A.
With this week’s parasha we begin the fourth of the Torah’s
five books, called “Numbers” in English, after the Greek ’Αριθμοί of
the Septuagint. Though the common Jewish practice is to name the book after the
first significant word in the first verse, it is a fact that the Greek, and
therefore the English name have a basis in ancient Jewish usage: The Talmud calls
the book חומש הפקודים,
after the two censuses which occur at the book’s inception (in our parasha)
and near its end (cf. chapter XXVI; עיי' למשל יומא ע'. ).
Why should it be that it is these two events,
apparently ephemeral and of principally historical interest, which caught the
attention of Hazal, rather than, say, the episode of the Mëraggëlim
(chapter XIII) or the blessings which Bil‘am ben Bë‘or was forced to confer
on Israel, in place of the intended curses (cf. XXIII, 7-10; 18-26; XXIV, 3-9;
15-24), both of which have relevance for Israel in every subsequent generation,
until to-day?
B.
We begin our quest for an answer with another ma’amar
Hazal concerning this fourth book:
אמר ר' סימון ה' פעמים כתיב כאן "אורה"
כנגד חמשה חומשי תורה כו' "ויבדל אלקים בין האור ובין החשך" כנגד ספר
במדבר שהוא מבדיל בין יוצאי מצרים לבאי הארץ (“Said Rabbi Simon, Five times “light” is
written here, apposite the five books of the Torah....‘And G-d distinguished
between the light and the darkness,’ apposite the Book of Numbers, for it
distinguishes between those leaving Egypt [yotzë’ei Mitzrayim] and those
coming to the land [ba’ei ha-aretz]’; בראשית רבה
פ"ג סי' ה').
If we examine our two censuses in light of Rabbi
Simon’s insight, with the intent of discovering how, precisely, our Book marks
the transition from one group to another, we note, for instance, in the count as described in our parasha, that it is conducted according to the order
of the dëgalim, the “flags” by which the shëvatim were organized
on all sides of the desert encampment. Beginning, then, on the eastern side, we
find Yëhuda, Yissachar, and Zëvulun, formed on the flag of Yëhuda; Rë’uvén,
Shim‘on, and Gad, on the flag of Shim‘on; Efrayim, Mënashe, and Binyamin, on
the flag of Binyamin; and Dan, Ashér, and Naftali, on the flag of Dan (chapter
II). In each instance, the other two shëvatim grouped under the degel
of the first are described as החנים עליו, “encamped” or “grouped” upon the first
one in the trio.
With one exception, that of Efrayim; there, the
verse reads: דגל מחנה אפרים לצבאתם ימה כו' ועליו מטה מנשה
וגו' (“The flag of the camp of
Efrayim for their hosts to the west...and upon him the staff of Mënashe....”; ibid.,
v. 18-20). As the Nëtziv notes in his comment ad loc., the
absence of the participle vëha-honim (“and those encamped”)
completely alters the meaning of the word vë-‘alav (“and upon him”),
such that: משמעות ועליו להיפך דעת הגדול על הקטן והוא
מנהיגו והיינו דאע"ג דאפרים הי' ראש הדגל היינו שהנהגת המדבר הי' נסיית ובזה
גדול כח אפרים אבל מכ"מ זה שנדרשו להליכות העולם הי' מנשה גדול מאפרים ומזה
הטעם הי' במנין דפ' פנחס קודם מנשה לאפרים משום דכניסתם לארץ הי' יותר נוטה
להליכות הטבע ובזה מנשה קודם וגו'
(“the meaning of vë-‘alav is the opposite; the attention of the greater
one is upon the [Divine] guidance [han-haga] in the desert was
miraculous, and in this Efrayim had the greater potential; but nonetheless, for
what was necessary for the ways of the world Mënashe was greater, for this
reason in the count in parashath Pinëhas Mënashe preceded
Efrayim, because their entry into the Land tended more towards the ways of nature,
and in this Mënashe had precedence....”).
