos hakala this is the Shabbos of the Bride because she was getting married to Hashem he lifts the mountain over our head like the Chupa Shabbos we're going to have a marriage to Hashem so before the marriage that's the shabbas how do we prepare how do we get ready we read the book of babidbar we start safer but midbar we're may miss atsmo we kill our self sense of self that you're supposed to do before you get married before you get married you don't entirely surrender your sense of self of course you absorb your sense of self and you maintain and express your sense of self into marriage but it means you can't be self-centered or selfish the world no longer revolves around you you have to be willing to compromise and integrate your life with another this is the Shabbos of our this is the shabbas kala the Shabbos before shavuas we're going to get married to Hashem the Shabbos of we have to be willing to make ourselves into amid bar we've shared many times when we get upstairs the Imran Chavez tells us we will be asked a series of questions and one of the questions we're asked is did you set aside time for Total Learning that's a question of shavuas we received the Torah do we make time for Torah do we make time for God do we designate time every day to learn and study his his Torah however you could read it a little bit differently not only did you make time for Torah but did you set aside time for Torah can mean cavata means to establish to interpret it could mean did you see the world through Torah or did you see Torah through the world itim could mean the times the times in which we live so you're trying to interpret how do I make sense of everything happening around me how do I interpret it how do I make sense of it what is true what is right what is just do I interpret the times based on the values of Torah or kavata Torah or do I take what is the what are the mares and the ethics what is the Zeitgeist of the time and now I try to mold and shape Torah into my preconceived notions we have to turn ourselves into a mid bar that the Torah is molding us we're not molding and shaping Torah to conform with our views do we conform with Torah or do we try to manipulate and distort Torah to conform with our views that's the beginning of and that is how we prepare for the yante for the holiday of chivalus however back to the utsar Plus why is it called Sheamus shmos the marbham writes but misbar shamos Bene Israel right the second possible Israel this is what Hashem said to Moshe in that mid bar Sue was some take a census it's called The Book of counting the book of numbers because it begins with a census begins with an accounting of all the Jewish people according to their families according to their father's household and here we have what seems to be a contradiction means according to their means according to their name every male according to their head count the mobim says how do you count Jews don't count people what happens when we count people we don't count people because that number taking that pride in the number of people shining a spotlight on the proliferation on the great number of people can welcome jealousy Envy can welcome questioning of our worthiness and therefore it could welcome the influence and the power of ayanhara so we don't count people what do we count names so they would fill out a piece of paper and they would write their name and then we would count the names not the people says the malbim in order to avoid the Lush in order to avoid the Ayana the mama mads this is what happened with David Israel same thing count the names he told his General yoth to count the people and they counted the people and what happened there was an eye inhara and there was a plague that came and there was an entire problem that ensued that ensued has an amazing comment here the ramban says a name or a number they seem to be a contradiction of two separate things in fact let's see the Mega Jose for a second before we look at the ramban an amazing ramban but the mega Joseph reviewers we've shared this before in different people's names this year we share the name of the mega Joseph similar idea it seems to be a contradiction why is it a contradiction because the word number connotes it suggests what you're a number there's nothing specific there's nothing individual about you there's nothing distinct or distinguished about you you're just a number a number has no identity in fact the Nazis one of the ways they dehumanized us was to tattoo a number on the arm you don't have a name you're not a person there's no individualism you don't have a destiny you don't have a mission you're not a name all you are is a number on the other hand shamos a name a name is a description Fazal tell us that parents are endowed with a certain divine inspiration when they give a name to a child because a name is not an arbitrary label the name is a description a name is a prediction a name is the character of the person so which is it like a number you're one of many what number are you you're one of many when a person joins the army they get their tags and they're a number in the army you're number two number two is only relevant compared to building upon number one by Edition by receiving by accepting a number you are that number relative to the number that comes before the number that comes after so when you get your dog tags in the Army