Parsha Perspectives - Bamidbar

Good morning Boker to welcome back to para perspectives for today. We have the privilege this morning of studying paras opening up the fourth book of the Torah returning back to our narrative and our storyline the development and evolution from a family to a people and becoming a nation whereby Sax writes in his if safer is the story of our journey from then by midbar we transition to the story of our journey to where we came from and where we're going what it means to be a Jew is to be on this journey our para series is generous generously sponsored by Becky and Avi Kats and family in memory of David Gman Lehas Becky's father David and Mish this morning she shar sponsored by Juda Mitch Taran in commemoration of the third year side of Jerry and Yeshua do Benel aliyah thank you so much for your generosity we're on page 726 in the earth scroll stone and we begin let's say spoke to Moshe And he spoke to where? We've spoken about this many times in the past. Why do we need to be told the topography, the geography, the climate, the environment? Torah was given, it was transmitted. This is the word of the divine. Hashem, the source of all existence. The creator said, "Here's my blueprint for creation. Here's what to do and not do. What do we care what's happening outside?" It was such a Jewish thing. Talk about the weather. What's the weather? It was so humid. You can't believe the humidity. It was nice longer than usual. We had the nicest pes. It was too cold. It was too hot. It was a desert. It What do we care? What's the relevance of? We've spoken about this many, many, many times. If you listen to all the previous part, we open up with exactly this and many insights in it. But this year, we'll try to bring as we always do new insights and new ideas. begins by talking not about the climate, the environment, but what the point and what we're doing there is the census loves us. He has a deep and profound affection for us. And because of that, he counts us constantly. When we left Egypt, he counted us. Ael and when we fell when we made the mistake when we had the poor judgment worship theel he counted us to know how many were left how many survived and when he wants to um rest his divine countenance his intense presence among us counts us and so on the first of Nissan the Mishkan began to operate and a month later on the first of Hashem once again counts us. He can't stop counting us. Person who counts their children, their grandchildren. Some people count their cars or their watches or their money. Whatever a person values and loves and appreciates, whatever a person can't believe they have, they just keep counting. Some people open the app, they look at their bank account. Hopefully, it's full. Not miserable what's missing, but they can't believe. They can't help but keep counting what's there. So, what does au cherish? What does he love? What is he obsessed with? What does he have affection for? What does he keep counting? Us. We are the apple of his eye. We are the target of his count. That's what he can't get over. That's what he can't believe that he has. He has us. Says that Hashem wants each and every individual to know we are cherished. We matter. We count. Hashem will say later in the book of we are his children. We are his children. Just like when it comes to a parent, each child is precious is a universe. Each child makes them into a parent. Each child is their continuity. each one of us should know and feel like we are Hashem's only child. We had earlier this year Turjiman the great Israeli singer who was here for Shabas and performed the most beautiful incredible concert. Aka's father is avaric leader in Deona and he is one of I think 13 children. He's one of many many many children. We interviewed him and we had him on behind the beimma and uh I asked him one of the questions was wow what was it like to grow up in such a large family what's it like to grow up with so many siblings and he said his parents who I know are extraordinarily special because his sister married my cousin his parents raised each of those siblings with an attitude that each is their only child. They have 13 only children. Some people have uh one, two, three children and they don't know how to show each child love as if they're the only one. And another could have 13 or 15 children. And everyone grows up feeling I'm my parents only child. They raise their children 13, not 13 children. All the same, all generic, all fit into a box, all the same rules, all the same expectations. They raise 13 only children. And that's has billions of people many much fewer but each one we are his only child tells us why did Hashem create one man one purpose one person and divide into two and from there propagate and proliferate and fill the world Because tell us because Hashem created the whole world from one to know that the entire universe, the entire world is worth it just for one. And if you destroy a life, if you ruin a life, if you eliminate a person from this world, you've destroyed the entire world. And if you save a life, if you continue a life, if you create a life, you created an entire world, an entire universe. Because each of us are Hashem's only children. That just like Adam was created alone in this entire world, the entire universe, the entire cosmos was all for him. That's how we are to feel that it's all from me. Not to get to our head, not to be too arrogant, not to be too egotistical. Then we have to remember off of the apher I'm future worm food. I'm future going to return to the dust the earth from which we came. But when a person feels what's the point of my life? I'm invisible. I'm inconsequential. I don't matter. What's the point? We should remember the whole world this whole world and everything in it is created just for me. I am a universe who loves me. I'm his only child. And what I will do, the mission I will serve, the purpose and the reason I am here, that was worth creating the entire world, I can create, I can move and shake the whole world. My next choice, my next thought, what I'll say next, what I'll do next, the impression