Articles with the tag: bamidbar
Amazing Numbers & Greatest Blessings (3:39)
My wife and I have been blessed with healthy, normal children…ten times. With each addition, neighbors and acquaintances raise their eyebrows and wonder, “How do they manage?” The simple answer is, every time we have another baby, the one that used to be the youngest is promoted to “Assistant”. So presently, we actually have only one baby and nine assistants. Personally, I think we have a dynamite ratio.
But the size of our family is nothing when compared to those of our ancestors. In this week’s reading, one census identifies 605,550 men, between the ages 20 thru 60 eligible for the draft, while a separate count of Levites reveals 23,300 males older than one month.
It has long been noted…
Continue reading Amazing Numbers & Greatest Blessings (3:39)
Amazing Numbers (3:39)
Most writers eventually develop a style that they are comfortable with. One that is suited to their particular genre, interest, and expertise. The same holds true for expositors of Torah thought whose work is ultimately predictable. If I’ve fallen into a similar trap after 408 times at bat, today represents a radical departure. First of all, this week’s TIMELESS TORAH does not end with an answer but with a question (as I a have no answer myself and I am hoping someone else will). Secondly, it discusses math (and this is from someone who still can’t balance his checkbook).
The fourth book of the Torah is called “NUMBERS” and it appropriately begins with a census of all the Israelite men…
Continue reading Amazing Numbers (3:39)
A Teacher’s Love (3:1)
As the Bible opens its fourth Book, Moses is commanded to count each tribe and tally the numbers. This detailed census follows tribal and even family groupings. This passion for exactitude for population figures occurs once again, this time, near the end of the Book. No wonder then that the Midrash appropriately named this, The Book of Numbers. The tribe of Levi, however, chosen to be the teachers of Israel as well as those who guard the sanctity of the Sanctuary merit their own separate counting. But just before the Torah counts the members of the Levitical tribe, it enumerates a subdivision of that group, the four children of Aaron who were designated as Kohanim.
Unlike the rest of the…
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No Less Than One (1:2)
This week we say good-bye to the Third Book of the Torah, and say hello to the Fourth, often referred to as the Book of Numbers. This title is quite apt, as this Biblical volume begins with a census of the Jewish people. Interestingly enough, this follows another sort of counting that is related in the final verses of the Third Book. The mitzvah dealt with there is tithing ones herd, whereby one counts one’s cattle and designates each tenth one as Kadosh (sacred). When it comes to this week’s counting of people, however, we must realize that each and every one is Kadosh.
The inherent holiness and importance of each individual emanates from the G-dly soul which we all…
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The People of the Book (1:1)
The fourth book of the Bible has several names. Originally it was simply, “Bamidbar-In the Desert.” Centuries later, the Midrash labeled it, “Sefer Hapikudim – The Book of Counting.” Always read on the Shabbat before Shavuos, neither of these titles seems to bear any relationship to the Festival of the Giving of the Torah. Or perhaps, we are missing something.
The Hebrew word midbar - desert has the same root as dabair meaning word, and shares the very same letters as m’dabber - speaking. Let us recall that it was specifically in the desert that the Israelites first heard the word of G-d.
Fundamental to Judaism is the belief that G-d cannot be seen. For every ancient faith but one,...
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The Truth About Ruth
The Truth About Ruth
The People of the Book (1:1)
The fourth book of the Bible has several names. Originally it was simply, “Bamidbar-In the Desert.” Centuries later, the Midrash labeled it, “Sefer Hapikudim-the Book of Counting.” Always read on the Shabbat before Shavuos, neither of these titles seems to bear any relationship to the festival of the Giving of the Torah. Or perhaps, we are missing something.
The Hebrew word midbar-desert has the same root as dabair meaning word, and shares the very same letters as m’dabber-speaking. Let us recall that it was specifically in the desert that the Israelites first heard the word of G-d.
Fundamental to Judaism is the belief that G-d cannot be seen. For every ancient faith but one, the gods were present in nature:...
Continue reading The People of the Book (1:1)
No Less Than One (1:2)
Say good-bye to the Third Book of the Torah, and hello to the Fourth, often referred to as the Book of Numbers. This title is quite apt, as this Biblical volume begins with a census of the Jewish people….This follows another counting in the final verses of the Third Book….whereby one counts one’s cattle and designates each tenth one as Kadosh (sacred). When it comes to the counting of people, we must realize that each and every one is Kadosh.
The inherent holiness and importance of each individual emanates from the G-dly soul which we all possess. Should one feel that intellectually, spiritually or in any other character trait ,he is inferior, the Torah makes it clear that personal achievements…
Continue reading No Less Than One (1:2)
A Teacher’s Love (3:1)
They tell a story of a fellow who visited the Yeshiva to find a suitable match for his daughter….
“Oh,” said the dean, “He is my Yankele….That is my Dovid’l.…My Avrohom, My Meir, and My Chaim’l.”
“Are all these students your family?” he asked. The dean smiled, “Everyone who is in my Yeshiva is a dear child. That is the only way I will have it.”
As the Bible opens its fourth Book, Moses is commanded to count each tribe and tally the numbers. This detailed census follows tribal and even family groupings. This passion for exactitude for population figures occurs once again, this time, near the end of the Book. No wonder then that the Midrash appropriately named this,...
Continue reading A Teacher’s Love (3:1)
Amazing Numbers & Greatest Blessings (3:39)
My wife and I have been blessed with healthy, normal children…ten times. With each addition, neighbors and acquaintances raise their eyebrows and wonder, “How do they manage?” The simple answer is, every time we have another baby, the one that used to be the youngest is promoted to “Assistant”. So presently, we actually have only one baby and nine assistants. Personally, I think we have a dynamite ratio
But the size of our family is nothing when compared to those of our ancestors. In this week’s reading, one census identifies 605,550 men, between the ages 20 thru 60 eligible for the draft, while a separate count of Levites reveals 23,300 males older than one month.
It has long been noted…
Continue reading Amazing Numbers & Greatest Blessings (3:39)
Amazing Numbers (3:39)
Most writers eventually develop a style that they are comfortable with. One that is suited to their particular genre, interest, and expertise…If I’ve fallen into a similar trap after…today represents a radical departure. First of all, this week’s TIMELESS TORAH does not end with an answer but with a question (as I a have no answer myself and I am hoping someone else will). Secondly, it discusses math (and this is from someone who still can’t balance his checkbook).
The fourth book of the Torah is called “NUMBERS” and it appropriately begins with a census of all the Israelite men ages 20 thru 60 and tallies up 605,550 men eligible to be drafted into the Jewish army. A separate count…
Continue reading Amazing Numbers (3:39)