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Parshat Bamidbar.
Ramban characterizes this a הקדמה to this ספר and he points out אחר שביאר
תורת הקרבנות בספר השלישי,
התחיל לסדר בספר הזה המצות שנצטוו בענין אהל מועד.
So not only ספר ויקרא very much related to the משכן,
but ספר במדבר as well.
So says רמב"ן points out here על טומאת מקדש וקדשיו לדורות.
ועתה יגביל את המשכן.
We're told not to be מטמא the משכן,
now we're told that there's meant to be some limiting of people not to
come close to the משכן,
not to come too close to the משכן so as not to come and
be מטמא the משכן.
And רמב"ן points out that many of the מצות over here parallel restrictions and
גדרים that were made at הר סיני.
רמב"ן of course drawing upon his idea that the משכן is a continuation of
the השראת השכינה at הר סיני.
So says רמב"ן,
עתה יגביל את המשכן ביישובו במדבר כאשר הגביל הר סיני בהיות הכבוד שם.
ציווה והזהיר קרוב יומת כאשר אמר שם כי סקול יסקל.
וציווה ולא יבאו לראות כבלע את הקדש ולא ימותו,
כאשר הזהיר שם פן יהרסו אל ה' לראות וגו'.
וציווה ושמרתם את משמרת הקדש ואת משמרת המזבח,
כאשר אמר שם וגם הכהנים הנגשים אל ה' יתקדשו פן יפרץ בהם.
והנה ציווה איך תהיה משמרת המשכן וכליו,
ואיך יחנו סביב,
ויעמדו עם רחוק,
הכהנים הנגשים אל ה' איך יתנהגו בו ובחנותו ובסעתו ומה יעשו במשמרתו.
והכל מעלה למקדש וכבוד לו.
The משמרת,
the guard,
the jobs,
that's all מעלה למקדש וכבוד לו.
כמו שאמרו ז"ל אינו דומה פלטרין של מלך שיש לו שומרים לפלטרין שאין לו
שומרים.
Sometimes the שומרים there are just for the sake of honor,
an honor guard like Buckingham Palace.
So I don't know if all the שומרים are there to make sure that
people don't steal,
it's just considered to be more מכובד on a palace that has שומרים.
והספר הזה כולו רמב"ן says somewhat of a difficult statement to understand,
והספר הזה כולו במצות שעה שנצטוו בהם בעמדם במדבר.
ובניסים שנעשו להם לספר כל מעשה ה' אשר עשה עמהם להפליא.
וסיפר כי החל לנסוח בהם לפניהם החרב.
They have some battles over here which are associated with the beginning of the
conquest of ארץ ישראל.
סיחון ועוג,
מדין וציווה איך תחלק הארץ להם.
ואין בספר הזה מצות הנוהגות לדורות זולתי קצת מצות בעניני הקרבנות שהתחיל בהם בספר
הכהנים ולא נשלם באורן שם.
So the מצות over here are מצות לשעה.
המפורשים discuss,
in the טוב ירושלים edition he points out that you have over here מצות
that are לדורות unrelated to the משכן such as חלה,
ציצית,
הפרת נדרים and others.
Okay כיוצא בהם בישראל.
So פרשת צבא means army.
רמב"ן understands that צבא just might mean gathering.
So first of all פירש רש"י שאין אדם יוצא לצבא פחות מבן עשרים שנה.
שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל.
And רמב"ן begins with quoting some רש"י which I don't think we have,
some part מדרש which רמב"ן will discuss.
It says to lift the heads and that is similar,
the מדרש understands,
to לשון used when you want to tell an executioner to lift some person's
head.
Just in the פסוק when it says to lift the head it's the head
with the body,
but the executioner does the head without the body.
שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל כמו שאומר לקיטנר ארים רישיה דדין לשון
רש"י.
Okay רמב"ן will discuss this,
but first רמב"ן points out ואפשר שיהיה הטעם הזה the reason for the people
being counted for the army only at twenty,
בעבור שאינו חזק למלחמה פחות מבן עשרים,
כמו שאמרו בן עשרים לרדוף.