I'll next leave, I can shape, I can mold, I can shake the whole world. Just me. just me. We have to strengthen ourselves. When it's time to do the next mitzvah, when the opportunity to learn the next piece of Torah, we should not dismiss. Well, what's the point? There's so many others, so many more. Enough people are going to come to the parish. What do I have to go? Enough will come to the amir. Why do I have to listen? Enough will make minion. There's so many mñan now. Slushies of shy on the corner. pastries, coffee, mñan all morning, all afternoon, all night. Why do I have to show up? Person needs to know no. Our difference, our participation, our contribution, our uniqueness, our distinctiveness. We are one of a kind. We're one of a kind. We're not one of a million. Not one of a million. There's a Jewish singer, has a Jewish song, one of a million. I'm not nitpicking. It's a beautiful song. He has a beautiful voice. But the song is not what we believe. We're not each one of a million. We're each one of a kind. We're each one of a kind. It's not one of a million. It's not one of a million. We once took a group to DC. We were lobbying for something for Israel and we went on a private tour of the Library of Congress and we saw there there was something on display and the person who took us on the tour said was describing how rare it was. So, one of the people commented, "Wow, it's so rare." He said, "No, it's not rare. It's unique. There is no other of it." I thought to myself, "Wow, we're not rare. Each of us is unique. With all the billions who came before and will come after, there is no one like us. And if we're here, there's a mission. There's a purpose. There's a reason who loves us like we're his only child. And what we can accomplish and achieve, what we can contribute, what we will do for him, we can give him, how what we'll do and how we'll live will matter to him and to this world. No one can take that place. No one. When we wake up every day, his faith in us is great. And we have to know that and we have to believe that and that's why he counts and that's why he keeps counting us. That is the beginning of Bidbar. That's why he counts and that's why he keeps counting us. That's why this book in English is known as the book of the book of numbers. It should be called the book of desert. But then we might have gotten confused and thought it was dessert not desert. Which one is two S's? You know what? You know what the way to remember that? You want more dessert and less desert. So desert has two s's. That's how I remember. But it's not the book of desert. It's not safer midbar. The book of desert. That's what it should be called. What's it called? The book of number. Because God is counting us. We count. We're not just a number. We have a name. We're unique and distinct. We are both. We should know how beloved we are to Hashem. We should know the difference that we make in this world. Our aodashem, our coming to the par, our attending that minion, our calling that person, our role in the community, in our family, in our work, in our life, it is unique. Hashem, what we contribute is different than what anyone else does. And Hashem loves us. He's got millions of only children. Millions of only children. And that's why the kaducian tells us that a Jew should live life saying the We should see ourselves as half meritorious and half liable and therefore one more positive thing take advantage of the next moment and tip the scale in the right direction and maybe the hostages come home maybe the soldiers are safe maybe the outcome is different you'll say it depends on me what are you talking about there are so many factors and variables at play as if it makes a difference what I do you're telling me that if I don't talk during doubling, you're telling me if I show up on time till day till the end. You're telling me if I make time to learn. You're telling me if I display a little more patience, a little more humility. You're telling me my character, my relationship with my children, my spouse, my shalom bias will bring shalom to Israel and the world. It really matters. There's so many things at play that matters. Yeah, that matters. That's our tradition. That's what the kaduc tells us. It matters. One thing we do can make the difference that tips the scales that changes the entire outcome. This is not just a motivational pep talk. It's the truth. It is a deep deep belief that we have. And that's what Hashem is trying to communicate here at the beginning of the para. This is why he counts us. This is why he counts us because each and every one of us count. And I would like to suggest humbly to you this morning that maybe this is one of the reasons why we dka choreograph the laning of when we read what so that parasidar falls right before shu if you didn't get the memo shu is Sunday night now you don't really care because it's not pes and it's only two days not eight and you don't have to work hard but I care because I did get the memo because the rabbis have to work as hard or harder than ever a lot of shirum a lot of drushes, a lot of Torah. So it's Sunday night. It's on my calendar even if it's not on yours. And say for midbar we read parishes always before the migill tells us that choreographed our laning and the calendar when we double up. Why do we double up so many double parios recently to make sure right before sh was there in the migill tells me You know why? Because it'd be a miserable, terrible way to go into having just come off the we read last week the the harsh rebuke the graphic descriptions of what happens if we're non-compliant, disobedient to Hashem. And that's a tough way to go into a yontiff. So in order to create a disruption, in order to create an interruption, h we read the say parasidbar and then we bring it in. But I think perhaps a different reason. Maybe maybe because we come to shuis and what does shabu celebrate kabala? We all stood at that mountain the midbari in that m in that desert at that mountain and we received the Torah. Two to three million men, women and children at the base of that mountain. An enormous gathering. And