Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello, my friends, and welcome back to this week's episode of the Practical Parsha podcast. This is Rabbi Shlomo Cohen, and I hope you are well. It's Thursday night. I'm a day late, I know, but I have a good excuse that I didn't release the episode on Wednesday this week, and it actually has to do with the podcast happens to be.
[00:00:22] On this journey of podcasting, I've been learned a lot, and I've met many great people, and I've developed friendships and relationships with people throughout the world, which I'm very thankful for.
[00:00:38] And this past Wednesday night, I was actually blessed to be the Kohen. Right? You guys know that I'm a Kohen, right?
[00:00:46] Um, for a Pidyan Haben, for the redemption of a firstborn son, for a podcast listener and his wife.
[00:00:54] And I want to wish a hearty mazel tov to Zach and Dalia on their newborn baby boy who is redeemed now. He is fully redeemed. We did the redemption.
[00:01:06] He paid me the five silver coins, and I was off. Uh, but it was a beautiful experience that someone who is a listener of the podcast, and it was a very special experience for me, especially on this podcast journey. And God willing, I'm looking forward to many more podcast simchas happy occasions in the future. God willing.
[00:01:30] And before we begin, as always, if you have any questions, comments, would like to reach out to say hello, feel free to send me an email@rabbi shlomokonkohnmail.com I'd love to hear from you.
[00:01:44] This week's Parasha is Parshas Banbar.
[00:01:48] And Parshas Bamidbar is also starting us off in the Book of Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers. And just to give a quick overview of the parsha, Parshas Bamidbar starts us off, you know, in the name of Bamidbar really means in the desert.
[00:02:05] But actually, the English name that the book of Bamidbar is referred to is the Book of Numbers.
[00:02:12] And that is because this week's Parsha starts off with a census that Hashem commands Moshe to perform a census on the Jewish people of all the different tribes. And there's different reasons that are given to why there was a counting. Now, one was that it was necessary for the Jewish people to know how many men of fighting age there would be when they were about to go into the land of Israel. They needed to know who would be in the army, who would be of, you know, that age to be a part of the force, to go in and take over the land.
[00:02:49] Additionally, the Parasha also delineates for us the Degalim, the different formations that the tribes would have when they camped and when they traveled. Each one of the tribes was, you know, they had a special position and a special spot when they traveled and also when they encamped in the Torah, Parsha spells out for us exactly where everyone went. The Parsha continues telling us about the children of Moshe and Aaron and how the Leviim, they are to replace the firstborns that the firstborns, they lost their right to serve in the Mishkan, the temple and the Koihanim and the Leviim, the priests and Levites, they would be the one to do that service in the Beis Hamikdash and the Mishkan in the Mishkan and the Beis Hamigdash in the temple.
[00:03:48] The Parsha also talks to us about the census of the Leviim, that the Leviim, they were counted separately. And actually, it's interesting, they were counted from one month old.
[00:04:00] Everyone else was all the males from 20 years and older.
[00:04:04] But the Leviim, they were counted from one month. And actually, maybe we'll talk a little bit about that today for a reason for that. Finally, the Parasha finishes off with the different sons of Levi. There was different families within Levi, and they had different jobs and different tasks to be performed in regards to the service of the Mishkan. And the Parsha delineates for us different tasks that the children of Levi had.
[00:04:30] The first idea I want to share with you today is really a general thought on Parshas Bar Midbar.
[00:04:37] Usually Parshas bar Midbar falls out on the Shabbos, before Shavuos.
[00:04:43] And we know Shavuos, the holiday of Shavuos, is all about the Jewish people receiving the Torah.
[00:04:52] And what is the. Or what was the prerequisite for the Jewish people to get the Torah to receive it at Harsina and at Mount Sinai?
[00:05:02] It was because the Jewish people were unified.
[00:05:05] They were kiishechad, b'. Levechad. They were like one person with one heart.