Aval,
יתכן שיהיה פירוש כל יוצא צבא היוצאים להתקהל בעדה *Aval yitachen she-yeih perush kol
yotzei tzava ha-yotzim l'hitkahel ba-edah*.
צבא *Tzava* might just mean gathering,
gathering whenever there's an assembly of people,
then the kids under twenty,
they don't count.
כי הנערים לא נכללו בתוכה *Ki ha-nearim lo nichlelu b'tocha*.
כל אסיפת עם תקרא צבא *Kol asefat am tikarei tzava*.
Ramban points out in the continuation that when we're talking about war,
then the Torah uses the expression צבא המלחמה *tzava milchama*,
but the word צבא *tzava* is not necessarily מלחמה *milchama*.
וכן צבא בעבודה *V'chen tzava b'avodah*,
וכן צבא העבודה *v'chen tzava ha-avodah*,
וגם צבאות אשר צבאו *v'gam tzovot asher tzavu*,
and there it doesn't mean women that gathered to serve in the army because
it weren't as smart as nowadays to know that you're meant to have women
there in the tank serving together with the men.
וכן צבא השמים וכל צבאם וצביתי *V'chen tzava ha-shamayim v'chol tzevaam v'tziveiti*,
וכן יפרשו אנשי המלחמה מצבא המלחמה *v'chen yeforshu anshei ha-milchama mitzva milchama*,
ויחשבם מצבא המלחמה *v'yachashevam mitzva milchama*.
Okay,
fine.
Now,
points out the Ramban in a couple of lines,
the לשון *lashon* that רש״י *Rashi* uses,
like they tell the קסטינר ארים רישי דדי *kistinar arim reshei didai*,
that's very strange.
Why do they associate a negative connotation?
And if it's just the fact that they'll die in the מדבר *midbar*,
and the fact why שבט לוי *Shevet Levi* uses a different לשון *lashon*,
but that's not a full explanation because after all also in the second counting
it uses a לשון *lashon*,
second counting that of באי הארץ *ba'ei ha-aretz* later,
use the לשון *lashon* of שאו את ראש *se'u et rosh*.
And in fact,
in the מדרש הגדול *Midrash Ha-Gadol* over there it says that שאו את ראש
*se'u et rosh* there is used in a favorable connotation.
אין שאו אלא לשון גדולה *Ein se'u ela lashon gedula*,
כמו דכתיב ישא פרעה את ראשך והשיבך על כנך *k'mo d'ketiv yisa paroh et
roshcha v'heshivcha al kanecha*,
which was said by the שר המשקים *sar ha-mashkeh*.
אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא לישראל נתתי לכם תלוי ראש *Amar Hakadosh Baruch Hu l'Yisrael
nasati lachem t'loi rosh*,
exaltation of the head.
ודמיתי אתכם לי *V'dimisi etchem li*.
שם שיש לי תלוי ראש על כל באי עולם שנאמר לך השם הממלכה והמתנשא
לכל לראש *Shem she-yesh li t'loi rosh al kol ba'ei olam she-ne'emar lecha Hashem
ha-mamlacha v'hamitnaseh l'chol l'rosh*.
Translation:
Now art as exalted as head above all.
אף לכם עשיתי תלוי ראש *Af lachem asisi t'loi rosh*.
So we have one מדרש *midrash* which says נשיאת ראש *nesi'at rosh* is לשלילה
*lishlila*,
something negative.
Another that indicates it's positive.
So הכתוב השלישי שיכריע *ha-katuv ha-shlishi she-yachria*,
another מדרש *midrash* which indicates sometimes it's negative,
sometimes it's positive.
בשם מדרש סיני רבה *Beshem Midrash Sinai Rabba* שאמרו אמר רבי פנחס אמר רבי
אידי *she-amru amar Rabbi Pinchas amar Rabbi Idi*,
מאי דכתיב בראש הספר שאו את ראש *mai d'ketiv b'rosh ha-sefer se'u et rosh?*
רוממו את ראש גדלו את ראש לא נאמר אלא שאו את ראש *Romemu et
rosh gadlu et rosh lo ne'emar ela se'u et rosh*,
כאדם שאומר לקסטינר שא רישיה דפלן *k'adam she-omer l'kistinar sa' resheih d'plon*.