you know what happens in an enormous gathering? You can feel entirely and utterly invisible. True, it was very special. Everybody was healed. Everybody was present. Everybody was united. But maybe maybe that sense of unity has a downside. Maybe the downside of that sense of unity is we blend together. We were so united, one community, one people, one nation, one destiny that we just blended together. We erased any differences all together. And maybe with that, we erased any individuality. So we just blended together. One big mush, one big chant. How' the average individual feel on that day? How did the average individual feel in that moment with such an enormous gathering, so united, so blended, so integrated? How did you feel significant? How do you feel you matter? How do you feel the Torah speaking to you? How do you feel that it's waiting for you? And maybe that's why we read parasbar right before shivas. Because how does the book of numbers begin? With a census, with a counting. And Rashi wonders why does it matter to Hashem? He can know in an instant. He could tell you exactly the number at any time. He's infinite omnipotent. He has to go through the act of counting. So it was the act of counting the the love, the affection as if we're his only child. Even though you're part of two to three million, united and integrated and cohesive, but every individual counts and your family is all together. blessed to have a big family and you're all together at the same time you can be all together and united and yet you're focused on each and every individual each and every individual their uniqueness their distinctiveness and the love that you have for the gift that they are and that's how loves us and person should say the whole world was created just for me and the next thing I do will tip the scale in one direction or another and it will matter. So if you are ready for the shv if you stay up all night learning or not you'll say well this campus is going to be alive hundreds over a thousand people will be what difference does it m it matters it matters to Hashem it matters to the conductor he knows whether you're playing your instrument in that symphony whether you show up he can hear it he has an ear can discern he knows did you come to the learning the shir the program did you participate in the dining in the groups in the opportunity maybe that's why maybe that's why we read before before Shabus to remember that we matter before we go into that might erase that sense of of making a difference back to the desert. So the medish tells us why do we have to identify where Hashem transmitted the Torah that was from here our rabbis taught Torah was given with three things fire and in the desert fire anyone could strike a match. You don't have to buy it in the store. If you're really impressive, you could rub two rocks together. Anybody could create a fire. It's free. It's accessible. It's available. Water accessible. Go to the lake. Go to the stream. Go to the river. Take a vessel to collect the rain and you can get water. And the similar Torah is accessible, available, it's free. Just like anybody who's thirsty, come to the water. Turn on the tap. You have access to water. So to anyone who's thirsty spiritually, open the tap and let the flow of Torah let it go. So what does it mean that Torah is? First of all, we learn from here. Technically speaking, rabbis and educators are not allowed to get paid for teaching Torah. This class happens to be free. There is no charge. You're welcome. You can come but all classes have to be free. Rabbis aren't allowed to get paid for teaching Torah. So how do we get a salary not only rabbis by the way doctors too just like Hashem healed everyone at Sai so too doctors have to heal for free. So one second how do doctors get paid and how do rabbis get paid? Not that they get paid equally but how do doctors get paid and how do rabbis get paid? So there's an interesting literature about this question. Not for now, but essentially we're paid. In order to be a rabbi or a doctor, we still have to provide for our family. So we don't get paid for the job that we have. We get paid not to take another job. We don't get paid for the work we do because that you're not allowed to get paid for. We get paid. We're paid another don't take another job. Torah has to be accessible. Shouldn't be behind a payw wall. You shouldn't have to subscribe. You shouldn't have to pay. It should be available, accessible. Mo Russia, it's our inheritance. We should have access to it. It's free like the fire, like the water, like the midbar. But what is this comparison? And what is this idea? So back to the we still have some unfinished work from that we went through several years ago and he offers three interpretations. The tradition tells us city is a bookcase in the corner. Whoever wants free lending library come and take writes that there are three crowns the Jewish people were given. We wear the crown of priesthood only priests can wear and the crown of monarchy royalty only the Davidic dynasty can wear Torah. What about the crown of Torah? I'm looking out at you right now and this is a audience. This is a group at Seibore a Kahila. You're all wearing the crown of Torah right now and you look fantastic. I might add, you're wearing the crown of Torah on your head. You may not feel it, but I see it. You're wearing the crown of Torah. Whoever wants, come and put on that crown. Kuna, you have to be a cohen. You have to be from the dynasty. Torah, doesn't matter how rich or poor, young or old, whatever your background, your education, your knowledge, doesn't matter your socioeconomic status. come and take. No one can come and say, "I have a monopoly on Torah. It's mine. You can't have it. I have the truth. No one has a monopoly. No one has a claim. No one can say it's theirs. Anyone who wants, it's free for the taking. Come, every Jew. It's our birthright. It's our inheritance and we should feel that awesome responsibility as a community to make Torah accessible and available to make it resonate to make it real to make it relatable. Because if sadly the