you're a number in the Army you're a member of your unit or your platoon you're a member of the army however on the other hand shamos a name is individual distinct where do we see that when God passes all the animals in front of adamarishon and he invites Adam to give each one what a name and what is he giving them a description a label so which is it which is it did Hashem tell Moshe to do a census in order to count the number you're just a number blend in fall in get in line or are you a name who are you what's your description what's your unique Mission what is your destiny and he develops here the answer is both the answer is a year to Jew we are supposed to see ourselves concomitantly simultaneously we're supposed to see ourselves as both on the one hand I'm a number don't get too arrogant don't be too focused on your ego don't be too concerned with your name your Fame you're a number you're a member of a unit you're a member of platoon you're part of hashem's army fall in line do your job report for Duty do what's meant of you on the other hand your name you of a unique this Destiny you have a unique Mission you are a unique person and what else do you see this as the mega Joseph says reviews predicting about his progeny his children what are the two brothers your children will number as great as they stars in the sky on the other hand they'll also be as many as thee sands on the beach every grain of sand on the beach does it have a name no a little grain of sand on the beach it's negligible it doesn't have a name doesn't have a number it's negligible it's nothing however every star in the sky every Star has its own name astrologers astronomers they look to the sky and they count the stars and every Star has its own name they give a name I think you could go online and like for a loved one you can buy a name for a star for their birthday for their anniversary every Star you can name a star every Star has a name so this too was the Brach Hashem was telling avram avinu on the one hand your children need to know their stars and we call it a superstar superstar someone who's an up and coming star someone is an up-and-coming Superstar on the other hand the grains of sand on the beach they're negligible they're nothing in fact the grains of sand on the beach one grain if you take a piece of grain of sand and you put on the tip of your finger and you look at your finger you could barely even see it there does it have meaning does it have a purpose does it have a mission it's nothing it's only when you add up all the grains of sand together that you have a beach and now it's protecting the land from the sea it's only when it falls into the many it's only when it combines with the masses now you have a beach now you have protecting the land but each grain of sand on its own is nothing says the mega Joseph that is the mispar shamos where a number and a name every yet every Jew is supposed to live simultaneously the whole world exists for me I have a mission I have a purpose I'm here for a reason the world needs me on the other hand I'm just a number I just blend in I'm just serving Hashem that is why I'm here and that is what I am that is what I meant to do that is what I am meant to do that is the Megan Yosef let's go back to the rambanics I want to you an amazing ramban an amazing ramban the ramban says the following Tama miteration motion arm were commanded they need to know the census you need to know the data the numbers of how many Jews there are no every tribe because that's what elected officials that's what people have positions of power that's what Kings do you need a census of your nation is another number tribe I understand each tribe how many people are in the tribe in order to know the encampment the logo the emblem the flag which we'll get to the golos I got it but why do you need to know the senses of how many people maybe this is part of the expression of the miracle of gratitude to Hashem how many were we when went down descended to Egypt 70. and now we number like the sand of the sea over 600 000. wow hashem's goodness is graciousness is kindness look at this population explosion but then the ramban continues vote of course when every Jew would pass in front of motion our own and give his half shekel you know what would happen put their eyes on that person and would make everyone who passed in front of them feel they count They're Not Invisible they're not inconsequential they matter they count they make a difference Hashem is omnipotent infinite Hashem could have transmitted to Moshe here's the census taken instantly why do they have to go through this exercise of actually counting painstakingly each and every Jew because the goal was not to arrive at the final number that Hashem could have delivered or transmitted easily instantaneously what was the goal the exercise of counting each person which would result in making each person feel that they count making each person feel that they count is like a kleisenberger sounds kleisenberg and this is what he writes in the chef is quoted this ramban many times this ramban this comment this interpretation is every year it came in front of motion Aaron and gave it little they wrote down their name in the name of their father um would receive the half-shakal and they would look at the name is may know you since before you're born the rubber could be your sanduk but