So כאן רמז רמז למשה *kan rammaz rammaz l'Moshe*,
שאו את ראש *se'u et rosh*,
שאם יזכו יעלו לגדולה *she-im yizku ya'alu l'gedula*,
כמו דכתיב ישא פרעה את ראשך והשיבך על כנך *k'mo d'ketiv yisa paroh et
roshcha v'heshivcha al kanecha*.
ואם לא יזכו ימותו כולם *V'im lo yizku yamutu kulam*,
כמו דכתיב ישא פרעה את ראשך מעליך ותלה אותך על העץ *k'mo d'ketiv yisa
paroh et roshcha mei'alecha v'salas-cha al ha-etz*.
Because נשיאת ראש *nesi'at rosh* by the שר המשקים *sar ha-mashkeh* was used in
a favorable connotation,
by שר האופים *sar ha-ofim* in a negative connotation.
So apparently נשיאת ראש *nesi'at rosh* could have either connotation.
ונתאר הלשון כפי הכוונה יתפרש בטובה לטובים *V'ne'etar ha-lashon k'fi ha-kavana yitparesh b'tova l'tovim*,
וכן לשון גדולה נאמר הן במניינו הראשון בסיני *v'chen lashon gedula ne'emar hen b'minyano
ha-rishon b'sinai*,
וכן במניינו השני *v'hen ken b'minyano ha-sheni*.
So I think the idea is that counting is associated with the idea that
every individual has meaning,
every individual has significance.
It's also a little bit ironic because you also have the idea that you're
just a number.
So on one hand you're just a number,
that indicates that everyone doesn't really have so much significance.
On the other,
you have the idea that everyone counts,
which means that,
so in any case,
the part of the significance of this census,
that every individual counts,
every individual has meaning,
and you shouldn't think that his fate is just something which is dependent on
what the rest of the people do.
No,
everyone needs to decide if he's going to live his life in a meaningful
fashion,
in which case his head will be uplifted,
or in a not such a meaningful fashion,
in a negative fashion,
in which case his head will be uplifted but not the rest of the
guy.
Okay,
continues the Ramban,
skipping two.
הלשון פקידה *Ha-lashon pekida* actually in the continuation the same פסוק *pasuk*,
תפקדו אותם *tifkedu otam*,
says פקידה *pekida* is associated with remembering,
something you pay attention to.
ובשם פקדון הוא בכל מקום *U'beshem pikadon hu b'chol makom*.
Always פקידה *pekida* has this,
ולא נפקד מהם איש *v'lo nifkad meihem ish*,
meaning there's no exception,
just sometimes פקידה *pekida* slightly different connotation,
but all associated with paying attention and remembering.
And uses this לשון *lashon* when you have a count which is based on
מחצית השקל *machatzit ha-shekel*.
Maybe what the Ramban means to say is that money is something which normally
people will guard,
will watch.
So counting which is based on taking a שקל *shekel*,
that's something which is known as פקידה *pekida*.
Okay,
then the Ramban discusses why is it that,
the Ramban assumes that דוד המלך *David Ha-Melech* when counting the Jewish people,
מסתמא *minastam* he did that with the שקלים *shekalim*,
so what was the sin then?
When דוד המלך counts the Jewish people,
so he says two possibilities:
one possibility is he counted them שלא לצורך,
there wasn't a need to count them,
just wanted to feel good that he's ruling over a mighty,
a large nation.
The second possibility is that when you count the Jewish people it's not meant
to be the entirety of the Jewish people.
אין ברכה מצויה אלא בדבר הסמוי מן העין.
It's not meant to know the number of the entirety of the Jewish people.
And when he counts all from 20,
דוד המלך wanted them counted from 13.
Okay.
In any case,
the רמב"ן at the very end of this פסוק says what does the מספר
שמות mean?
We have the Torah a number of times mentions מספר שמות.
What's מספר שמות?
So the רמב"ן understands מספר שמות doesn't mean the number of names,
rather relating the names to have them במספר שמות.
הגידו כל אחד שמותם ויפקוד אותם בכופר.
Each one when they would pass by and give his מחצית השקל would relate
what his name was,
again something indicating the importance of the individual.