[00:05:13] Everyone got along. They were all together.
[00:05:17] And actually, there's an insight in this week's Parasha because Bamidbar, what does it talk about? It talks about the formations, the flags.
[00:05:27] Each tribe had their unique position, their unique flag.
[00:05:33] And how this goes together is, uh, that how do you get to a place of unity? How do we get to a place where the Jewish people get along? You know, they say two Jews, three opinions. There's truth to that.
[00:05:46] Everyone's Different.
[00:05:48] But if you look at this week's parsha, the parsha tells us we know when we get to the second parak, the second chapter in Bamidbar, the second verse in the second parakanub um and Israel mineged Saviv Loyol, Moyed Yachanu.
[00:06:09] The children of Israel shall encamp each man by his banner, according to his insignia of their father's household. At a distance surrounding the tent of meeting shadow shall they encamp.
[00:06:20] And the parasha is telling us, ah, that this is a. The key to unity is realizing that each and every one of us have our place.
[00:06:30] We're different.
[00:06:33] Besides from looking different and sounding different, we also like different things. We have different interests. But m. Aside from having different interests, we have different strengths and we have different weaknesses.
[00:06:47] And the tribes of Israel, the 12 tribes of Israel, they were different. Why were there 12 tribes to begin with? Right? What's this idea of 12 tribes?
[00:06:58] The point is, each one of them had different strengths and different weaknesses and different areas where they served the nation as a whole. And I've said this idea in the past, but when you have an army, everybody has a different job.
[00:07:14] And the person who's flipping the burgers in the kitchen is just as important as the person who's on the front lines. Because if you don't have everybody, then you don't have a total fighting force.
[00:07:26] The point here is that in the Jewish people, for us to get to, you know, coming into Shavuos, we're going to be going into the holiday of Shavuos, and we know the prerequisite is to have this unity, to get along with each other. How do we get to this place of unity? K' ishechad b', levechad, like one man with one heart, is that we realize that we, each and every one of us, have our unique job, unique mission.
[00:07:50] And, you know, equality is.
[00:07:53] It's a very nice concept, but not that people are not equal, but we're different.
[00:07:57] Everyone has their jobs. A kohen has his job, a levi has his job. A woman has her mitzvahs, a man has his mitzvahs.
[00:08:05] Uh, if a bus driver would say he wanted to fly airplane, you would tell him, you're not going to fly that airline because you don't want to go on a plane where the bus driver is driving. The plane doesn't, uh, mean that the pilot is better than the bus driver. It means that they're different. They have different jobs. When we accept this and realize that that's how we get to a place of unity and love because, oh, it's okay. He's doing what he's supposed to be doing, and I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. And when we internalize this idea, even more becomes even more clear to us, because where we are now is where we're supposed to be. The situation we're in, that's. Hashem put us there. The strengths and weaknesses God gave to us, he made us how, you know, with all these, you know, strengths and weaknesses and challenges. That's what he wants you me to do, to work on these things.
[00:09:00] And we need to embrace the, I guess, the circumstances in life that we find ourselves with. They're not weaknesses. They're not things that are working against us. They're the tools that Hashem has given us to be the best we can be. And we realize that there's no looking at the other person and saying, I want that. It's getting along with everyone. There's unity, there's love, and we're able to accept the Torah.
[00:09:27] The next idea I want to share takes us to the actual formations of the Jewish people in the desert. And the Torah speaks very clearly of which tribe went on which side of the Mishkan and the different formations when they traveled.
[00:09:42] The verse reads, ashir yahanu kane yiso ish al, uh, Yodoy Lediglehem the 10th of meeting the camp of the Levites shall journey in the middle of the camps.
[00:09:58] As they encamp, so shall they journey, everyone at his place according to their banners.
[00:10:04] Now, Rabbi Twersky brings down from Yeshua trunk of Kutna that he looked at this verse, how it says, as they encamped, so shall they journey.
