Parshat B’Ha’alotcha –פרשת בהעלותך
The subject of this weeks Parsha in the first part of the parsha is a continuation of a description of the holy services and the orders of transporting the different holy devices and ends with the leaving of חובבHovav or also known as Yitro / Jethro). There then follows a nasty turn of events that effects the rest of the‘book of במדבר (Numbers) when the Israelites complained against Moshe and Hashem for not providing them with meat for which they were punished with a bizarre plague of having too much meat and many died from some kind of meat intoxication.
The Seven Books of the Torah
There is one strange looking passage in between the subject of Hovav’s leaving and the complaint where it is written;
] לה וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה קוּמָה יְהוָה וְיָפֻצוּ אֹיְבֶיךָ וְיָנֻסוּ מְשַׂנְאֶיךָ מִפָּנֶיךָ. לו וּבְנֻחֹה יֹאמַר שׁוּבָה יְהוָה רִבְבוֹת אַלְפֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל ]
(Backwards hebrew letter nun in bolder and larger font)
And it was when the Ark of the covenant would move Moses would say; “Arise Lord and disperse your enemies and they shall flee from your face”.
And at its resting he said “return hashem the thousands of Israel”.
(Backwards hebrew letter nun in bolder and larger font)
(Numbers 10: 35 – 36 במדבר י:לה – לו)
There are a number of
bizarre things about
these verses;
Firstly why the big letter nun in the front and back of the quote?
Secondly why say this at all it does relate to anything that happened before or afterwards.
Thirdly according to my Rosh Yeshiva Rav Pesach Wolicki this never actually happened, the ark was only carried in to battle under the leadership of Yehoshua. It refers to a state that was meant to be and shall be in the Messianic Time to come, so why mention it now?
The Separation from Dangers:
The famous commentator on Torah Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi, (1040 - 1105 רבי שלמה יצחקי) Wrote that the two nuns are present to show us that this posuk is not in its correct place and has been placed here as “a separation between one danger and another” (כדי להפסיק בין פורענות לפורענות); the first danger being the sin of the golden calf and the second being the complaint about meat and other misdemeanours such as the slander of the 10 spies. Rabbi Wolicki expounded on this by saying this is what would have happened if these sins had not happened. Israel would have marched straight into the land of Israel with the ark at its head and destroyed all of its enemies.
The Fifth book of Moses
Rabbi Yitzhaqi was using a section of the Babylonian Talmud Tractate Shabbat (Page 115b) here where it discusses the rules to do with a fire on Shabbat and saving a scroll of Torah from being burnt. It discusses or verses and describes them as being a book of the Torah in its own right.
The Maharsha (Samuel Eidels 1555–1631 ר' שמואל אליעזר הלוי איידלס) explained that from the beginning of creation G-d had planned out the Torah and had planned it out so that it would parallel creation in having 7 parts. This insertion is not really an insertion but was planned from the beginning.
A belief in an omnipotent (all powerful) being would necessarily imply previous knowledge and control of all future events. This is straightforward, however what is astounding is that these events are in some way made important or holy by the fact that without them the Torah would be missing two books and according to the Maharsha this is significant.
The Divine Plan
A whole generation died in the desert as a punishment for the sin of the spies and before that thousands died because of the sin of the golden calf and the complaints about meat. This people were not appropriate to enter the land of Israel. It is a point that is difficult for us to accept as people who love our fellow Jews, but all these sufferings were completely necessary. As we have read from the Maharsha they were foreseen from the time of creation. The two verses were mentioned at this point to show that what follows is the alternative method of redemption, we must remember though that the second path is also towards redemption. We can take the message to our own personal lives that when something disastrous happens to not despair because it too is part of a divine plan. The general aim is that the Messiah should return speedily in our days, that our enemies are removed and Torah (as symbolised by the Ark) once again leads the way for the Jewish people.