Okay,
the Torah uses the expression a number of times,
many times,
התילדו על משפחותם לבית אבותם.
So what do these words mean?
So we won't go into what רש"י says,
but the רמב"ן says והתילדו just means a person relates who his parents are
or his father is without bringing any pedigree.
משפחותם,
the רמב"ן says כפשוטו,
family.
And the לבית אבותם the רמב"ן says that means לשבטיהם.
Okay,
רש"י has a different understanding.
פסוק ל"ב,
לבני יוסף לבני אפרים.
So why over here is יוסף mentioned first?
Elsewhere and in the second sentence mentioned later in the ספר,
so מנשה is mentioned first.
So says the רמב"ן over here it makes sense that אפרים should be mentioned
first,
after all he's בעל דגל.
He had a דגל together with two other שבטים.
And he's the בכור according to יעקב.
And also they were רבים.
But in the later sentence,
so מנשה was the רבים,
therefore מנשה is mentioned first.
Okay.
There's a discussion why the מרגלים mentions אפרים first.
עיין שם.
Okay.
פסוק מ"ה.
The רמב"ן discusses why is the Jewish,
what's the significance of the Jewish people being counted?
Being counted.
So we have as a number of reasons.
Number one,
he says אולי להודיעם חסדו עליהם,
a line before on page קכ"ט.
Not so far from the beginning of the piece.
אולי להודיעם חסדו עליהם כי בשבעים נפש ירדו אבותינו למצרים.
And now they're a large number.
Number two,
because passing in front of משה רבינו and having משה רבינו for that split
second pay attention to you was something to be considered a great זכות.
ועוד כי הבא לפני אב הנביאים ואחיו קדוש השם ונודע אליהם בשמו יהיה לו
בדבר הזה זכות וחיים.
And משה רבינו would be מבקש רחמים.
Enough to use the word להבדיל but along the lines of going to the
רעבע and get a dollar and he gives the before your time.
Okay.
Furthermore,
the רמב"ן says that the Jewish people,
they were going to war.
And going to war so you need to know how many soldiers you have
in each division.
In addition,
also the land was going to be divided up.
So you need to know to how many portions.
Okay,
skipping to פסוק נ"ג,
הלווים camp around the משכן and they're divided up into groups.
And it says this is also the מצווה לדורות of the משמרות of the
לווים and the כהנים being split up into groups.
The רמב"ן happens to say that the guard is done at night,
I think the רמב"ם says it can also be during the day.
Okay.
ב' ב'.
פרק ב' פסוק ב'.
איש על דגלו באותות לבית אבותם.
So the רמב"ן quotes רש"י,
different colors for different דגלים.
And the אבן עזרא understands also there was some sort of picture,
image on each דגל.
לראובן צורת אדם,
associated with the דודאים.
דגל יהודה צורת אריה.
דן נשר.
Why is דן associated with the נשר?
I don't remember.
Or was meant to be similar to the כרובים because דן was also involved
in the משכן,
I don't know.
And then talks about the סדר נסיעתם.
Which camp traveled first?
That camp that was on the East.
And then the camp that was on the South.
And then the camp that was on the West.
Then the camp that's on the North,
which is associated with the directions of the sun that rise in the East,
then in the middle of the day it's a bit to the South,
then sets in the West.
Okay.
There's also some kabbalistic explanation of what each camp represents.
רמב״ן פסוק ד׳
ופקודיהם.
So רמב״ן has something interesting.
פרק ב׳
begins in the following fashion:
וידבר ה׳
אל משה ואל אהרן לאמר,
איש על דגלו באתות לבית אבתם יחנו בני ישראל מנגד סביב לאהל מועד יחנו.
And then the פסוק continues:
והחנים קדמה מזרחה דגל מחנה יהודה,
and goes over the numbers.
And this is something which stretches for a large number of פסוקים till and
including פסוק ל״א.
So רמב״ן says that all this is part of וידבר ה׳
אל משה ואל אהרן לאמר.
It's not just that הקדוש ברוך הוא said that each שבט needs to camp
by its דגל,
but also that which the פסוק relates the numbers,
that is part of what הקדוש ברוך הוא spoke to משה רבנו.
Why,
by the way,
repeats the numbers?