[00:10:23] What is this referring to? What is the lesson that we take out of this?
[00:10:28] So he says, many times, people, when they're at home, they're one thing, and when they travel, they're another thing, right? When they're here, they act like this. And when they're out of their normal circumstances, when they're out of their normal environment, they're not up to the standards. They're not doing the same things that they usually do because the environment has changed. Maybe there's, you know, no one watching them, or maybe it's not as easy to do what they usually do, and therefore they drop their standards.
[00:11:02] So what is the posse teaching us here about the B' Nai Yisrael, about the Jewish people?
[00:11:07] Kashir yachanu kain Yiso.
[00:11:12] As they encamped, so shall they journey that the standards that the way they were when they camped, when they were home, when they were in their regular situation, they were the same way when they were journeying, when it was harder. They didn't have all their, you know, amenities and their situations in order, like regular.
[00:11:34] And I think this is a very powerful idea for ourselves.
[00:11:37] You know, I always strive to be a person that I try to be the same person through and through. No matter where I am, in shul, at work, wherever I am, I want to be the same person. That's my goal. Now I have what to work on. I'm not perfect, but that's what I try to do. Now, when we.
[00:11:56] Are we the same type of people when we're at home, we're at work?
[00:12:01] Do we live two different lives?
[00:12:04] Are we, you know, when we travel, are we living on different standards than the standards that we're home? Again, I'm not saying it's, uh, you know, easy all the time.
[00:12:13] But the point is, and there are places for leniency in situations. We always have to follow halacha, but there. And there are situations where we could be lenient when we don't have certain access to things.
[00:12:26] But the point is, is that how do we look at our situation? Do we look at it as like we just. That's our first reaction, that when we're not in our natural environment, we drop everything or we try to, you know, the way we are. We want to be the same people through and through. We want to be truly authentic no matter where we are. And I feel, you know, you know, with myself, my own experiences in life, people truly respect you when you're authentic, when you're real, when you. And when you try to be the same person, whether you're home, whether you're traveling, whether you're at work, whether you're dealing with Jewish, non Jewish people respect you for that. They see you as a real person.
[00:13:10] And I think this idea in the Parasha Kashir Yachanu Ken Yiso, uh, teaches us this idea that just like the Jewish people have the same standards when they are traveling, when they're home, they're traveling, didn't make a difference. So too, for us, it's not just when we're traveling. We should keep standards. You know, whether it be kosher, whether it be Shmira's ha mitzvah of keeping all the mitzvahs, that's for sure. But even more than that, to be the same person with the same outlook, to have the same standards just because we're not in our natural environment doesn't mean we become different people. We want to be the same person no matter where we are and no matter who we are interacting with, through and through, always the same authentic, real person.
[00:14:00] The next thought I want to share with you today takes us to the counting of the Leviim, the Levites.
[00:14:06] So we know from this week's Parasha that the Parasha talks about the census of the Jewish people as a whole.
[00:14:13] And for the Jewish people, for the Israelites there was a commandment that only from the age of 20 would they be counted.
[00:14:22] But when it came to the Leviim, when it came to the Levites, the commandment from Hashem was to count them from one month old.
[00:14:33] What's the discrepancy here? Why by the rest of the Jewish people were they counted by 20?
[00:14:40] But the Leviim, the tribe, the boys from the tribe of Levi, they were counted from 30 days old. And this is not my question. This question is asked by Ramosha Feinstein and he explains a very important concept from this week's Parsha that uh, when the Jewish people were counted, like I mentioned earlier, one of the reasons that they were counted was so that they should know, you know, for the army it was, you know, to make a little separation. It was the selective service for the Jewish people who is ready to go and fight for the Jewish nation when they go into the land of Israel and to conquer Eretz Yisrael.
[00:15:22] But the counting for the Leviim, it was a different counting.