majority of the Jewish people today don't know Hebrew, don't have a Jewish education and background and it won't speak to them, then it's not accessible and available. To make it, to make it accessible, available makes you have to make it relevant. You have to make it real. You have to make it relatable. You have to make it a partial perspective for today that it speaks to our lives. That's number one. Number two, he quotes that the more it's a fascinating insight. He says the more you need something to live, the more free and available it is. And the less you need it to live, the harder it is to come by. So air, oxygen is everywhere because you need it to live. You can't live without it. So, Hashem created a world in which oxygen is all around us and it's free and it is available. And then water. You need to be hydrated to live. So, Hashem made a world in which there are streams and rivers and oceans and lakes and rain and water is available to live. And then you have food. But what about Rolexes? What about Lamborghinis? Are they so readily available? Does everyone have them? Mascos and I flew to we bashm we had two weddings on Sunday we landed and went to Avis and we made the usual joke you know you have an upgrade you have any Lamborghinis to which the guy looked at us and said the Avis at LaGuardia you think there's a long line of people waiting to rent Lamborghin Lamborghinis on their property so we did not have a Lamborghini which would have been awkward to pull up to the weddings in even if they would have given it to us for free so Rolexes Lamborghinis diamonds gems jewels This is a very fascinating. The more the harder it is to come by something, the less intrinsic, the less you need it. It should tell you something. It should tell you something. The more you need something, the more Hashem made it available. And the harder it is to come by it, then the more you should ask yourself, do I really need it? Do I should it define me? Is it my identity? Is it who I am? So Torah is because if Torah is available like air, what does it tell you about Torah? You need it to breathe. You need it to be alive and you need it to live. And thirdly, he quotes from the Garilli. The Torah takes effort, but it's a mitsiah. On the other hand, has to make it available to us. You have to stumble upon it, find it, you have to break through in it, and so on. He elaborates but uh very beautifully but let's move on back to this census. So, Hashem says, "How do you do the census?" You lift the head of all the Jewish people. It's a funny word to use. So many other words you could have used to count. There's so many other words. Why did lift? Because again, the whole act of counting is to feel I count. It lifts our head. When you make someone feel they count, they matter. They mean something. It makes a difference. You count. You count. So su means don't just take a census. Make the person count. Which is why everyone passed the Ramban writes in front of Mosha Aron. Even if there were an app, even if Hashem could have just declared a basal what the number was, what the result was, it was the process of counting that made a person feel counted by Moshe and by our head was lifted by being counted. How do we count according to our family? And what does it mean to count according to our family? Leos means according to our father's household. Our Jewishness is determined by our mother matrinal descent. But our status namely are you going which tribe you come from that is determined by patrineal descent. Why writes Rabbi Salvich enlightened Jews have criticized this law as a slight to women's dignity. They do not understand that the ideal of modesty is manifest in the patriarchally defined family. For families in primitive societies whose members engaged in promiscuity, children could not identify their fathers. The sanctity of the Jewish family is demonstrated by the fact that lineage is identified through the patriarch. As the med says by midraba, who can harm such a people who recognize their fathers? One of the ways that we distinguish ourselves with dignity and with sanctity is that a Jew knows who their father is. In a promiscuous society, in an absentee society, in a society where their father abandons, in a society where mother's pregnant, but she has no idea from whom, someone doesn't know who their father is. So the Torah comes along, says Salvetric, and says our status is bestowed upon us, determined by the father because that's the confidence. That's what Hashem knows that we have a society where we'll never forget, will never fail to know who the father is because that is a demonstration, a reflection of the modesty, the lack of promiscuity, the intact family unit of a mother, of a father of a family to know who the father who the father is mev. So we have the census all the leaders of each of the tribes are mentioned. Ley is singled out and excluded which we'll come back to. And the countings were 603,550 which is going to be a number that's consistent later. Remarkably it doesn't dwindle and it's not increased says these 600,000 left Egypt. 600,000 stood at the base of that mountain says from here we learn if you're sitting and studying you're sitting and learning you're in the medish and there's a funeral you should close the book leave the sh and attend the funeral just like when the Torah was given was 600,000 So too when the Torah is taken i.e. Torah a person leaves this world 600,000 should be in attendance 600,000 were in attendance when Torah was given 600,000 in attendance when the Torah the life of that that's true for somebody who sits and studies says but somebody who doesn't just sit and study for themselves somebody who teaches Torah to others less so if you're learning Torah and there's a funeral of you should attend up to 600,000. After 600,000 you can sit and learn. Enough people are there. But if there are who didn't just sit and study but they also taught then there is no upper limit. You attend the funeral no matter how many. Why is there a difference? says the Yosephorah the shear the measure of how much Torah nullifying for studies for themselves