May 27/06 - Shabbat B'Midbar

Commentary by Rabbi Alan Green

“And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting… ‘Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, by their polls; from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel…’”

                                                Numbers 1:1-3

The opening sentences of the book of Numbers are a microcosm of order emerging from chaos; of the growth and transformation of a rabble of former slaves, into a people deserving to be described as “a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.”  These verses are, simultaneously, a description of the growth and transformation of every individual, as he or she passes through the various stages of life.  Finally, these verses describe how this growth process is guided, step-by-step, with the direct knowledge and participation of God. 

The “wilderness of Sinai” is the chaotic background against which the Israelites struggle as they are molded into a functional, holy community.  The census that begins the book of Numbers is one critical step of that molding process. 

It isn’t good enough that the Israelites move through the wilderness as a disorderly mob nourished and protected by God.  They need to know who they are; of whom each tribe consists; and upon whom they can count, when the chips are down.  They need a marching order.  They need a chain of command.  They need to start becoming what we would call Menschen.

At this stage of their development, the Israelites have witnessed the Ten Plagues, and emerged from the womb-waters of the Red Sea.  Now, they are free, but like a new infant they are helpless.  Like a newborn just learning to walk, whenever the Israelites are asked to stand on their own they inevitably lose their footing. 

So, while the Israelites stood at Mt. Sinai, received the Torah, and attained to a prophetic vision of the very Being of God, they couldn’t maintain this level for long.  As soon as they were put to the test—in the form of the Golden Calf—the Israelites lost their balance and fell right back into chaos--their habitual patterns of sin.  The book of Numbers contains several further instances in which the Israelites get similarly off-track, and suffer the consequences.

Our own lives are hardly different than those of the ancient Israelites.  In our own process of emerging from chaos, we too occasionally experience a going forth from Egypt or a crossing of the Red Sea: an opening of grace, or good will, or good fortune.  We fall in love; we get a promotion; we move to a new place.  We are high on life, and everything seems to come up roses. 

Then, inevitably, we are put to the test.  We confront the reality of life with the new person with whom we’ve fallen in love; the new job to which we’ve been promoted; the new place to which we’ve chosen to move.  Soon enough, our own personal chaos, in the form of our bad habits from the past, begin to catch up with us as well.

However, in spite of everything, each change and each step is progress.  And throughout this process, God continually guides us and speaks to us in the Tent of Meeting that we carry deep within.   In the same way that God never gave up on the Israelites when they made their mistakes, God never gives up on us when we err. And so the process of order emerging from chaos proceeds in fits and starts, and seemingly against all odds, goes on.

Returning to our original quote: … ‘Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, by their polls; from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel…’” 

We can assume that God is already well aware of the sum of the males in Israel, which turns out to be 603,550.  We can assume that God is equally well aware of the sum of those not covered in this census, i.e. females, children under the age of 20, and those who are not fit to fight in the military.  However, God is not the problem here.  It is Moses, Aaron, and the people themselves that must be made aware.  Self-awareness is perhaps the single, most critical weapon one can wield in the struggle to emerge from chaos. 

But the Hebrew hints that far more is involved here than just counting the sum—the collective--of all these people.  The Hebrew of the command to count says, “S’U ET ROSH,” which literally means, “Lift up the (individual) head…”  In other words, it is the individual who counts most significantly in this census.

In giving this command, God seems to issue a very significant challenge: “Count this person, but do so in a way that “lifts them up.”  Count them the way I count them—with awareness, with compassion, with full knowledge of their irreplaceable value as a creature in My creation, and their role in helping to fulfill the Divine plan. S’U ET ROSH—count them, but not as a dehumanized statistic.  Rather, count them as they really and truly count!” 

The challenge that God issues to Moses and Aaron, and to us, therefore, is to flee from our tendency to dehumanize the other, and to strive to regard others the way that God regards them.  If only we were able to see our fellow human beings with Divine eyes, they would not even appear to be “other”! 

We would perceive the deeper truth: that the so-called other is, in reality, an expression my own deepest, truest Self.  If we could live this reality of S’U ET ROSH, treating our fellow human being as carefully, as respectfully, as compassionately, and as delicately as we would treat our own selves would be straightforward.  It would make the most common of common sense.

Perhaps meeting the challenge of S’U ET ROSH best defines the true meaning of order emerging from chaos.  To love our fellow human being as ourselves is ultimate orderliness.  If this very simple spiritual principle could only be practiced universally, all chaos—all hatred, strife, discontent, disharmony, war, and bloodshed—would immediately come to an end. 

May we all be fortunate enough to see this reality in our own day, and in our own life. 

SHABBAT SHALOM.