he's still filling out your name in the name of your mother and then then you're chewing your spouse and you pick what do you have to give a crittle the rubber knows everybody based on this ramban that you would appear to get a bracha before the Reba motion iron with the original rabbits and you write down your name when you appeared this also might be why you when you go to give a name while you also give pigeon why do you give some money you give some money just like they give them with the original crittal to motion our own so similarly we're engaging in this practice has a long essay on the origins and the practices the different men hug him of what we write down the mother's name the father's name which name we invoke and the names that we're writing and what that sadik is looking at when he sees the name and uh don't the monkacha says don't ask for too many things shouldn't be too long don't write a whole dissertation that you want you want success within success is everything and here is a long beautiful essay on it if you want to know more about the Minogue of kritlach and then he quotes from monkach there was a minute afterwards they collect all the clip lock and they burn them they would destroy them and the babic if you go to the Earl of the rabba you write equator you can't hand it to the river he's no longer in this world but you rip it and then throw it in and somehow he accesses it it's not burnt it's ripped others have them in hug him to to burn it very fascinating but this is the ramban at the beginning of our pasture and I think it's such a powerful powerful ramban the image and the description the mission of leaders is to connect with people to make them count that leaders should make people feel that they count that they number that they're consequential that they make a difference and the purpose of the census was not to arrive at the final number that Hashem could have transmitted easily miraculously the purpose of the census was to go one by one and to say what's your name what's your family name pinch your cheek give a little kiss on the Kappa and say oh you count you matter you make a difference the gra said that during the era of Prophecy when we had prophets there was no need for anyone to determine his own purpose in life you'd go to the navi go to the prophet and the prophet would say this is why you're here this is your mission this is what you matter this is the difference you're meant to make this is what your life is all about and suddenly a person who came before Moshe the Afghan simply being the presence of Moshe and our own you felt you matter you felt charged and pumped and make a difference you gotta go change the world I've got to go make my contribution I've got to go make my my difference to this world that's what the game says every Jew has to save the whole world created just for me and maybe this is revolba maybe this is why we're reading safer about mid bar right before Mata before Kabbalah Satora before the yantev of Shiva one is the book of amidbar come before the yantube of shavuas because every year needs to know I matter I make a difference if a person is not aware if a person is not mindful or conscious of their own importance you cannot begin your avode in Torah you can't receive the Torah special obviously Weinfeld was fantastic amazing Shabbos is a beautiful basement incredible personality it was a beautiful Shabbos so we sat on shower this morning tells us that when the Moshe went up on high to receive the Torah the Angels complained to Hashem and they said what are you giving the torment to these lowly fallible human beings so Hashem turned to motion he said no give an answer tell him why so Moshe says me I I can't answer the question Hashem said grab onto the kisser cover hold on to my chair hold on to keep you stable and you'll be able to answer the question so avoid Valdez Hashem was giving us the Torah not Moshe so it was for Hashem to answer the Angels challenge why did Hashem insist that Moshe be the one to answer your Weinfeld said he says because if you don't know why you deserve the Torah then you don't deserve it if you don't know who you are and why you deserve the Torah you don't deserve the Torah a person has to know they deserve a person has to know who they are you have to have self-esteem self-confidence self-awareness you have to know who you are and why you're here and the mission that you have and then and only then are you ready to receive the Torah and he says the measures tells us that after the maricion after Adam there was a zuama there was a spiritual contamination that came to this world and at matantora we were purged we were cleansed we were showered from that Zuma it was removed from us what does that mean that it came when we aided it was removed from us when we stood at harsinai and Matan Torah what does that mean what does that mean so Weinfeld says when we ate of the eight sadas why did we eat of the eight of Das it's a Das because the nachash the snake seduced into believing they wanted to be like the posix says Elohim and the first say what does Elohim an angel said we're not sure why we're here who are we what's this world all about why are we here they were uncomfortable in their own skin so they said I want to be like him I want to be like the angel when you're uncomfortable like your own skin you only strive to be like someone