Parashat Bamidbar 5786

by Rabbi Margie Cella

This week we begin the fourth book of the Torah, Bamidbar, in the wilderness, which tells the story of our journey from Sinai to the Jordan River, an eleven-day journey that took us 38 years to complete.

As the nation prepared to leave Mount Sinai, God instructed Moses to once again take a census of the men aged 25 and up; these would be the fighting men of the nation. The results of that survey were listed in detail for every tribe but Levi. The men of this tribe were appointed by God to replace the firstborn as the caretakers of the Tabernacle and its furnishings.

Next, God gave specific instructions regarding how the Israelites were to set up their camp, and how they were to travel in formation as they set out. The tabernacle and courtyard, including the precious ark of the covenant, were to be always at the center of the camp, with Moses and the priests stationed in front of them. The 12 tribes were to surround the tabernacle, with three tribes designated to to travel on each side: left, right, front, and back. Thus, the camp appeared to have a square formation if it could be viewed from above. Every tribe had its designated place, and they traveled together as one united people, all protecting the religious center of the nation.

Today, we no longer have a tabernacle or tribes. Our inheritance and religious center is the Torah that belongs to us all. We have Jews who are secular, unaffiliated, Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Orthodox, and ultra-Orthodox; Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrachi, and Ethiopian. But we are not strongly united as one nation.

Oseh Shalom, Maker of Peace, may the day soon come when we can once again be a nation united in the purpose of protecting Your Torah and our sacred inheritance—even while maintaining our distinct identities.