וידבר ד' אל משה במדבר סיני באהל מועד באחד לחדש השני בשנה השנית בצאתם מארץ מצרים לאמר: שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל וגו' (“And Ha-Shem spoke to Moshe in the Sinai desert in the Tent of Assembly on the first [day] of the second month of the second year of their exodus from the lamd of Egypt, to say: Raise up the head of the entire community of bnei Yisra’él....”). Thus begins our parasha.
The precision with which the Torah locates this census in time is rather striking: we are left in no doubt that the date was 1 Iyyar 2449. The holy Zohar takes note of this precision as well, and tells us that its purpose is לאשתמודעא דהא כד נפקי ישראל ממצרים בחודש הראשון הוה (“to make known that when Israel left Egypt it was the first month;” ח"ג קי"ז:).
This would be fine, but seems rather odd, given that we have a clear statement in Exodus XII, 2, concerning Nisan, the month of the Exodus: בחדש הזה לכם ראש החדשים ראשון הוא לחדשי השנה (“This month is for you the head of the months, it is the first of the months of the year”). In light of such a clear and unequivocal statement in the written Torah, why does the Zohar see the need for this indirect hint?
B.
Let us begin by considering our second verse, the command itself. The Torah’s expression for a census is nesi’ath rosh, a “raising of the head,” a rather peculiar expression, given that it could have used the verbal noun of either of two verbs meaning “count” instead.
We find this same expression used in Exodus XXX, 12: כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל לפקדיהם וגו' (“For you shall raise up the head of the bnei Yisra’él for their ennumeration....”). The Or ha-Chayyim comments: כי החוטא גורם בחטאו כפיפת ראשו כי בחינת הרע מהותה היא אל ארץ תביט כי שפלה היא ובחינת הקדושה היא נשיאת ראש והרמת המהות והאיכות וכו' שהוא לשון מעלה שתשא ראש בני ישראל שראשם נמוך לצד חסרונם במעשה העגל (“that the sinner causes by his sin bending the head, for the essence of the concept of evil is, Look to the ground, for it is base, and the essence of sanctity is a raising of the head and an uplifting of one’s being and quality... For it is an expression of exaltation, that [Moshe] should raise up the heads of the bnei Yisra’él for their heads were low due to their inadequacy in the matter of the Calf....” וע"ע מדרש תנחומא שם סי' ז' שבו אמרינן דנשיאת ראש היא זקיפת ראש ).
To this. the Be’er Moshe adds that the simple knowledge of their importance and value to Ha-Shem, as implied in His desire that they be counted before Him, would itself lift their spirits, וכתוצאה מזה הם נותנים לב להתבונן על הנהגתם שתהא לרצון לו ית' (“and as a result of this they would give heart to meditate on their conduct, that it should be desirous to Him”).
All of which seems appropriate to that earlier instance, coming as it did in the wake of the disaster of the Golden Calf. What was the occasion for the induced uplift this time?
C.
If we read on a bit in the parasha, it becomes clear that the purpose of this census was military, a marshalling of the forces, so to speak, preparatory to receiving the orders to move out for the conquest of the Promised Land. As Sforno puts it, the purpose was: לסדרם שיכנסו לארץ מיד איש על דגלו בלתי מלחמה, אלא יפנו הכנענים מפניהם וגו' (“to order them such that they would enter the land immediately, each man under his flad, without conflict, but rather the Canaanites would evacuate before them....” Cf. in this connection my comments two weeks ago on Parshath B’Har).
But in the event, due to the incident pf the m’ragglim which happened subsequently (cf. Numbers XIII-XIV), it did not happen that way, and after a total of forty years wandering the desert, 14 years of diffiicult warfare were necessary to conquer the Holy Land from its Canaanite squatters.
If so, the census would appear to have been a one-time thing, with no ramifications for future generations. If that is so, why should the Torah have bothered to record it?
Ramban states in the name of the midrash that the verb nasa, raise, has connotations of greatness, and sees in this census a hint שאם יזכו יעלו לגדולה (“that if [Israel] merit it, they will rise to greatness”).
With this in mind, we turn to an incisive comment of the Ba’âl Shém Tov, preseerved in the T’shu’oth Chén (פרשת שופטים): ענין יציאת מצרים שהיו משוקעים כל כך בטומאה עד שכמעט בלתי אפשרי היא שישובו לד' וחתר חתירה מתחת כסא כבודו להתגלות לפניהם והי' לבם בוער לשוב לד' ויצא מגדר הטבע, וזה שנכפל יציאת מצרים כמה פעמים בתורה, כדי שהחוטא ביותר לא יתיאש, וזהו "כי תצא למלחמה על אויביך וראית סוס ורכב עם רב ממך לא תירא מהם כי ד' אלקיך עמך במעלך מארץ מצרים" כו' אל תתיאש ותחזק עצמך מענין יציאת מצרים (“The matter of the Exodus from Egypt is that when [the bnei Yisra’él] were so mired in tum’a that it was nearly impossible that they would return to Ha-Shem, Ha-Shem cut an opening in the throne of His glory to reveal Himself before them, and their hearts were burning to return to Ha-Shem, such that [the desire] exceeded the bounds of nature; and this is why the Exodus from Egypt is repeated several times in the Torah, in order that the worst sinner should not despair. And this is [what is alluded to in the verse]: ‘For you will go out to warfare against your enemies, and you will see horse and chariot, an army greater than you; fear not, for Ha-Shem your G-d is with you, who raises you up from the land of Egypt' [Deuteronomy XX, 1]... Do not despair, and strengthen yourself from the matter of the Exodus from Egypt”).
To appreciate the full force of the Ba‘al Shém Tov’s insight, note that the entire verse from Deuteronomy is couched in the singular, and that the present participle is used; it is directed at each individual one of us, in every generation.
D.
Again we see that every passage of the Torah has layers of meaning, and is eternally relevant to us, in every period of history.
The Ba‘al Shém Tov’s insight, I believe, is preciselt what the Zohar is alluding to: The the beginning of our journey to qdusha is always the Exodus from hedonistic Egypt, the knowledge that Ha-Shem freed us from the tyranny of the yetzer ha-ra and, in granting us the Torah and its mitzvoth, gave us the means to preserve that freedom, שאין לך בן חורין אלא מי שעוסק בתלמוד תורה (“for none is free who is not involved with Torah study;” אבות פ"ו ב'), and that in consequence of our internalizing such a beginning we become infinitely precious to Ha-Shem, such that He eagerly counts each and every one of us.
Surely this is one of the reasons Chazal mandated that we remind ourselves of the Exodus constantly, morning and night, in our t’filloth, and also mandated that every qiddush, every sanctification of sabbath and holiday, be זכר ליציאת מצרים, a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt, which made it possible.
A worthy thought, as we continue to count up to Shavu‘oth and our rededication to the Torah.
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