else I want to be like that influencer I want to be like that famous person I want to be like that neighbor of mine I want to be like that family member of mine we compete We compare we try to be someone else we're trying to be Elohim they were trying to be someone else so they made a mistake and what happened when we left Hashem a person what do you mean yet faith in Hashem and faith in Moshe that's not our religion we only have faith in Hashem we don't have faith in people and because we had faith in Hashem and that were each at Salem Elohim we have to have faith in ourselves Moshe is Moshe is the person whose Cola all people inside him Moshe is the Paradigm of all people so what it means we had faith in Hashem and faith in Moshe as it means we had faith in ourselves I'm here for a reason I'm a Divine expression I'm a manifestation of Hashem we had faith in ourselves so in Egypt we had a slave mentality in Egypt we just blended into one another but we stood at Christian we had faith in Hashem we started to believe in ourselves so when we came to harsinai with self-confidence self-esteem self-awareness with a belief in our personal mission now we were ready to receive the Torah it removed the zuama that came from the eightsadas when we try to be someone else because we didn't know who we were when we were uncomfortable in our own skin we grew comfortable in our own skin and Cesar Weinfeld maybe that's why what we say I'm pesach if all we did was come to our Sinai but we never received the Torah Diana what do you mean the whole purpose of the whole goal was to receive the Torah what was it would have been enough to be in our Sinai it would have been enough just to have that self-esteem that self-awareness that knowledge of who we are that worthiness just that feeling of our own worthiness would have been enough even if we didn't receive the Torah the fact that we were ready and prepared to receive the Torah so that reinfeld said all this past Shabbos but revolver writes on our passion he writes why do we read by midbar before she was because this message this ramban every person passed before Moshe they wrote down their name and they gave him and Moshe and arm pinched their cheek and gave a kiss on Kappa and said you're somebody I'm so happy you're here you are here for a reason you make a difference you make a difference every person is here for a reason people need to know that and we're only ready to receive a Torah when we know that when we realize that you know a few weeks ago I'm behind the bimar marathon Global episode one of the people we interviewed on that Global episode four hour Global episode was Daniel kalish you may recall he said something amazing I was talking to him about because he has a Magic Touch he's able to reach people inspire people he's such a special special Jew so we were talking about it and he said that he recently met a big Rabbi he obviously didn't share the name a well-known famous prominent Rabbi and that Rabbi said to her by kalish do you know last year how many teenagers do you think I spoke to he said I spoke to 2 000 teenagers I forgot two thousand three thousand teenagers I spoke at all these yeshivas and seminaries and all the schools in shabbatons I spoke to two thousand three thousand teenagers you know Michaelis looked at me in the interview and he said he said you know I told that Rabbi I would have been much more impressed if you said you know this past year I listened to 3 000 teenagers this past year I listened to I heard three thousand teenagers Michaelis was making the point that young people don't need to be spoken to they need to feel that they're listened to they need to feel their herd that there's someone listening Moshe and our own all these people passed in front of them and they listened said no what do you have to say who are you who are you what do you have to say the Weinfeld at my house Friday night in a beautiful Tish owner he went around the whole room what's your name where you from where were your parents from originally who do we have in common no what do you do what are you up to and you make a person feel they matter they mean something they make a difference you've given them their life you can't receive Torah and Torah won't impress itself upon you and you can't feel it torah's giving you your mission if you don't believe that you matter if you don't believe you're consequential and that's what the ramban writes and that's why we read it before the holiday of shavuas now the posix says interestingly Google US Apostle says what is the puzz look this is all their names according to what's Google awesome headcount why does the word Google or some mean a head count a skull it's a skull it's a head skull it's a head it's a head count but listen to this writes again the outside Torah dug this up why does it use the word Google or some it's kind of a crass word we count them according to the number of skulls hey dumb skull skull is not a used word we use in a usually in a positive context so we Count Their skulls why are we using the word specifically Google or some listen to the ramami panu he writes according to jacoveni mushrooms you know Moshe knew how many times each of these people would be reincarnated and that's what he was counting not only counting their expression in this world in this current experience but how many times they would come back as