Parshat Shemos 5783
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in the beginning of this week’s parsha, ואלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה. The parsha begins by counting the tribes of Bnei Yisrael as they went down to Mitzrayim. Rashi comments that they are compared to the stars who are brought in the evening and returned in the morning by their name and number. So too Bnei Yisrael who were counted when they were alive when they first went down to Egypt in parshat Vayigash, are now counted after death by name and number.
Rashi quotes the pasuk in sefer Yeshayahu (Chapter 40, Pasuk 26)לכלם בשם יקרא המוציא במספר צבאם. The Medrash Rabbah on our parsha (1,3) also compares Bnei Yisrael to the stars, but quotes a pasuk in sefer Tehillim (Chapter 147, Pasuk 4) מונה מספר לכוכבים לכולם שמות יקרא. Both pasukim refer to the stars as being counted and being referred to by name. What is the significance of the stars being counted and having names, and in what way is this being applied to Bnei Yisrael?
The Chidushei Harim writes on our parsha in the ספר הזכות a difficulty from another pasuk. The pasuk says in sefer Hoshea (Chapter 2, Pasuk 1), והיה מספר בני ישראל כחול הים אשר לא ימד ולא יספר. The pasuk says that Bnei Yisrael have a number like the sands of the ocean which can’t be counted. The pasuk is quite difficult and seems to be self-contradictory! Do they have a number or not? The Gemara in Yoma 22B asks this question and answers, when Bnei Yisrael are doing the will of Hashem they don’t have a number and when they don’t do the will of Gd, they do have a number.
The Chidushei Harim has great difficulty with this answer. Since one pasuk expresses both that they can and that they can’t be counted, it is hard to explain that it’s referring to two different scenarios. Rather, he teaches that the nature of Bnei Yisrael is both; מספר ואין מספר. We are both counted and not counted. We are physically beings in this world, yet we are part of a nation that is above this world and למעלה מן הטבע. We are counted in the sense that we are physical individuals in this world, but when we are all focused on serving Gd, we are אין מספר; one nation indivisible in our task.
This duality extends to other places of Kedushah as well. Chazal teach in Avos (Chapter 5, Mishnah 5), that in the Beis Hamikdash Bnei Yisrael were עומדים צפופים ומשתחווים רווחים. They stood pressed up one against the other, but upon bowing to Hashem there was plenty of space. Again, מספר ואין מספר. Eretz Yisrael is referred to as ארץ הצבי in the Gemara in Gittin 57A. When Bnei Yisrael are dwelling in the land, it stretches out like the skin of a deer and there is place for everyone. But when they’re not on the land, then it shrinks and there isn’t space. In both instances, when we are all together doing the will of Hashem, there is place for everyone. מספר ואין מספר.
As we brought in the beginning, Rashi on the first pasuk brings the words of Chazal comparing Bnei Yisrael to the stars which are counted. But the Sfas Emes asks, we read in sefer Bereishis, when Avraham Avinu asks Hashem about having a child (Chapter 15, Pasuk 5), ויאמר הבט נא השמימה וספר הכוכבים אם תוכל לספר אותם. Once again, are the stars counted or not? The Sfas Emes explains that in essence they have no number. But Hashem gives them a number and a name when He brings them down to our world to provide light. The stars are like Bnei Yisrael; they are from the heavens and function in our worlds as well. מספר ואין מספר.
In the parsha above, Chazal teach that Hashem tells Avraham, צא מהאצטגנינות שלך. According to the laws of nature, you won’t have children. But Hashem will defy the laws of nature and you will have children who themselves will defy the laws of nature. They will be מספר ואין מספר. And this is expressed in the nature of the miracle itself. Typically, when there is a miracle, there is a change of nature, but then afterwards everything returns back to its natural state. But with the miracle of ninety-year-old Sarah giving birth, the effect of the miracle remained. Yitzchak was born in a state of miracle and went to father, along with his son Yaakov a nation of miracles; a people of מספר ואין מספר.
When Bnei Yisrael go down to Egypt, they are counted. They are going down to live in a state of galus, of difficult exile. But they are not going down alone. את יעקוב איש וביתו באו. They were going down with the promise given to the Avos and to the Shevatim that they would return. The Shevatim went down with them; they were not alone. The pasuk in Shir Hashirim (Chapter 2, Pasuk 9) states, הנה זה עומד אחר כתלינו משגיח מן החלונות מציץ מן החרכים. The wall in the pasuk represents the barrier separating Bnei Yisrael from Hashem in a time of galus. But even then, הנה "זה", the word זה is the number 12. The Shevatim are standing right behind the barrier protecting us, משגיח מן החלונות. They are looking through the windows. The Zohar Hakadosh teaches there are twelve windows in the heavens and hence the Halacha requires twelve windows in a shul. And מציץ מן החרכים, they are looking through the cracks, smaller openings representing the seventy souls of Bnei Yisrael who went down. All of our ancestors look down upon us and protect us during a period of galus. We are never alone, we are part of something much greater than ourselves. And this is a result of the miraculous nature of Am Yisrael. We are מספר ואין מספר. Though we are physical beings in this world, we have the ability to connect to our source and be above time and place and reach a level of אין מספר.
Good Shabbos
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