In a comment on Genesis XLVIII, 14, the Nëtziv explains
the relationship between Mënashe and Efrayim, דאע"ג
שהקדים יעקב את אפרים לפני מנשה ומש"ה הי' במדבר ראש הדגל מכ"מ בפקודי
דפ' פינחס הי' להיפך. וכו' כ"ז בא ללמדנו שלא הי' אפרים קודם למנשה אלא
בענינים רוחנים מה שלמעלה מהליכות עולם הטבע . אבל בהליכות עולם הי' מנשה קודם וגדול
מאפרים. מש"ה במנין הראשון בהר חורב שהי' שכינת עולם על ראשם וכל ההנהגה היתה
למעלה מה"ט הי' אפרים קודם.אבל בפקודי דערבות מואב בכניסתם לארץ שהי' כמעט
בהליכות הטבע וכו' וזה הגיע משום דבהליכות הטבע מעלת הבכורה מסוגלת הרבה וגו' (“that even though Ya‘aqov placed Efrayim
before Mënashe [even though Mënashe was first-born], and because of this he was
the head of the degel, nonetheless in the census of parashath Pinëhas
it was the other way round. All this comes to teach us that Efrayim only
had precedence over Mënashe in spiritual matters, that which was supernatural;
but in the ways of the world Mënashe had precedence and was greater than
Efrayim. For this reason, in the first count at Mt Sinai, where the Divine
Presence [Shëchina] in the world was overhead and all the hanhaga was
supernatural, Efrayim had precedence, but in the census on the plains of Mo’av,
on their entry into the Land, which was virtually according to the laws of
nature... Mënashe deserved [precedence], for by nature the ascendancy of primogeniture
is very pronounced....”). A bit later, on v. 20, he adds: אפרים ומנשה הי' כל א' גדולתו משונה מחבירו אפרים הי' גדול בתורה ודבק
לאלקיו. ומנשה בהליכות עולם ועוסק בצרכי ישראל וגו' (“Efrayim and Mënashe each had unique greatness, different from
the other; Efrayim was great in Torah and clung to his G-d, and Mënashe was
wise in the ways of the world and engaged in the needs of Israel....”).
From this, we glean that the two counts reflect the
difference in the circumstances of Israel’s life, first, the miraculous
circumstances of the yotzë’ei Mitzrayim immediately following the
Exodus, and then for the ba’ei ha-aretz 40 years out, who would first
be engaged in a war of conquest largely conducted in a natural fashion,
followed by the divi-sion of the land amongst them for agriculture, also
largely according to arrangements which would strike us as “natural.”
It was this transitional character of the fourth book of the Torah,
marking two utterly different perceptions of Divine hanhaga, the openly
miraculous nature of the early period from the Exodus on, experienced by the yotzë’ei
Mitzrayim, and the hidden, shrouded nature of the later period, experienced
by the ba’ei ha-aretz, the “light” and the “dark-ness” of our midrash,
which so struck Hazal and brought them to call it “the Book
of Censuses”, on which the name “Numbers” is based.
But when did the transition begin to take place?
C.
Our attention is drawn to another ma’amar Hazal, based
on a unique passage which occurs a bit later. In the séfer Torah, Numbers
X, 35-36 is marked off from the rest of the text by two symbols which resemble
upside-down letters nun. The passage reads: ויהי בנסע הארן ויאמר משה
קומה ד' ויפצו איביך וינסו משנאיך מפניך: ובנחה יאמר שובה ד' רבבות אלפי ישראל:(“And
it was, when the aron would travel, Moshe would say, Arise, Ha-Shem, and
Your enemies will scatter, those who hate You will flee from before You. And
when it rested he would say, Come to rest, Ha-Shem [amongst] the myriads of
thousands of Israel”).
