5784/2024

BeMidbar speaks a lot about counting the jewish people. In English it's called “numbers' and the rabbis called it the chomer she’pkudim. When we think of counting we may think of it as the way the Nazis Yemach Shemam put numbers on the arms of our people, and how everyone is just a number and replaceable. On the other hand it can be very humanizing- we know we have this many people exactly. This tribe has this many people and they each make a difference. So counting can be dehumanizing but it can also be humanizing. Like when our army goes out to battle- is everyone back? How many people left and how many returned? To emphasize the idea of the importance of every individual there's a notion that says the Rashi that we are counted by the voice of god. What does that mean? Moshe was afraid to go into the tents to put himself in an embarrassing situation. Hashem said that he should stand outside the tent and he would tell him how many people were in the tent. This shows how Hashem cares about everyone. He's not a god of philosophy who doesn't care about the people. Rav Moshe Lichtenstein pointed out that when you do things industrially- like an army- how many in this brigade? How many are in this unit? This makes people seem not so important. But before Bnei Yisrael went to war they would tell their names to Moshe. From this perspective, we’re counting names, not numbers. This suggests that we cannot replace someone. But we cannot take that approach. When the Rav died, Rav shecter and Rav Lichtenstein rose up and said we can stand in his footsteps. Maybe they’re not the same but what's important is that we don't give up. Pirkei Avot says when there is no other person, you should try to be something. Can you ever fully replace someone? No. but there is a notion of it based on this week's Parashah which says let’s see how many people there are. Hashem loves us so much he wants to know us like a jewel. Every jew is so valuable to god. Rashi says that Hashem said we should switch out the firstborns for they were involved in the golden calf. Usually, the firstborns are better but we have to switch in the Levi’im. This idea of switching roles is something we have to appreciate. We don't replace people but we have to stand in their place. Like Elazar standing in Aron's place. This is how we should be not replacing them but standing in their place. The parashas message is that we are all different and irreplaceable but if someone doesn't step up to the plate or dies, someone can step up and take the role of someone else. This is what Yehoshua will have to do when taking over for Moshe.  It’s our job to step in and replace the irreplaceable.