is 600,000 that we learn from our but learn the whole world has to escort them why this difference between the one who studies and learns for themsself and the one who studies and learns and also teaches and shares with others. If you sit and study only for yourself and then you're done, when you die, so does your Torah. When you die, so does your contribution in Torah. So since there was a cap, an upper limit to your Torah, when you died, so did your Torah with it. So too there's an upper limit and a cap. How many attend your funeral? Who teaches others? They left students who will leave students who will leave students. The Torah continues to stream to flow. So therefore there is no upper limit. Therefore it's endless and infinite how many attend their funeral. You see, Torah is meant not just to be learned and studied on our own. It's designed and meant it's meant to learn and to be able to teach and to share with others as well. Ley the tribe of Ley were not counted with everyone else. They were counted separately. Why were they counted separately? Rashi because this this legion of the king should be counted separately. This is the honor guard. This is the king's cabinet inner circle. They're not peasants. They're not poppers. They're not counted with everybody else. They deserve to have their own separate count. or a second interpretation. All those 20 and up were destined to die in the desert. The tribe of Ley will not die with them because they did not make that monumental mistake when it came to the Ael. Ley did not worship with them. Says that that all those who are 20 and up died in the desert was because of which sin? No, the those who subscribed, those who cried that night for no reason, the sin of the spies. When the spies came back from investigating the land, they gave a negative report. And those who believed and accepted their negativity, they died in the desert. So why does Rashi why do Kazal say Hashem didn't count Ley? Because Ley didn't make the mistake with the wrong unfortunately there were many to choose from wrong the Ley didn't participate in was not the I'm sorry was the lady didn't participate but the reason 20 and up died was not when it came to mistake of the ego. God forgave us. God forgave us. Moshe did a good job. Moshe advoc Moshe advocated on our behalf and he earned our forgiveness and atonement. Hashem said he forgave us. So what's going on over here? Hashem says I can't count Ley with the Jewish people because the Jewish people are all going to die from 20 and up. And Ley didn't make the mistake with theel. Yeah, but the reason they'll die from 20 and up was the not theel. So how does it help that maybe didn't participate in problem forgave all four? So what's going on in this rash? We learned this a million times maybe never stopped and asked this question says that after the actual episode and incident of the God forgave us for but there was a secondary mistake. It says and says in that moment the Jewish people indulged their lowest self and they began to subscribe. They began to act with the three cardinal sins promiscuity and not valuing life and idolatry. Is Mosher Rabenu and Mosher Rabenu screamed out those immortal three words iconic three words. What did he say? me lashem Eli. Whoever is for God, come with me. Are you with him or against him? Which side are you on? Step up. Stand out. Man up. Someone was going to have to stand up. Someone was going to have to speak out. Someone was going to have to distinguish themselves. Who's going to be on the right side of history? And who answered that call? The tribe of Ley all stood up as one le as a tribe manned up stood up were willing to stand out. They answered that call of a lie since Hashem needed them in this moment. He counted that. He'll never forget that in your time of need. If you've ever been in a time of need, you say, "Who's with me? Who's with me?" There are times in my life, my rebbitic career where I've been attacked unfairly, unjustly. Been attacked also fairly and justly. I've been criticized and I learned from it. It could have come differently the message, the messaging, the messenger, but uh you can learn from it. You could look back and say that was fair. I made a mistake. I learned from it. But I've also been attacked unfairly, unjustly, inaccurately, terribly, terribly. And I remember who stood with me. I remember who showed up to the event. I remember and I'll never forget who reached out. When it's time to count, he says to Ley, I'm not going to count you with everybody else. I want you to know I never forgot how you answered me. I that has nothing to do with the maragim and 20 and older and who will die in the desert. I forgive everyone for the I forgive everyone who didn't stand with me when I was attacked. I forgive everyone who was a no-show, who was invisible, who bailed, who were cowardly, who chickened out. I forgive everybody, but I'll also never forget who showed up. And Hashem says, I forgive everyone for the but I'll never forget who answered the call of me. And in our time, we have that call all the time. all the time. You have to extend your antenna. You have to be perceptive to hear it. Milashem is looking down at us in this confused and chaotic world. In a time of increased anti-semitism, Israel, our brothers and sisters, our soldiers and hostages in a time in which there's such moral blurring of boundaries and confusion and corruption. And Hashem is calling out mem. And he will never forget who answers the call. Me. And that's why Rashi wasn't confused. Weren't confused. Yes, he forgave theel, but he also simultaneously never forgot who answered the call of and it was and therefore he counted them. He counted them separately. Turn to page 732. And the tribe of Ley who are counted separately, they encamped around the Mishkan. is they encamp around the tabernacle of testimony. There's no wrath upon the assembly and levim shall safeguard the watch of the tabernacle of testimony. I don't think you can get it yet still. But the rabbi sax when it comes out you should a collection of all rabbi sax's teachings organized by para it's