Shalom from Beta Vikhai and thank you for joining me. In the beginning of Sefer Bamid Bar, we are starting a new book, Sephar Bamid Bar, the Book of Numbers, and we will try to understand really the opening statement of our parsha. Hashem spoke to Moshe in the Sinai Desert in the tenth of meeting on the first day of the second month, on the second year since Exodus, saying to him, Count, take a census of all of the Jewish people so you will know how many people are from Benesrim Shanawa Mala. Everyone who is 20 years old and up, you're going to count him in that census. Now, let's pause here. The fact that from time to time you need to take a census, you need to count how many people you have, that's in a way might be a given. The only thing that we need to ask about the counting itself is why now? We already know there was already counting when they left Egypt. We know Sheshmut Edefagis, 600,000 men who went out of Egypt 20 years old and older. So we can assume how many people were there. So why do I need to count them a year after? That's the first question. The second question: look at the details. Hashem spoke to Moshe be Midbar Sinai in the Sinai Desert, Be Oel Moed in the tenth of meeting, be Echadla Khodishani on the first of the second month, Bashana Shani, the second year that's since they left Egypt. Why do I need to know all those details? It is so specific. So we are going to try to explore different opinions, different understandings, different lessons from this detailed verse, and also to try to understand why now? Why do I need to count them again now? So the Midrash, our sages in Midrash Tan Khumah, picks on first the first description in the Pasuk. Why do I need to know that he spoke to him in the die in the Sinite Desert, especially when I know that? Says the Midrash, Lama bemidbar sinai. Why does it say bemidbar sinai in the Sinite Desert? Okay. So the Midrash says the Sinai Desert is not a location, it's an idea. What's the idea? When you see desert, you see nothingness, you see desolation. The desert has quote unquote nothing to brag for. It's not nice. A lot of dust, a lot of sand, winds. There's nothing to show for. There is no beautiful lake, there's no beautiful mountain. There's nothing there. In a way, the desert is an idea of humility. Therefore, the Torah begins with the idea of humility, of being humble. And without being humble, you cannot possess, you cannot acquire the Torah. Because the Torah demands of us to be very humble. A to hear someone else's opinion, B to understand that this is God's will. So the opening statement, even before we start counting, we need to know that we need to be humble. Now, this is not only about the Torah, it's also about the counting. When you count and you accumulate a lot, obviously the first natural reaction is being hardy, being arrogant. I have so much, I'm so strong, I have three million soldiers, I have five billion dollars. So humility, when it's there at the beginning, the counting and the end result of your counting hopefully will not affect you so much. So we are starting to frame the story. We start with Bemidbal Sinai to teach us humility only also because of Torah. Obviously, the way you study Torah is with humility, but also when it comes to counting, it's in a way come to balance the outcome of the counting and where you need to be, which is a humble person. Rashi addresses a different issue that we obviously asked, it's about why now. Why to count them now? Says Rashi mitohibatan lefanav mune otam kol sha. God loves us, and that's why he wants to count us. Every time he can. When they left Egypt, he counted them. And when some of them were killed because of the golden calf, he also made another census. So when he was about to basically bestow his divine presence on them, he counted them. And a month after the Mishkan was built, he counted them. So let's start with the basics. When do I count something? When I like it. People like to count things that they collected, for example. Stamps. People like to collect stamps, they count them. If people like to collect money, so they count it. The idea of counting, it's not only just to know how much I have, but it's also to feel it, it's to see it again. It's to have it in my mind. Okay, I have 20 of this object and 30 from the other object. Here, Rashi, so that's the basic understanding. Rashi elevates it a bit. And says, God loves us and that's why he's counting us. Obviously, God counting the people, he knows exactly how many people we are. So the process of counting is basically to, in a way, convey to us the idea that God likes us and he wants to know how many are we. But then he says, when Hashem wants to bestow his divine presence on us, he again counted us. So on the first day of Nisan, the year after the Exodus, they build the Mishkan, and a month later he counted them. Which means there is some kind of a connection between the divine presence and the number. The number that is the outcome of the census. What is the connection? We'll see a bit later on. 20 years old and up. Why Dafka? Why specifically 20? Why not 16? Why not 13? Why not 25? Says the Khizkuni de Fishe Botosman Riweim Latve Milhama. 