B’midbar
Num. 1:1 - 4:20
Précis: B’midbar is an amalgamation of the narrative of wilderness wanderings (including the stories of the spies, Korach’s rebellion, Balaam’s donkey, and the sin of Moses), sacrificial requirements, the establishment of Israel’s moving camp, and census data.
As B’midbar (“in the wilderness”) begins, Moses is directed to take a census (“take the number”) from which the English name (Numbers) of the Book derives. A detailed listing of the numbers of each tribe follows; each tribe is apportioned a particular location in the camp. A listing of the Levitical families then follows, together with the beginning of a discussion of their duties.
B’midbar, according to Rabbi Plaut, continues the narrative from Exodus (which was largely interrupted by Leviticus), and begins about a year after the liberation, covering the wandering in the desert. He notes that details are provided for only the first and last years, with the “middle” 38 left mostly to our imaginations. The focus of the Book appears to “point to this moment when Israel is poised to take possession of its inheritance.”
Num. 1:1 - 2 “And Adonai spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai… saying, ‘Take the sum of the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their father’s houses, according to the number of names, every male, by their polls.’”
The Israelites are marching through the wilderness. They do not know what to anticipate, and life is suddenly filled with new terrors (What will I eat? What will I drink? Where are we going? Is the enemy going to kill us?). There is no real surprise that the recently freed slaves seek to return to the imagined safety of Egypt.
So, God tells Moses to take a census of the people. Every person is to be counted, without exception. Therefore, each person counts.
Americans are once again living with virtually daily reminders of gun violence and massacres. We live in a nation where young men who cannot legally buy a beer can purchase a rifle, and hours later destroy the lives of children and their teachers in a school, or commit the most virulent hate crimes against minorities. There are more guns than there are people in the United States.
No other nation in the world suffers from this kind of gun violence. Is this how we establish American "exceptionalism?"
So, what does this have to do with B’midbar? Moses was ordered to take a census in which every person counts. The dead in our schools, hospitals, places of worship, and shopping marts also count. We are living with two pandemics: Covid and gun violence. We must, each of us, also count. The polls tell us that an overwhelming number of Americans support reasonable gun safety measures. But we don't seem to vote for politicians who will enact such necessary laws. I am almost, but not entirely, hopeless. The Israelites made it through the wilderness, and I pray that we can make it through this wilderness of our own making.
