Am I happy with my role?
In this fourth book of the Torah, Bamidbar, also known as Numbers, we will see the closing of the Yetzia, the exodus from Egypt and the entrance into the Promised Land. It is the narrative of 38 of the 40 years in the wilderness. It takes place on the first day of the second month of the second year, showing that the Torah is not written chronologically; it is pedagogical, as revealed later in chapter 9, which occurs in the first month of the second year. It is a continuation of themes by which our Creator wants to teach us, guiding and instructing us through His timeless principles that can be applied to our lives. The Torah gives us life!
The Bore Olam will organize the community of Israel, bringing order, defining roles and principles to live by. When we disregard His order, the result is chaos and destruction. We are living in very difficult times, in an epoch that promotes anti-system and accepts the idea of contra-natura, which goes against everything the Creator stands for. The Creator didn’t give us “order” to make us His slaves, rather to teach how to organize ourselves, to live in an orderly community in which we can depend upon one another.
It begins here with a census, the fourth one in the Torah. The first was after we left Egypt, the second after the Golden Calf, and the third just before we came to this point. The idea is that He was telling the people of Israel to look at how many they were and to take care of each other. Israel would now organize an army of 20-year-olds and up to defend itself against the many enemies that it would encounter on the way to the Promised Land.
By giving this new nation “freedom”, the Creator was preparing them to become an independent people. Independence is the opposite of being dependent. Most religions teach us total dependence on God, which sounds very beautiful, but our Creator showed us another way. This new community would have to learn to work together to build a new nation, knowing that the Creator would always be with them. Can you imagine a farmer thinking that since he has so much faith in the Creator, he doesn’t need to till the soil or sow his seed; he simply has to leave the land as it is, to pray and wait for the crops to grow on their own; the Creator would do everything. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? The Creator is showing us that He gave humans the capability to think, to act and to do. We do our part, and He does His. With this freedom comes responsibility and the burden to accept the consequences of our decisions. Some religions promote the notion that all we need to do is repeat certain mystical words or follow steps 1, 2, and 3, and we will be saved. The Creator is very clear here…”If you sin, you pay for it.”
Bamidbar will show the consequences of Israel’s failures. The Torah is a very honest book openly displaying our humanity, both good and bad aspects, triumphs and defeats and how we can return and make things right with our Creator whenever we fail. God give us faith – אמונה – (emunah), which needs to be worked out in order to become trust – ביטחון – (bitachon). In other words, we all have innate faith, but we need to take a step of faith to do something before we can develop that trust in God. Humans are the only ones of His creation to have been given Free Will. Slaves who could not make their own choices were not held responsible for their actions. The Creator is NOT a taskmaster; He wants us to be free so that we can choose to be in a relationship with Him. He knows our heart (the center of our thoughts) and our intention (kavanah), which are extremely important aspects in the process of our development.
God created order to the twelve tribes, splitting Joseph into two – Ephraim and Manasseh, thus making Levi the 13th tribe. They would not inherit land in Israel; rather, they would be dispersed among the other 12 tribes so they could minister to the people and teach them the Creator’s principles. This portrays a beautiful picture of the important role that the Levites would play within the people of Israel. In Gematria, the number 13 (1 + 8 + 4 = 13) represents “the One – Echad” – אחד, and Yud Heh Vav Heh יהוה, Yahweh, is 10 + 5 + 6 + 5 = 26 = 13 + 13. Number 12 represents completion; thus, adding one more number makes 13 a blessing for Jewish people, while the rest of the world considers it to be unlucky.
God structured the tribes to go from the center outwards, which is a Middle Eastern way of thinking and revelation. The principle is that everything goes from the singular to the plurality, the community. The word “atom” is Greek and comes from the opposite philosophy. In Biblical Judaism, each of us has been created for a reason; we each have a function or role in relation to the whole. We are here to serve the greater good of the community. While Western civilization teaches a selfish mentality – “I am number one”– that everyone in the community is there to serve me…I am the center of the universe, everything is for me, and I don’t have to worry or care about others. The structure, in accordance with Biblical Judaism, would radiate outward from the center.