20 years and up, you are a soldier. And I want to count how many soldiers I have. Now pause. And now we need to pause for an introduction. We need to create some kind of a digression. Put aside everything we spoke about, a Sinai desert, why the counting. Let's talk about Sephar Bamid Bao. The book of Numbers in a way is divided to three. Until chapter 10, chapter 10, and chapter 10 and up. When we will learn some of the parashat, we will try to touch upon it. But really, the first 10 chapters, if the plan walked, the plan, the original plan was you are in the desert, you are traveling with a Mishkan, with a tabernacle, and then a kadasar yome chorev, the recharse baneah, 11 days and you are in Israel. That's it. So what do you need to do? If in 11 days I'll be in Israel, what do I need to do? I obviously need to prepare the army. I need to know how many soldiers I have. So Sephal Bamidbar, in a way, the first part of Sephal Bamidbar, the first 10 chapters, is the preparation of the nation to enter the land of Israel. What's happened in the 10th barak, in the 10th chapter, is already the complaints, then the Meraglim, the spies, and then unfortunately the terrible decree that for 40 years the Jewish people will wander around themselves in the desert, and only the next generation will enter the land of Israel. So now we can bring it together. By giving this introduction, I think we can bring it together. The Sinai Desert is, as I said, it's not only a location, but it's also an idea. It's where we receive the Torah. When we receive the Torah, we obviously received a tremendous divine wisdom, but we also receive a request. You must be humble. And this humility is connected to the counting and to the purpose of the counting. The purpose of the counting is to show how much God loves you. You should not be arrogant because of that. You should be humble. Continue to be humble because God loves you because you are humble. And now get ready to fulfill God's second demand of you to enter the land of Israel. Entering the land of Israel obviously involves war, soldiers. You need to know how many soldiers you have. But then when you enter the land of Israel and you fight for it, and you dwell in it, and you start plowing the fields and you start cutting the harvest, you can become hardy again. Look at what the Torah will tell us in the book of Deuteronomy. The achalta, the shamata, the shamanth, you will become, you will eat, you will become fat, and then you will basically abandon God. We have a fear, so we need to balance it. This book of numbers, it's called book of numbers. Numbers gives you a meaning. You can look at numbers and say, oh, I'm just a number. But no. Your number counts because without you, something is missing. If I'm seven and you are nine, and this person is eight, each one of us contributes something. So I did my part, I'm number seven. This person did not do his job, or she did not do her job, so number eight is missing. I can't go to number nine. Each individual is so important to create that sequence of numbers in every realm of life. Torah, each one of us needs to contribute. Sava, army, each one of us needs to contribute. Conquering the land, dwelling in the land, building a nation. We need everyone. And now we understand why counting is so important, especially at the beginning of the book of numbers. Rapshim Shan Fael Hirsch, I think crystallize my theory by saying the following. A Humash Aravi, the fourth Humash, which is the book of Numbers. It goes back to our national reality. Because if Sefer Vaika, the last book we read, talked about the Kohanim, the priests, and the nation itself, as what do they do, how they do, now we are talking about the nation. It shows us the Amisrael, it shows us the people of Israel the way they are. It presents us the people of Israel in relations to the vision of its destiny, the way it was portrayed in the third book, which was Vaikrah. In the beginning of our book, the Book of Numbers, munimita uma keida, a mi uchedet aliedei yeudda ha meshutaf. We count the people as eidah, a congregation. But eida in Hebrew is from the word ed, but also yeud. You can have a witness, but also destiny, ye'ud. Umunimba uma et kol khaverea tsma'im echad echad. We count one by one. So that will infiltrate the hearts of the communal representatives. That they understand that when we talk about the klal, when we talk about the whole, when we talk about the nation, we are not talking about just like an abstract concept, or we're talking about they. We are talking about individuals that comprise together the klal. The tibur, the public, is really comprised by every individual. But it's twofold. The public needs to understand that it's basically a collection of individuals, and every individual must understand that he must be part of it in order to create this tzibu, this congregation. We need everyone. Everyone needs to understand what's the vision, everyone needs to understand the common denominator, everyone needs to understand his or her contribution, everyone needs to understand that without him or her, we cannot have a full nation. Therefore, says Rashar Hirsh, Bemidbar Sinai in the Sinai Desert. The place, the location for the counting was the desert. He says, it's definitely this census did not come to serve any financial purposes or any political purposes. We are in the desert. No one is running for elections, and everyone has the same. But he says when you look at the verse, it says, Be'oel muhed in the tenth of meeting. It's come to teach us something. What does it come to teach us? This counting is dedicated for Torah. This is the Torah that was given at Sinai, and the tent of meeting is the representative of Har Sinai, of the Sinai Mountain where we received