a gilgal how many times they would come back being reincarnated what is the idea of Gilgo what's the idea of reincarnation Every Soul was put in this world that's housed by a body and for that short finite amount of time certainly relative to Eternity it's meant to use that body is the vehicle the instrument to express Free Will and to make choices in this world and sometimes we make the wrong choices and we impress the wrong we contaminate the soul because of the poor Judgment of the body and then the Soul is extracted from the body what do we do though the soul didn't fully complete its purpose in this world Hashem is he allows the soul to come back again and again until the soul gets it right finally and then the souls are able to return to its creator on high and in full and therefore Hashem and that's what Moshe solo Google of some not only this expression of the soul in this body but every future Gilgo that the person would come back now not everybody agrees in Guild there are many including the kubalum among them it's a big maclok as we've shown him do we believe in gilgal do we believe in reincarnation all together write something wild he says only men come back in gilgal nikivos Lobos only occasionally do women come back as a guild but men most of the gilgul and most of the reincarnated souls are men and the brings this as well occasionally women come back as gilgulum mostly men now before you write me emails and accuse the Torah of being sexist and biased I interpret that to mean because women get it right the first time they don't need to come back the pathetic lonely men they need to try again and try again and try again women on roof get it right the first time they don't need to keep coming back now you may Wonder as I do one of the reasons that I struggle to accept the notion of reincarnation is I think it creates more questions than it does provide answers such as what are some of the questions that it rise raises when we come back resurrected which body as a man is a woman young or old in 2023 or the version of you from 1602 the version of you from 2209 which version of you is going to come back who will you be married to who will be your children who's the real you so if it bothers you it also bothered the note to be Huda and it's was bothered by exactly the same question so he quotes here we're not going to go through it now but he has again a long Essay with many answers of different possibilities the base Joseph also was bothered by this so maybe you come back in different versions of body maybe you come back in your original body maybe you have a new hybrid body it's made up of features from all the bodies that you once inhabited combined together there's an opinion you come back in the Goof Akron what was the latest one the last one that you were in before again a long essay about how you come back gilgul but I thought it was fascinating gilgulus the Google Assam the Google Osama is telling us not just counting according to the head count but it is a reference to gilgol Counting based on the reincarnated stages that you're going to come back over and over again you thought that was good listen to this next one this is wild now we're counting in the context of this census we're naming the heads of the tribes the Ruben who's the head of the tribe of Shimon you ready we count the 12 Nissan there were 12 miracles that happened to pinchas remember we're going to read it sooner remember what happened this disrespectful Union that is trying to challenge Hashem penichas Rises and he drives a spear through the two of them there are 12 miracles that happened in that time but because Mazel Tov the shame what do we call somebody someone who has no Muzzle what do we call them a meal business had no Mazel and that's why we call someone with no Mazel a schlemil shlomil happen dance Incorporated shlomila comes from it comes from our Parsha shlomil that wild the word schlemil comes from our pasture shlumial okay you're not nearly as excited about that as I paragraph plus a good test I thought that was pretty cool turn to page 728 so we have all the names gather them calculate them as Hashem had commanded them Hashem counted in the middle Hashem counted in the wilderness we did this a few weeks ago in the sugya of moshe's death the portion that tells us about when Moshe died we find that mosharabino is called Safra di Israel what does that mean moshe's name is he is the Safra Tanya rebellious or God Alone Heavenly voice went out to Proclaim that Moshe rabeno had passed and moshabbin was nicknamed the Safra rabba de Israel what does safaraba mean s has two opinions the first is safaraba means because Moshe wrote Hashem dictated it Moshe wrote it he was the sofa what we call a sofa when you go buy a thriller in mezuzah say for Torah from whom do you buy it a a sofa who was the original sofa who put the the quill to the cloth the original sofa was Moshe samosha is the safaraba the original sofa but the Marshall quotes a second opinion he took two censuses Sensai is that a real word Sensai censuses it doesn't sound like a right word census he took two times he took a census twice he took a census of an insa so according to the martial why is he called the Safra Mila shown not a sulfur a scribe meaning a sofa a counter somebody who counts the modern condition tells us hazal were called so frim not because they were