At the center of the twelve tribes would be the Levites and the Ochel Moed, the Tent of Meeting. In the center of Ochel Moed would be the Aron, the Ark, carrying the Tablets of the Ten Commandments. What a beautiful picture of the Creator being at the center of His people, whose light was to radiate to the rest of mankind. It’s like the concentric circles that radiate outwards from the center when we throw a pebble into the water. The Creator would speak to Moshe from the Tent of Meeting, who in turn would speak to the people of Israel.
One of the greatest problems we have today is that most of us are unhappy with our roles in society; we want to be someone else or to do something else. When we are blessed to find our role, we are so happy because we are doing what we’ve been called to do. We need to be realistic and look deep within to discover our true talents. It is always best not to do something simply because someone tells us to, or for the money. Some feel stuck in a job they hate, thinking they can’t do anything else. You can’t be a rocket scientist if you are terrible at math or a writer if you don’t know the basics of grammar. You need to be more realistic with yourself and set your goals based on who you are.
Israel was called to be “am segullah” עם סגולה, a special people whose role was to be light to the nations. God is a God of order, and He gives us our roles. When we go against that order, we become destructive. Most people today are rebelling against our God-given nature. A vegetable cannot be an animal, and an animal cannot be a mineral. A cat cannot be a dog. Everything has its function, and when men try to change the natural order of things, chaos reigns.
Why is the world against Israel once again? It is the same old story. It is about the desire for superiority.Later in this book, we will read the stories of Korach and the Reubenites, who did not accept their roles and desired the positions assigned to others. The Creator allowed their rebellion, but they suffered harsh consequences. Is the world blind? Yes, with pure envy! Rather than welcoming the light with joy, they become jealous of Israel’s role and rebel against God’s order. The Creator brought order, and the world is destroying His natural order. The world is directionless; it is chaotic, and we need to look to the principles of the Torah for today.
Israel’s calling is to bring the light of Torah to the nations. When we walk with the GOD of Israel, wherever we go His light is with us; we don’t need to show off by dressing in a special way, by telling others how holy we are or what sinners they are; we don’t need to say anything because people see the light in our lives that comes from the Creator and they get curious; they ask us why we are so different, why we act in different way and that’s when we have the opportunity to tell them about what the Creator is doing in our lives.
That was our Messiah Yeshua’s basic message to us. He was a teacher, a prophet who demonstrated the true light. He said, “I have not come to destroy, to abolish the Torah…” Totally the contrary: he came to make it a reality and to have us return to the Word of God. And to whom was he speaking? To us, to the Jewish people, both to the ultra-religious as well as the regular people, to everyone, he brought the same message.
Do you know who really received it? It wasn’t those who were stuck up, or so religiously oriented that they thought they knew the Creator’s entire revelation, as if they were the only ones capable of interpreting the Word of God. Unlike them, the message reached those willing to accept the fundamentals of God’s revelation.
Why? Because we, human beings, believe that we can change the Word of God and replace it with our own. And instead of accepting the Words of God, we accept the words of men, which is why we are all so confused today. That’s why there are so many religions and so many gods everywhere. Each religion tells us that its god is the right god. There is only one true God, the Creator of the universe and all humanity. We don’t need to convert to a religion; we need to be transformed by the Creator and enter into a relationship with Him. That is true Halacha.
Are we ready to start this last journey through the book of Bamidbar? Over the next 38 years in the wilderness, we will witness two generations pass: the first, who came out of Egypt, and the second, who grew up in the desert. We will see how they enter the Promised Land, and that even Moshe Rabenu, Aaron, his brother, and Miriam, his sister, were unable to enter it. Only two men of that first generation who had left Egypt were able to enter it: one Israelite, and the other a ger, a gentile. Let’s get ready to continue this wonderful pilgrimage through the wilderness and learn more about Israel, about how the Creator loves us, and how we can apply those principles in our lives.
On Shavuot, we will rejoice in His gift of the Ten Commandments and our role in bringing them to all the nations. That is the essence of the message pictured by the Ochel Moed being at the center of the twelve tribes of Israel. Even if you were not born a Jew, you are part of the people of Israel if you respond to this message and to the Creator’s call on your life. Our mentality changes when the Torah is within us, and our light is spread wherever we go, not by our words, but by our deeds, not by trying to convert anybody, but by applying His Ten Commandments to our lives. They were meant for all humanity.
Chag Shavuot Sameach! חג שבועות שמח!
Rabbi Netanel ben Yochanan Z” l