the Torah. At Sinai the Torah was given. When? Second time on Yom Kippur. The reflection of the Torah was that the first day of Nisan, when we build the Mishkan, and now it's the counting. They circle the Torah as the one who keeps it and the one who implement it. Abshab here is basically trying to convey us a very important message. The desert, the counting in the desert. First, the counting, the counting has some kind of twofold meaning. Every individual must understand that is that she or he or she must contribute. They must get involved. There is no such a thing in Judaism that I can just stand aside and let someone else do it. It doesn't work like that. We need everyone. This is why everyone was created. Because everyone has something unique to bring to the table. We need everyone. Everyone must take a load, everyone must take a share, everyone must contribute. Also, the community, the congregation, the nation needs to understand that its power is when they are all come together. And to know to create this atmosphere of, I don't know, I'm going to just call it give and take between the individual and the public and the individual and the community. And then, says Rashal Hirsch, says Rapshim Shonafal Hirsch, the counting itself was in the desert, but it was in Sinai. Well, it's obviously associated with the Torah. And the Torah is the tent of meeting. And the tent of meeting, after that, we have a counting. What brought us all together as a nation is the Torah. And even if you are a practicing Jew or not a practicing practicing Jew, we have a shared vision, we have a share and some kind of commonality between us. That it all derives from the Torah. And with that, you enter the land of Israel. If you will open up Sephiroth, the book of Joshua, you will see that when they cross the Jordan River, the first people and the first object that went into the Jordan River was the Ark, the Torah with the Kohanim. That's what led us when we enter the land of Israel. So now we have, I would say, a few components that would comprise Am Islail. We have humility, we have the understanding that each one of us is important and each one of us must contribute to understand that we are trying to create this atmosphere that we can all come close to the Torah as a guiding light for us of what we do. And we understand that we have yeod, that we have vision. Part of the problem of people coming together is that they don't feel that they are sharing the same destiny. They don't have the same vision. To bring everyone together and ask everyone to do something and to contribute towards a vague vision or an unknown vision, it's very hard. We need to have an oil moed. We need to have a not only it's not only a tent of meeting, it's from the word edud, yeud, testimony, vision, destiny, something that can inspire us and aspire to come together and to contribute what we can all do in order to create this nation. The Rabbi Milubavich talks about the desert and says the silent desolation of the desert is a metaphor for the lack of divine revelation and creation. He wants to take it to a more of a Hasidic perspective and he says, Midbar, a desert, is a place that there is like almost no revelation of God, also because there is nothing quote unquote beautiful there. And also in Chasid is more like of a desolation. Yet, despite its spiritual silence, in the mute world, can indeed be taught to express the divinity hidden within it. The Jewish people are uniquely suited to this task. By studying the Torah and observing the commandments, we can unveil the divine purpose and potential behind every aspect of reality. This is a beautiful when you ask yourself, okay, what can we do in the desert? This is the place to learn. How to transform a desert into a place that is blooming. When you take a place that has no vision and you form a vision to it. When we came back to the land of Israel and we started building our state, there were swamps here. No one was able to really live here and to flourish here. And the minute the children came back, we transformed this desert to Gan Edin. The Rabbi Mirubavic says the desert is an idea, is a metaphor for the hidden places of God. And we have the ability, the tools to find those hidden divine sparks and to bring them out. And by doing that, we will also transform the geographical or the topographical nature of the place. We will change it from Arvatakan Eden. We can take shamah, something that it's totally desolated, and to create a Gan Eden from it. The Rabbi continues in this senses, the fact that each Jew counted for one, neither more nor less, indicates that every is equally dear to God as an individual. I think the empowerment here is incredible. Every Jew possesses this invaluable wealth by virtue of his or her unique soul essence. By virtue of this essence which is which the simplest Jew possesses no less than did Moses. All Jews are well equally God's children. When we recognize this, we too will cherish and never dismiss or overlook any Jew. The counting, we always look at numbers as just I'm taking your name, I'm giving you a number, you are a nothing, you have just become like a little part in this huge machine and huge process, and you leave your identity, you lose your identity, you lose your individuality. The Rabbi Milubavich, in a way, and many others are trying to do exactly the opposite. You are being counted. You are important. If you are not important, I will not count you. The idea of being counted