scribes they counted the letters of the Torah they knew exactly how many letters were in the Torah and what was the middle letter of the Torah and so on so according to the Martian's nickname was the Safra rabra and why was that his nickname because he counted I see a beautiful Insight in this Marsha what's the beautiful Insight in this martial moshebenu understood it's the same as the ramban the alayshor of Weinfeld what was moshe's greatness in the end of the day Moshe was a brilliant scholar he went up on top of the mountain you received the Torah and he transmitted it to us Moshe is the great scholar moshe's gay character traits he's Moshe is the most humble of all people Moshe is the most faithful the most loyal he davins the most he's the most spiritual Moshe is the most has the greatest empathy he cares about a little sheep and he cares about every member of Christ so Moshe has all these character traits but what comes out his nickname is Moshe safarabad Israel why because in the end of the day he made every Jew feel they count what is the greatest Testament to leader to make people feel they count you could publish books and you could write articles you could have a huge following online and offline you could be a brilliant scholar you could be tremendously humble and have great character but the greatest Testament to a leader Moshe abena's Testament the measure of his greatness of his leadership is Safa rabbit Israel he's the greatest at making everyone feel the count not only the greatest counter of quality Israel but the greatest at making everyone feel they count he counted every letter in the Torah this is also consistent with the idea of making everyone count because we know we're told that there are six hundred thousand letters in the Torah which is not true doesn't add up how you get to that calculation you have to get creative but there's six hundred thousand letters of the Torah and can I get shishim ribo connected corresponding with the 600 000 Jews corresponding with 600 000 Jews the word Israel yes there are 600 000 letters in the Torah Israel for every truth is a letter in the Torah we've spoken about this several times could you just pass me the tissues we've spoken about many times that's why during hogba you're supposed to look and find your letter thank you so much the letter that begins your name and you bow because you find your place in the Torah a person is supposed to know I have a place in the Torah I have a mission in the Torah the Torah reflects me represents me the Torah speaks to me so every year it should feel I have a place in the Torah now there's a halacha is the letters of the Torah require something called what does mean every letter needs to be surrounded with parchment if two letters are touching the safer Taurus puzzle it's villain is possible if two letters are touching it's invalid it's no good every letter needs to be surrounded entirely by parchment why because as much as each of us is a letter in the Torah and we see ourselves as part of the greater six hundred thousand but every letter needs to be it needs to be surrounded by parchment means it needs to stand on its own we have to count and be counted and see ourselves as unique and distinct and each one of us that we make a difference now the levia were counted separately Turn the Page according to their father's tribe were not counted among them why not levium had their own senses that's a little Elite of them isn't it why are they breaking away why are they pourishment at seabor why are they counting separately sarashi tells us why the Levine counted separately because otherwise they would suffer the same consequence ego and they didn't participate in the eagle so we count them separately I don't understand you're telling me that if we counted them among the rest of the senses they would have suffered the consequence of the eagle even though they didn't violate ego aren't we sort of limiting Hashem is Hashem not able to one census streamline consolidate one census for everyone just don't hold the Levine accountable let them off the hook because they didn't do that has a magnificent and critically important idea he says you are who you hang out with you are defined by who you are with and if the levium would have been counted among all of claw Israel they wouldn't have been able to say yeah but we didn't do it we're not among them if that's your crowd if that's your crew then you go up and you go down with that crew whenever I share this with French Lovitz I always liken it to the stock market stock market is made of different sectors banking sector the real estate sector the biotech sector you have different sectors in the stock market a particular company it's market cap its value can go up or down by billions of dollars when it did nothing no new product no new Revenue no new profit yet it went up by it went up and its market cap by billions or no losses no failed trial and yet it went down it plummeted by billions why what sector does it belong to all because of what sector it belongs to it can entirely change your valuation your identity your worth it was true in the stock market is true for us who is our crew who we hang out with who we identify with whom we associate with that determines our identity and our value had lab even counted among Claudia Israel they would have been held accountable for the greater ego so