fantastic and he writes the following on this encamp around the tabernacle. The book of numbers is about a people of the divine presence is in its midst. Hashem is no longer simply the distant majestic creator of the universe and intervenor in history. He is also close. The shina god is imminent as well as transcendent. God as neighborh is from the word shah which means a neighbor. Jewish spirituality conceives of hashem in abstract and all inspiring ways. God is more distant than the furthest star and more eternal than time itself. Yet no religion has ever felt God to be closer. In Tanakh, the prophets argue with Hashem. In the book of Tum speaks to Hashem in terms of utmost intimacy. In the Talmud, Hashem listens to the debates between the sages and accepts their rulings even when they go against a heavenly voice. God's relationship with Jewish people say the prophets is like that between a parent and a child or between a husband and a wife. In Shirim, it is like that between two infatuated lovers. The Zo key text of Jewish mysticism uses the most daring language of passion as does Nephesh the poem attributed to the 16th century cabalist Azik. That is one of the most striking differences between the synagogues and cathedrals of the middle ages. In a cathedral you sense the vastness of God and the smallalness of humankind. In the Alton and Prague, Alton and Prague are the synagogues of the arose. You sense the closeness of a god and the greatness of humankind. He's so great, Rabbi Saxs. That's what is all about. Not the God who is majestic and distant, but the God who's a who's available, who's accessible. He's imminent and transcendent. He is apart, inaccessible, and accessible. He's both at the same time. And that's what Torah is trying to communicate in that sentence in that line. Perkiml or skipping per the formations. We've discussed it in the past. All of the insignas and logos every excuse me tribe had their own. Every three tribes had their own banner. North, south, east, and west of Yakov Kaminski. Why weren't we divisive, divided? Why weren't we competing? It sounds like a big color war in the midbar. Everyone had their own banner, their own logo, their own song, their own uniform. Sounds like a big color war in the midbar. Color war has war in its name. Color war. So how did it not lead to war and infighting and tension and right? So brilliantly, you know why? What was at the center of the encampment? The mishkum, the aon, the lus, hashem. You can have diversity when it's centered on community. That's our shul. How do you have eight minyam on a campus on Shabas morning and there's no conflict and tension and divisiveness. Because if the mishkan is at the center, if Hashem is in the middle, if Hashem and Judaism and community are the brand, then you can have all the room for all the diversity, all theatim in the world. But when you're ego, when you're the brand, then you have no room, no space, no tolerance for any other. So that was the model. There's encampments of the midbar. Each li each tribe, each banner, each grouping, all with the all with the uh Mishkan in the middle yud. Perkimo begins with told is iron. The offspring of iron. discussed this also I think as recently as last year we list the progeny of Aon even though we just said the offspring of Moshe why because anyone who teaches someone else Torah is it gave them life and we talk about that those who don't have biological children still can have children can still have children I just paid a shiva call to a member of my family sitting Shiva my marriage whose brother died very suddenly very sadly at a young age who didn't have children of his own an extraordinary thing about him was and and at the funeral one of his friends described he said you know if somebody dies young 42 years old that didn't have children they can go one of two ways they can withdraw and not care about anyone or their children because they don't have their own or they can see and feel and shower tremendous love on other people's children and this individual binyamse shared his friends children he brought them gifts showered them with presents his nieces and nephews he was an incredible incredible uncle and you see that Even when a person doesn't have biological children doesn't mean they don't have children. Is there a bigger or greater example in history than the labba and rebbiten who had no biological children of their own but a greater father and mother. Today how many never met the rebba and yet consider him their father. Not just their spiritual father literally their father. They'll die for him today. They know everything he wrote and said he is their father. So a person could have no biological children and have countless children. And a person can have biological children if they don't nurture them and mold them and shape them in a continuity and with Torah and a future and biologically they are connected but they're lacking a spiritual parenthood. So you see the notion the very definition of parenthood is not only biological. It's so much more. There's a lot more to say on this Rashi, but I said we're not saying it this year. We've talked about it in the past. The appointment of the Levim and their special role. They take the place of the firstborn of the Bur which brings us to Lemore. Here we repeat again that Moshe is transmitting and teaching the Torah where in the wilderness. In the wilderness. And back to Rabbi Saxs, our second Rabbi Sachs for the day. Why in the wilderness? Paras Bidbra is usually read in the Shabas before Shabuis. It's a time of the giving of the Torah. Bidbar means in the desert. Why in the fixing of the Torah reading cycle was a link forged between the giving of the Torah and the particular fact of its emergence from the wilderness. We began with this. I don't know if you remember because it was already 43 minutes ago. So you might have forgotten, but we started with this. Toss gave one reason. Why do we read paras before sh toos gave one reason namely to interrupt to break from the I suggested a second reason to count every individual we don't just blend and blur together