is that I believe in you. I believe in you that you possess the power to change the world. You need to believe in it that as well. The idea of being counted is also, and that's the Hebrew, we have money to count, but we also have poked, it's also to count. Poked is also from the Leshon of the language of tafkid, a mission, a purpose, a job. When I count you, I'm basically telling you, you are the only one who can fulfill this job. You are the only one who can fulfill this mission. Without you, the destiny, the vision cannot be fulfilled. We need everyone. And if we understand it, you will approach every Jew, no matter what his or her level of observancy or practicing mitzvot, or how far they are from Judaism, or how close they are. Each one of them is uniquely designed for his or her mission, and their mission is equal to every other scholar. The rabbi continues and says, the item of the the Torah uses for take the census is raise their hands. Since the purpose of the census was to conscript us for the task of battling the desolation of the spiritual desert, this indicates that in order to overcome this enemy, we must always feel above it. This is also beautiful. The word, which means to elevate, raise up your heads. When you count someone, when we count people, mostly they lower their heads. One, two, three. Here the counting should elevate us. Basically tell us raise your heads, raise your eyes, look at this desolation and ask yourself, okay, what can I do in order to transform this desert into a blooming and flourishing place? This is a tremendous task. It's empowering, it's powerful, it's meaningful. I'm not just a number, another number with the census. Without me, there is no census. Without me, the vision will be delayed. And therefore, I'm definitely encouraged to do more. The Rav, Rav Salovechik says, the words be mispaushemot, counting them by names, suggest an intimate relationship with every individual. It's not only a number. I'm counting you for your name. God commanded Moses to call each man by name, because each individual possesses something unique. To be an effective Rebbe, Moses had to know each person as an individual with his own background and life experience. And I think I wanted to end with this lesson because I think it is so personal for each one of us, especially in the life we all experience. When you count someone, so obviously the danger is that he loses his or her identity and individuality. So we took care of it. We are saying exactly the opposite. Counting is giving you a purpose, giving you a job. I believe in you. You are not just a number. Without you, I can't do it. We are all needed. So this is obviously one layer of our message today. But then there is another layer. I don't count you just one, two, three, four, five. I count you by name. Moshe, Ruti, Avner, Lea. By name. It means I need to know your name. You are not just a number. You are not a number. You have a number and a name. But in order to know your name, I need to know you. Which now takes us to a different level. We are not only obligated as a nation to empower the individual. We are not only obligated to create this shared destiny and vision. We are not only obligated to see the image of God in someone else and to understand that without him or her, I will not be complete and the nation will not be complete. But it's also to know the other person, not only to know what I can get from him personally or nationally, just to know him or her. In life when we have so many friends and we don't have too many friends, in life that people really don't know who is behind the text or an email or an AI or whatever it is. To know the person. Let's start with our families. To know your children, to know your spouse. The only way is to have a conversation with them. To know your friend, to know your neighbor, to know someone who is not your friend and not your neighbor. It all begins with Bar Sinai at the Sinai Desert. Well, there is this freedom in a way. To form our own identity and individuality, and then to come together with the Torah to the land of Israel to build a nation. I think that this lesson is very empowering to the individual and to the nation. It obviously demands a tremendous amount of walk and efforts to be able to see the potential of every other individual. It starts maybe with us. Do we need to believe in ourselves? And then when you start believing in yourself, you also believe in others that they have this and they possess the same powers you have. And then together you create an oil mohed, a place, a tent of meeting, which all can come, come closer to the Torah, create a nation. And create a nation not only in the Midbao. We don't create, we create, we form the nation in the Midbao. But the nation comes to its full and full abilities to maximize their potential in the land of Israel. And why? There is one thing, an additional thing that we receive when we cross the Jordan River. It's Arvut. It's being a guarantor for each other. So it's not only to recognize the potential, to respect one another, to understand that we need to walk together. Arvut means that we live for each other. Not only that we see each other, we live for each other. And this is the highest level of understanding of what does it mean to be counted. So in this Basha, it's not only about numbers. It's numbers that means much more than that. It means names, understanding of potential, empowerment, and building a true nation. Thank you.