therefore Hashem needed to separate them out and count them separately and this maybe explains why is it so important to dab him with a minion why art filos heard based on the minion that we're with if you're punishment at Seaboard you go to some Breakaway minion you're with people who identify by big if your people rebellious people who hate authority of people who if you're diving by yourself all alone and you don't even connect with nine other Jews and Hashem says okay you're all on your own let me check you out but if you find the meaning of righteous people if you dive in with others who are holy and trying hard then you say you know what Hashem I'm not worth it but I'm blending in I want to be counted among if you're I want to be part of that sector I want to be part of that crew and if that sector is rising let my value go up with them and if you hang out with a sector that is descending if you hang out with a crew that is going down then you will your identity goes down that's why it's so important says to decide what minion what shul with what group where you sit in the minion you sitting with the talkers you're sitting with the Quiet people you see with those who will elevate your kavana you see what those will distract you from your kavana because not only very practically pragmatically will it impact the quality of your davening but what sector you're with will impact entirely your identity and your value we hung out according to our according to our flag Parsha continues with the formations and this is very important we studied in the past the notion of order and Arrangements because each tribe had their own flag their emblem their own logo and this is part of the Boca Raton Center dog's mission statement valuing diversity celebrating Unity on the one hand we value diversity we want to have 12 tribes we have eight many animal shop this morning we don't all fit into one box we don't try to make everybody conform to one way of being we recognize differences and we celebrate we value those differences but the differences can't divide the diversity shouldn't divide just like the unity should lead to uniformity we have to take the the differences the diversity and we have to unite with a sense of unity and what's the model of that our Parsha the gollumin say one flag One logo one emblem one encampment he said I respect the differences 12 tribes 12 encampments 12 separate places and in fact the writes this explicitly I've always believed this and felt this and preached this but this year I found this right this law writes in the name of the arizelle is each man according to his flag according to his household liar rewrites commercials but what's the key that we were all together isn't nemesleyakov everyone having their own flag their own logo their own emblem their own encampment isn't their danger of divisiveness of mahalokas of division of breakaway says review what do you notice if you look at our Parsha you are the incident you have the four sides north south east and west each made up of three tribes and what was in the middle as long as you have the mishkan in the middle then you can afford the diversity if the diversity is all leaning directed towards the Mishka the shul if it's all serving the community if it's all worshiping the Torah if it's all promoting our shared values then you can afford the the diversity if the diversity is all leading away then you're going to have divisiveness but if the diversity is all leaning towards then you're going to have Unity United by the mishkan at the center United by the Torah at our at our Center okay perfect limit days so we have all these flags and logos and emblems the total top of page 736 tells us according to the father's household all the countings of the camps according to Legions 600 and 3 500 and 550. 550. now that same number that same number is the same count as the last counting the Ebenezer here says something amazing the last census this is the conclusion this is the result of the whole census keep in mind that number 603 550 and it should sound familiar why because it's the same number as the last census which means what says the ibane Ezra even on the magician call it says in this world and on this globe there's no data 600 000 don't die in six hundred thousand aren't born I didn't Google it I don't know if you look at the global death daily and the global birth rate daily I don't know if they match and I don't know if there's 600 000 but that's what the measure says every day a generation dies and a generation is born I think in Lakewood alone every day a generation is born they say there's a new grade born every week in Lakewood every week every month a new school is needed which is the birth rate the masses the numbers it's mind-boggling so hopefully only born not dying but that's the nature that's the way of the world says here we have the same number 603 550 as we did in the last sense rights the Ebenezer and are partial you know why because in the seven months between the last census and this census over seven months there wasn't one funeral not one Shiva email not one ship is set up not one Shiva call not one husband not one eulogy in seven months nobody died Lomas nobody died and the Ebenezer says that never happened before in history and that never happened again so why why is that important ramban tells us this is one of the Miracles of