Parshat Bamidbar 5777
Rabbi Jablinowitz
The Medrash Rabbah on this week's parsha (1,7) darshens on the opening words of the parsha, Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe Bamidbar Sinai, that the Torah was given with three things, Eish, Mayim, and Midbar. The connection to Midbar, or desert, is that only one who makes himself hefker, ownerless, like the Midbar is capable of receiving the Torah. One has to be humble and totally subjugate himself to the word of Gd in order to receive the Torah. The simple, desolate state of the desert is the metaphor for how one must view himself in order to truly receive the Torah from Hashem.
Rav Tzadok asks why this Medrash on the way Torah was given appears here in parshat Bamidbar. It would seem more appropriate were it to appear in parshat Yisro, the parsha of receiving the Torah, on the pasuk which states that before they received the Torah (Shmos, Chapter 19, Pasuk 1), Bayom Hazeh Ba'u Midbar Sinai. Surely this drasha should appear on the word Midbar in this pasuk.
He answers based on the words of the Zohar Hakadosh. The Zohar in the beginning of our parsha teaches that once the Torah was given to Bnei Yisrael and the Mishkan was built, Hashem wanted to know how many soldiers of the Torah there were, Chayalin D'Oraysa, and how many soldiers of the Mishkan, Chayalin D'Mishkana, there were. Sefer Bamidbar begins with a counting and the Gemara in Yoma refers to sefer Bamidbar as "Sefer HaPekudim", the book of counting. And according to the Zohar the whole point of the counting was to see how many people there were in Bnei Yisrael who were worthy of receiving the Torah. This is why the Medrash at the beginning of our parsha darshens from the word Bamidbar one of the requirements necessary to receive the Torah; for the whole point of the counting related in the beginning of our parsha was to establish all those counted as receivers and soldiers of the Torah. Each member of the nation is counted because each one is significant as having a role in Torah. As it says in the Sefarim, the word Yisrael is an acronym for Yesh Shishim Ribo Osiyos BaTorah, there are six hundred thousand letters in the Torah, each one connected to another member of Clal Yisrael.
This would also seem to explain why parshat Bamidbar is almost always read on the Shabbos before Chag HaShavuos. And the Sfas Emes explains that there is a particular significance to having Shabbos before the commemoration of receiving of the Torah. Firstly, Shabbos was one of the mitzvos given at Marah before Matan Torah (see Rashi on sefer Shmos, Chapter 15, Pasuk 25) and when we read in the Hagadah about all the wonderful things we have from Hashem (Kamah Ma'alos Tovos La'Makom Aleinu) we mention V'Nasan Lanu HaShabbos before we mention Karvanu Lifnei Har Sinai. Clearly Matan Torah needs to follow the Shabbos. But what is the significance of having Shabbos before Shavuos?
The Sfas Emes answers based on the Medrash we brought above. One of the ways the Torah is acquired is by one making himself hefker like a Midbar. Shabbos is the classic illustration of one subjugating his will to to the will of Hashem. We cease all of our work from the week, accept the restrictions of Shabbos and devote ourselves totally to Hashem. This is the necessary prerequisite to receiving the Torah; making ourselves hefker like a Midbar on Shabbos.
He goes further and compares this Shabbos to the Shabbos before we give a Jewish male a Bris Milah. Every Bris follows a Shabbos; one must lower himself and subjugate himself to Hashem before entering into a covenant with Hashem. Similarly, before we enter the Bris HaLashon, the Bris of Matan Torah, we need to experience a Shabbos. And on this Shabbos before Shavuos and before we receive the Torah, we read about the counting of Bnei Yisrael as soldiers of the Torah, those who are worthy of the Torah and have a significant role in the Torah.
Good Shabbos and Good Yom Tov
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