and now Rabbi Sax is going to give a third kazal gave several interpretations or he'll give more than just the third according to the Torah was given publicly openly in a place where no one owns had it been given in the land of Israel Jews would have said to the nations of the world you have no share in it instead of God seemed to say whoever wants to come and accept it, let them come and accept it. It was not given in on the Jewish home turf because then we would have said it's ours and ours only. Instead, we tell the whole world, put it in the draw of every hotel room, sell it in Costco. We want you to read it and study it and learn it. It's for the whole world. Not to that's ours and hours alone. But to the written Torah is meant for the entire world. for the entire world sh our theme is why the Jews I don't even know what the sherim topics other than mine are maybe somebody's speaking about this we have a Torah prohibition of teaching Torah to non-Jews that means teaching our Torah to shape but teaching no teaching Torah in the bigger broader sense we have a responsibility to teach and share to the non-Jewish world in fact say we'll get to this my opening she is on are we the chosen or choosing people is the Jewish soul superior or greater than the non-Jewish soul are we better we'll see it's a fascinating discussion say that a non-Jew who studies Torah is as great as a co greater cog so you see that the non-Jew is also meant to study Torah and that's why it wasn't given in says the was given in the midbar in order to proclaim to the non-Jewish the nations of the world come and study another explanation Had the Torah been given in Israel, the nation, the national homeland, the nations of the world would have had an excuse for not accepting it. This follows the rabbitic tradition before God gave the Torah, he offered it to all the other nations and each found a reason to decline. Yet another, just as the wilderness is free, it cost nothing to enter. So the Torah is free, it's Hashem's gift to us that we saw in the But there's another more spiritual reason, and this is Rabbi Sax's reason I want to share with you. The desert is a place of silence. There's nothing visual to distract you. There's no ambient noise to muffle sound. To be sure, when received the Torah, there was thunder and lightning, the sound of a chauffeur. The earth felt as if it were shaking at his foundations. But in a later age, when the Nval stood at the same mountain after his confrontation with the prophets of Baal, he encountered God not in the whirlwind or in the fire or in the earthquake. Where did he find God in? Coama da the still small voice literally the sound of silence. I define this as the sound you can hear only if you are listening in the silence of the midbar the desert you can hear the midab the speaker and the medubar that which is being spoken I'll say that again suggest rabbi sachs why was the Torah davka given in the midbar in the silence of the midbar you can hear the madab and the medubar in the silence of the desert you can hear the madab the speaker and the medubar that which is being spoken To hear the voice of God, you need a listening silence in the soul. You've got to turn off everything else. I was just listening earlier this morning to a podcast, Andrew Yubberman, the Stanford professor, scientist, who has some fantastic insight into life. He talks about how your brain is working even while you're asleep. And there's data that shows when you sleep with the phone in your room, it interrupts your sleep, even if it never goes off because you're waiting for it. and you're curious about what's coming into it and the quality of sleep changes just by leaving it out of the room. And he said, and I reserve the right to use this in a drussa or article, but I can't help it because I just heard it today. So listen and then forget it. But he says there's research students perform better on exams if their phone is not in the room than even if it's in the room and it's in their bag. Students obviously can't have a phone on their desk or out or on while they're taking a test. But if the phone is even in their bag next to them, their brain is preoccupied and distracted by it just knowing it's there than they perform better if it's out of the room. And I heard that this morning I got to thinking, imagine the difference in our davening if the phone is not in the room that we're dening. Even if it's off, even if you don't take it out, even if you're not looking at it, its presence, its mere presence in the room can be a distraction. If it can disrupt the quality of your sleep, and if it can disrupt the outcome of your test, what does it do for your relationships when the phone is next to you while you're talking to your spouse or your child, while you're talking to Hashem, or while you're learning Hashem's Torah? The power of putting it in a different room. That's what Rabbi Sax is describing the sound of silence the silence of the soul the midbar that means every bish when you walk into the bish just like if you want to hear God speaking to you then you need to create and recreate an environment of a midbar that doesn't mean it has to be unbearably hot the sun beating down and no water it doesn't have to be a midbar in its climate but it has to be a midbar in the silence No sound, no distractions, no other activity. Because if you want to hear the madab and the medar, then you need to put yourself in a midbar. Another incredible, beautiful rabbi sex perv. That's right. We're making our way through the whole para. It's the all new me per page 744. The kohanim are organ the sorry the kahass the tribe of kahass are organized. Now the Torah tells us take a census of from among the tribe of and gives us their numbers and tells us. This is the work of Ben Kahass in the tent of meeting the most holy. When the camp is journeying, Aaron and his sons, they come, they take down the partition curtain and the cover. They place upon it a tash skin covering and spread a cloth entirely of turquoise wool over it and adjust its straps, its staves, says Rabbi Salvich. The tash skin kazal consists