Hashem this is one of the expressions of the kindness and the generosity of Hashem Hashem showed his love and his kindness that for seven months we were all together for seven months we were one for seven months nobody died told us these are the The Offspring of Aruna Moshe then we only list The Offspring of Aaron because anybody who teaches Taurus is he gave birth to them we talked about in the past the Kluger does that mean if you teach someone Torah can you beyote pru review if you pay someone's tuition but you don't have biological children of your own can be yose review when we say it's as if you gave birth to them it's as if does as if mean you did or as of means as if there's a big discussion how far do we take that how far does that go a lot more to say about a lot more to say about that never turned their back let's end with uh hi should we go back to uh out of drug we'll end with another joke we had much more to say but we'll end with other of jock says the following right go to samosha Hashem cashier Suva actually we'll end the way we started it's a perfect bookend to the theme that we've been communicating all day page to 738 that Moshe accounted them according to the word of Hashem as he was commanded says Rashi um how am I supposed to make it around all of their tense how am I supposed to take this census one man supposed to visit all the tents and they're supposed to know how many children are inside each each tent answered you do you bani essay and I'll do me you do what you need to do and I'll do what I need to do Allah went next to the tent but Hashem first went before him and the Heavenly voice went out and answered this is how many children are inside each and every tent which leads to a joke to ask so who's really doing the sense this year it's not Hashem it's not emotion rather Moshe goes teaching every tent and the Heavenly voice goes out from each time saying six in here nine here 12 children in here four in here so who really did the census Hashem or Moshe Hashem so why are we tributing it to Moshe then moreover if Hashem if you're doing the census if a Heavenly voice of Oscar is going out of each and every tent so why do I have to bother going around to each of the tents just Hashem give me the final number give me the total result give me these email me the spreadsheet you do you you do what you need to do I'll do what I need to do what did Moshe do so says there's an incredibly important life lesson here we learn from here about a person's job obligation in their world says so a person has to take initiative a person has to start up a person has to be proactive person has to do what they need to do you go as far as you can go and then you let go and let God and Hashem does the restroom what prompted the Heavenly voice to come from each tent was Moshe arriving there histablis Shem designed and created such a world that we need to do with doubtless you cannot sit back passively casually on your couch and think that Parnassus is going to flow you can't sit back and think the Refuge is going to come person has to take initiative person has to be proactive person has to make an effort we have to do what's meant of us and then Hashem will meet us and we'll complete what's coming so it's true our Kurdish bar who could have done it all but that's not the way of the world it could also make us better without going to a doctor and he could also make money appear in our bank account without working for parnassa but that's not the way of the world he wants us to make our effort he wants us to take our initiative the way of the world is to exert ourselves and that's what it means only yagata only if we make an effort then matsasa only believe the person who says I toiled I made my effort you don't trip and you don't come upon without making the effort Agra according to the effort of the reward Hashem says toil because only when you work hard will it all be worth it it's not on you to finish the work however you also can't say then why bother getting started the rabbini owner writes on that mishnah that we have to do our part and Hashem will meet us halfway you see this basparo he quotes here he has a long essay on this idea beautiful quoting from all over basparo this is in the river she sees baby Moshe floating she reaches out why did she Reach Out Fool's Aaron she couldn't reach he was too far away the answer is she took initiative she did her part and then Hashem made a miracle her arm outstretched and she was able to reach and he brings many many examples of this we need to know we have to take our initiative we have to make our effort we have to be proactive and the result doesn't necessarily correspond with the effort that we make when we make an effort then the result comes wherever it comes corresponding with our effort or coming from left field but we need to make our effort what precipitated the Catalyst what prompted that Bosco coming from each tent was Moshe first had to go to each tent when he went to each tent Hashem said you do you take your initiative I'll make sure the result comes without your initiative there won't be a result you have to do your part and then I will do my part my part there is no partial share next week not because I'm traveling but because next shop is there's no Parsha next Shabbos is the week after until next time stay happy stay healthy stay holy and have a wonderful