So that's something which requires explanation.
It might be associated with the fact that רמב״ן mentioned a number of reasons
for why the people are counted,
and each perhaps each time the תורה mentions a number is for a different
purpose,
be happy to elaborate on that afterwards.
Okay,
skipping to תחת כל בכור פסוק מ״ה.
So says רמב״ן,
the בכורים were sanctified already from time יציאת מצרים,
but they were not redeemed yet because weren't told who the redemption,
I'm sorry,
פרק ג׳
פסוק מ״ה.
פרק ג׳
פסוק מ״ה,
so the Jewish people already told that the בכורות were holy,
but they weren't told who the redemption money is meant to be given to.
But now that the כהנים became holy,
so they were told that they,
the בכורות,
were meant to be redeemed and give the money to the כהן,
or be traded in for the לוים,
and redemption money is meant to be given to אהרן ובניו.
Okay,
I see I skipped a רמב״ן in פסוק י״ד,
פרק ג׳
פסוק י״ד,
meaning back just a bit.
רמב״ן points out an interesting phenomenon that שבט לוי was a lot smaller than
the other שבטים.
Even the count that was somewhat comprehensive from בן חדש was smaller than the
other שבטים.
So why is that so?
So he has a couple of suggestions.
ואני חושב שזה חיזוק,
page ר״ד,
חיזוק למה שאמרו רבותינו that שבט לוי wasn't the שעבוד of עבודת פרך.
So the ברכה of כאשר יענו אתו כן ירבה וכן יפרץ,
that didn't apply to שבט לוי,
they didn't have that special ברכה,
which of course is an amazing lesson.
We obviously view צרות in a negative fashion,
but hey,
sometimes when there are all sorts of difficulties that happen,
then הקדוש ברוך הוא will provide special סיעתא דשמיא,
כאשר יענו אתו כן ירבה וכן יפרץ.
That's one.
Possibly another possibility is that this is associated with the כעס that יעקב אבינו
had on שמעון ולוי because of what they did במעשה שכם,
and therefore their number was somewhat limited.
Ay,
so why is it that שמעון did have a large number?
Well,
had a large number but not for long.
After all,
a large number of them then die out במגפה.
Okay,
if I'm not mistaken,
I think there's a משך חכמה that says,
maybe somebody remembers,
that the reason for the relative small size of שבט לוי is that שבט
לוי is being supported by the rest of the Jewish people.
So if there were too many people from שבט לוי,
that might make it difficult.
What impact,
ramifications that might have on other situations is worth thinking about.
Okay,
in any case,
פרק ד׳
פסוק ו׳,
the פסוק says ופרשו עליו בגד כליל תכלת ושמו בדיו,
when it comes to the ארון,
preparing the ארון for traveling.
So they would put the cover and also ושמו בדיו.
And the obvious question is what do you mean ושמו בדיו,
the בדים are meant to be there all the time?
After all,
there's an איסור of removing the בדים from the ארון.
רמב״ן suggests two possibilities,
either ושמו בדיו means that the poles should be placed on the shoulders of
the כהנים,
but not in their rings,
they were all the time in their rings.
לא יבואו פסוק כ פרק ד פסוק כ לא יבואו לראות כבלע את הקודש.
So the רמב"ן understands that what this means is when the משכן was being
taken down,
that the לויים are not meant to be there when the משכן is taken
down,
particularly the קודש הקודשים perhaps.
So he says about a third of the way through,
ורבי אברהם אמר כפשוטו לא יבואו לראות כשיסר פרוכת המסך ויגלה הארון ואחר כך
כאשר יכוסה יבואו לשאת אותו וכבלע את הקודש כאשר יוסר הבנין מעל הארון שהוא
הקודש מלשון בלה ה' לא חמל.
In other words,
בלה יבולה is sometimes used in terms of taking something down or destroying,
not in this context destroying but taking something down.
He quotes other פסוקים to that effect,
יחד סביב ותבלעני.
הכוונה בני הלוויים מוזהרים שלא יגיעו אל ארון הקודש ובסעו רק בבדים יישאו and
to carry it after it's already taken down and wrapped.
Okay.
Let's do a review of some of the things we've seen,
רבותי.
