Make It Count

As we open our 4th book of Torah the scene may seem like utter chaos, people are regrouping, banners are flying, our whole sense of of who we are and why we are here is changing. Bamidbar translated from the Hebrew as "in the wilderness" is usually called Numbers for the fact that HaShem said to Moshe in the wilderness to take a census. But know beloved, when HaShem speaks to man there is no chaos, there is no wilderness, there is only peace. HaShem's idea of taking a census is not the same as man's.
When HaShem says take a census he means "lift up your head" so I can restore you. Not just so you can be counted, it is so much more than that, it is to make our lives truly count. He wants us to know that we are no longer that slave in Egypt. This was all part of the redemption process. Redemption must include a renewing of the mind as well as the physical rescuing of the body.

The sages say that as each person stood before Moshe and Aharon, they would gaze into the Sh'kinah's radiance surrounding them and they were to state their name, not their Egyptian slave name but their Hebrew name, in that moment HaShem revealed to each man in that instant who he really was, who he was created to be, this was the work of G*D, one on one with His creation. One must look to HaShem for such a revelation, it is found in no other source.

So far we see that the Jews have been counted three times. The first was when the Israelites left Egypt. The second was prior to building the tabernacle and the third with actual service in the tabernacle. Rashi says that because the children of Israel are dear to Him, HaShem counts His people all the time. There is a Midrash that says that every time the Jews spiritually ascend to a higher level they merit a counting by HaShem. It also says that up to the present the Jews have been counted nine times. The coming of Mashiach will merit the tenth counting. We know the significance of the number ten in Hebrew, it is linked to the letter yud, it is a picture of a hand or hand of G*D. The essential power of the yud is that little holds much. The "much" refers to the simple Infinity of G*D hidden within the initial point of revelation. May the hand of G*D be on each and every one of us beloved.

Tehillim 27:4-6 "One thing I have asked from the L*RD, that shall I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the L*RD all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the L*RD, and to meditate in His Temple. In the secret place of His tent He will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock. AND NOW MY HEAD WILL BE LIFTED UP above my enemies around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing, yes I will sing praises to the L*RD."

B'H Good Shabbos
Elizabeth