[00:15:27] It was a different counting and if we understand the differences between the two, it'll help us. It'll give us a tremendous insight into, I guess, how we are and how we conduct ourselves.
[00:15:40] Ramosh explains that since the regular counting was for the army, that only needed to be from 20 because a person can be taught when they're 20 years old how to fight to be a good soldier that, you know, you don't have to make the counting from when they're 30 days old, you know, obviously they're not, uh, it's a 30 day old child is not, you know, a good soldier. But the point is, is that to get an idea of who you have and what you need, that's something that doesn't need preparation. You just need to know when they're actually able to do that. And a military ready age is 20 years old. That's good. So that's it, that's where we're going to count them from. But the counting for the Leviim was a different type of counting.
[00:16:32] What was the job of the Levim, the Kohanim? What was their job?
[00:16:36] Their job was to serve in the Beis Hamikdash, to serve in the Mishkan, to be the teachers of Klal Yisrael, the teachers of the Jewish people.
[00:16:44] And they were the spiritual role models for the entire Jewish nation. So when, uh, Hashem was commanding Moshe Rabbeinu to cancel a VM at 30 days old, he was preparing them for a life of service for the Jewish people. Maybe it wasn't fighting for the land, but it was a different type of service.
[00:17:03] And that type of service, of being the role model to have this certain sense of holiness, to instill it in the Jewish people must start at birth.
[00:17:12] It needs to start right away.
[00:17:14] And that's not something which can be gained necessarily later in life. It's much harder to gain that at 20 years old. That's why Hashem commanded the Moishe Rabbeinu and the Jewish people to count the Leviim from 30 days old. Because this was going to be their mission in life, to serve in the Mishkan, to be those role models, to totally give their life to Hashem.
[00:17:37] And therefore it had to start right away. And I think the lesson here is very, very clear and very, very. And very, very powerful.
[00:17:48] You know, as children, they are so impressionable.
[00:17:54] And we live in, uh, a culture today. We live in a society where we're getting bombarded, bombarded with messaging and seeing things. And it's so much immorality.
[00:18:07] We have to be so careful for, number one, for our children, to imbue them with holiness. Right? There's. People have accustomed to hang pictures of tzadikim, of righteous people over the crib of children.
[00:18:21] So they should see the, you know, they should see the righteous person. They should see him. And it goes into a person. Or there's also a custom to hang over Psalm um, 121, that the child should see these holy words.
[00:18:37] And the point is, is that from such a young age, we need to imbue holiness into our children. We shouldn't just think that it doesn't matter. No, it matters even when they're 30 days old. That's what we. Some people wash neglevasir with their little babies. Again, there's different customs to these things. But the point is that holiness starts right away. We say Shema with our children, even when they don't necessarily understand. We do these things early because holiness starts right away. And that's something we need to remember for our own children, and not just for our children, for ourselves as well.
[00:19:11] You know, maybe we weren't, uh, we didn't have that from birth, that certain holiness, but doesn't mean that now that we shouldn't be sensitive to it. We have to be careful with the things that we take in, the things that we see, because holiness is something that we all need to strive for. It's not just something, uh, for the greatest sages of our generation, this is something, a concept that we can tap into.
[00:19:38] We just have to be cognizant.
[00:19:40] That means, obviously, learning Torah and doing mitzvahs. But even more than that, it's being careful with what we eat, it's being careful with what we see, it's being careful on how we speak.
[00:19:54] These are all things, small actions which affect our holiness of that connection and keeping us connected to Hashem. And I think this is a very powerful idea we see from this week's Parasha, to be cognizant of the holiness of our children, to start that from as early as possible, and even for ourselves to be careful with all the things that we surround ourselves with, things that we imbibe, whether it be physically food and. Or the things that we see, because holiness is real and something we can tap into.
[00:20:31] So with that, I'm going to finish for today's podcast. I hope you all enjoyed. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to reach out, feel free to send me an email@rabbi shlomokonkohnmail.com have a great day.