So the רמב"ן indicated in his introduction that the מצוות in this ספר are
largely associated with the משכן and many of the מצוות over here parallel all
sorts of restrictions that existed with respect to הר סיני.
The רמב"ן has a line at the end of the introduction that the מצוות
in this ספר are מצוות נוהגות לדורות.
ואמנם as some have pointed out,
that that's a difficult line,
in fact,
the רמב"ן says מצוות over here are מצוות that were just נוהג לשעה,
but we do find some מצוות לדורות in this ספר.
He also pointed out that we have over here the beginning of the conquering
of the holy land.
יוצא צבא בישראל.
The רמב"ן says צבא doesn't necessarily mean like רש"י assumes,
an army,
but might just mean gathered.
After all,
when the תורה wants to speak of the army,
the תורה speaks of צבא המלחמה.
Okay,
there's some מדרש that associates שאו את ראש with a negative connotation like the
שר המשקים and like the שר האופים.
He points out though that we find another מדרש that says that נשיאת ראש
is a positive.
Let's try that again.
The שאו את ראש,
he quotes from רש"י that this has a negative connotation,
somewhat similar to an expression that's used by the שר האופים.
He points out though that we find another מדרש that says that נשיאת ראש
is a positive.
And he indicates that apparently when people act in a negative fashion then the
נשיאת ראש is a negative thing,
and a positive fashion then it has a positive connotation.
Okay.
The רמב"ן said the word פקוד is associated with paying attention to something and
counting;
they all are related words.
The רמב"ן discussed the fact of what was the problem with דוד המלך counting
them,
either that it was שלא לצורך or he wanted to count from the age
of thirteen rather than just from the age of twenty.
Okay,
I think he might raise the possibility that maybe it was done without שקלים,
I don't remember.
Okay.
At the end he points out that the expression במספר שמות means that people
would relate their names,
not numbers of names.
Okay.
He had a discussion as to why אפרים is mentioned before מנשה.
He gave a number of reasons why the Jewish people are being counted,
either to indicate the חסד of הקדוש ברוך הוא did that they increased in
numbers significantly from when they were just שבעים נפש,
or to have every individual come in front of משה ואהרן was a big
זכות,
or to prepare them for going to war,
or to count them so as to be able to divide properly ארץ ישראל
into a proper number of portions.
Okay,
he points out the מצווה of שמירה on the מקדש is also a מצווה
לדורות.
He discussed the different images that were on the different דגלים and the order
in which they camped and what each camp was associated,
which idea each camp was associated with.
Okay,
the רמב"ן פסוק ב ד that we skipped,
points out that you have רעואל and דעואל.
He says That רעואל,
דעואל have similar connotations.
דעואל,
knowledge,
רעואל also a רעיון is a similar word to דעת,
and just like you have זרח and צוחר,
which don't even sound so similar,
it's the same person,
because זרח is to shine and צוחר is also something צחור is very bright.
So the עיקר of a name is an important concept.
The עיקר of a name is not just a label;
a name is a person's essence.
And therefore,
if one's essence has to do with knowledge,
so sometimes the knowledge will be referred to as רעואל,
sometimes דעואל.
It's all the same.
Okay.
The רמב״ן explains why שבט לוי is a relatively small number,
either due to the fact that they did not suffer in שעבוד מצרים,
or this is associated with יעקב אבינו's anger.
Okay,
mention another פשט that wasn't the רמב״ן.
Okay,
point out that the דין of קדושת בכור existed before,
as soon as they left מצרים.
The דין of redeeming is only one which is mentioned now,
of how to redeem,
what is done with the money is only mentioned now.
Okay,
ושמו בדיו either means to put the poles on the shoulders of the כהנים,
or it means to
adjust the
poles.
ולא יבאו כראות
כבלע את הקדש,
את הקדש refers
to the
taking down
of the
משכן,
particularly taking down
of the
פרוכת.
It wasn't proper
for
the לויים to
come until
after the
פרוכת was
taken down
and
after
the ארון
was wrapped
and was
ready to travel.
Okay,
have a
great שבת
רבותי.
As far as
next
week,
so next
week
שבועות,
and there's
some suggestion
that perhaps after.