of mosaic of colors. The which is similar to the U of a clear sky must be permanent and not fade. Genuine does not fade when it is exposed to the sun or when the garment is washed. The protection of the ark consisted of a tash skin a colorful covering followed by a cloth. In other words, when you take it apart and you're protecting it and transport you cover the aron with tash skin coloring colorful and that doesn't fade. Why? I mean the image I have is like yeshivish. She covered the aura with black and white. This is the exact opposite of yeshivish. The aur was covered with this the most colorful colorful like the rainbow over the aur what's the significance wonders thereof. A Jew must guard his spiritual possessions like the apple of his eye. He must yearn for them to remain with his children forever. The many colors in the tash skin represent the many details in the Torah. If we're not careful with every detail within every mitzvah, Judaism cannot last. Judaism is taking, a garment with patterns of various colors. If one is careful with every detail in this wonderful tapestry, Judaism will last. If one eliminates certain colors in the tash, it loses integrity and beauty. When one strives to preserve Shabas for future generations, one must observe it in the manner stipulated by the if a Jew permits carrying, burning, extinguishing, he cannot expect that his children will observe Shabas. I know well that being careful with such details is associated with many difficulties and sacrifices. Nevertheless, the details are integral. The cloth symbolizes steadfastness, our self-sacrifice, our love for our sanctity. Just as one cannot separate the blue color from the garment, no power on earth can separate the Jewish people from the ribon. There's a beautiful symbolism and significance in that skin 7:46. Listen to this insight. It's amazing. Laza the son of Aronakoen was tasked with carrying what? The incense. He had an enormous amount he had to carry. What did he have to carry? Rashi quotes was not merely charged with overseeing the transfer of these items from place to place. the oil, the spices of the kuras, the daily flower offering, but he himself a son carried them and the Ramban has a calculation. How much was that? He had to carry all these things. What' that weigh? What that weigh? So the oil for a year was 183 lug. A lug is half a liter. Spices for the incense, the ktorus was 365 mana. A man is approximately a pound. So altogether he probably carried more than 2,000 pounds in addition to the other tasks that were relegated to him. So the question is how 2,000 lbs. Is it like a weightlifter, heavy lifter? Steroids get him tested. How'd he do it? It's enormous responsibility. An enormous weight. Not a weight of responsibility. Literally an enormous weight. Ramban concludes with a P from Yeshu. If your hope and your faith are in Hashem, you have more and more and more strength. The Rabban's principle is that a person's burden of responsibility could be incredibly incredibly heavy. But if you feel that Hashem is the one who gave it to me, then he gives me the coach to carry it. So much to carry. So much to carry. Community leaders asim raanim feel I have so much to carry. Parents, children, businesses, business owners, gabayamir, so many realms of life. Person feels I have so much to carry. Carrying so much on my shoulders, multiple institutions and budgets and people and problems. How can I do it? I'm going to collapse under the burden. It's too much. It's so much to carry. says based on this you see from here that if you feel that Hashem has specifically and individually told you this is your this is what you're meant to carry then he gives you the kak to carry it just like the son of was told here is what you have here's your task here's your mission here's what you have to carry you personally how could he do it it's too much it's too heavy because if you're told directly from God if you feel it's your mission purpose then you find the wherewithal to carry it. So so too all of us whatever we have to carry our family our responsibility if we feel it's from Hashem then we also have with it the wherewithal to be able to carry it I wanted to end with the last of the parame you cannot come only theam could be there even cannot be there when they're packing up in the holy of holies in order to transport it you cannot be there what was so dangerous On our flying last week, we had this to meet and to thank him for his incredible Torah, his incredible. He quotes here the tradition based on the Tarum. Anybody who looks at the ark who's not meant to be looking at it will drop dead and they'll die and be consumed by fire. Sound familiar? you know about it not for the right reasons which I won't even reference but it comes from it was a miracle if a person who wasn't meant to look at it looked at it they would die immediately that's what this last is telling us and how did they die so the says they would they would die from a special fire says he doesn't know exactly where it ever says that but there's a tradition that somebody who sees the auron who wasn't meant to look at it will die from a fire the san tells us if you steal person who steals a vessel from the mikdash it's a death penalty based on this means geneva if you acquire if you steal if you absorb if you take that which doesn't belong to you you'll And from here some have a tradition to put up a sign in the bottom that anyone who takes a safer from the library out of the library is a just like this. Don't be ble the kesh. Don't swallow. Don't absorb. Don't take don't remove a book a safer from the bas from the library is a specialum against such a person that also traces back to this p and to our para. We are not meeting next Tuesday. You know why? You're not available. It's the holiday of we're going to be doing a lot of learning just not in the para perspectives for today. So we'll resume the week after. I wishing everyone a good yiff. should be beshu will be standing at that mount to receive the Torah together with the hostages with all of our soldiers with all of Kai Israel safely and together.