This odd occurrence prompted Hazal to
remark: פרשה זו עשה לה הקב"ה סימנין מלמעלה ולמטה מאי
טעמא אמר רבי מפני שספר חשוב בפני עצמו הוא (“The Holy One, Blessed is He, made for this paragraph symbols
above and below; what is the reason? Said Rabbi [Yëhuda ha-Nasi’], because it
is considered a book in itself”; שבת קט"ז.), and therefore: מגילה
שכתוב בה שמונים וחמש אותיות בפרשת "ויהי בנסע הארן" מטמא את הידים (“A [separate] scroll in which is written
the 85 letters of the paragraph ‘And it was when the aron would travel’
defiles the hands”; ידים פ"ג מ"ה), because such a scroll has the sanctity
of a book of the Torah.
The implication of this occurrence is that, rather
than five books, the Torah may arguably be considered as comprising seven
books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. Numbers from the beginning to X, 34, Numbers
X, 35-36, the rest of Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Such a division fits neatly into the thesis outlined
above, if it can be shown to mark the beginning of the transition from the
supernatural hanhaga to that cloaked in “nature.” The next verse, XI, 1,
reads: ויהי העם כמתאננים רע באזני ד' וישמע ד' ויחר אפו
ותבער בם אש ד' וגו' (“And the
people were as if murmuring evil in the ears of Ha-Shem, and Ha-Shem
heard, and He became wrathful, and Ha-Shem’s fire burnt amongst them....”). Rashi
tells us that a few malcontents were whispering concerning היאך לפרוש מאחרי המקום,
“how to depart from following G-d,” i.e. how they might free themselves of the
covenant of the Torah and return to their previous status. Divine retribution
was immediate, and devastating.
This was because, in the state of supernatural hanhaga,
the Shëchina, was so overwhelmingly present (as the Nëtziv says
supra, “the Shëchina was constantly overhead”), that any false
move, any minor transgression, brought with it immediate Divine judgment. Such
uncompromising intimacy with the Ultimate must have been unnerving, to put it
mildly.
It is from this point that the gradual reëntry of
Israel into the “natural” world began, as the miraculous character for the
world’s order became gradually more and more shrouded and cloaked in the “natural”
order with which they had been familiar before the monu-mental events which
brought about the Exodus took place. We see this in the next major incident,
that of the mëraggëlim.
In XIII, 2, G-d tells Moshe: שלח
לך אנשים ויתרו את ארץ כנען וגו' (“Send for yourself men who will tour the land of
Këna‘an....”). Rashi, basing himself on Moshe’s own account of the
incident in Deuteronomy I, 22ff., notes the voluntary nature of this mission, to
which G-d gave permission; the Netziv adds דודאי
לפי הליכות עולם הטבע הי' השלוח נחוץ לראות איך ומאיזה צד לכבוש הארץ וגו' (“that certainly according to the ways
of the world of nature the mission was necessary, to see how and from which
side to conquer the country...,”). When the majority report came in
overwhelmingly negative and defeatist, there was no immediate outburst of
plague or fire, either; instead, the sojourn in the desert was extended, so
that כל האנשים הראים את כבדי ואת אתתי אשר עשיתי במצרים
ובמדבר, “all the people who
saw My glory and My signs which I did in Egypt and in the desert” (XIV, 22) the yotzë’ei Mitzrayim, would perish
in the desert, to be replaced by a new generation, the ba’ei ha-aretz, gradually
inured once again to the “natural” order, and not inclined to panic at the
thought that the open miracles would now be few and far between.
D.
The derech ha-teva‘, the “natural order”
cloaking and shrouding the miraculous events by which G-d runs His world, is
what we experience on a daily basis. To recognise the miraculous reality, the
“light” obscured by the “darkness,” is the task of all of us. The Torah grants
us access to the ultimate reality, which we can influence in a positive
or, G-d forbid, negative manner, by our
conduct and attitude to its mitzvoth.
Jewish boys are customarily blessed to be like both
Efrayim and Mënashe (cf. Genesis XLVIII, 20); to recognize, and give precedence
to the qualities of Efrayim, whilst not neglecting those of Mënashe. The means
to do this is the holy Torah, which we receive anew on the departure of this shabbath.
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