The Weekly Dvar Torah
Volume I Issue #2
Sifsei Cohen
Parshas Bamidbar
Adapted from the wisdom of Rav Meir Simcha HaCohen of Dvinsk from the Meshech Chochmoh and Rav Tzadok HaCohen from Pri Tzadik and other works.
By Rav Yitzchak Schwartz Rosh Yeshiva Orchos Chaim Jerusalem
yschwartz@orchos.org.
In this week’s Haftorah we find some perplexing verses in the first chapter of Hosheah. Hashem instructs the prophet Hosheah to marry an unfaithful woman and to bear offspring from her, only to later be instructed to cast her out from their home along with their children. Our sages ob”m tell us that Hosheah recommended that since the Jewish people no longer lived in a manner that was faithful to Hashem’s will, they should no longer be entitled to call themselves His nation. Hosheah therefore suggested that Hashem chose a different nation and abandon the Jewish people. In response, Hashem instructs Hosheah to; marry a woman, raise a family together with her, and then… banish them forever. There was a powerful lesson that Hosheah needed to learn. The ways of Hashem are infinitely merciful. As unthinkable as it would be to banish your own wife and children despite their less than sterling behavior, so too Hashem will never abandon the Jewish people in favor of a gentile nation no matter how wayward they may be. After learning this poignant lesson Hosheah [chapter 2:1] felt the need to bless the nation that he was previously only too eager to have abandoned. And so in the opening verse of chapter 2 Hosheah blesses the Jewish people to be as numerous as the sand of the sea.
Rabeinu Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk explains Hosheah’s sudden change of heart in an original manner. The Talmud in two different places refers to the prohibition of counting the Jewish people Yuma 22: and Brochos 62: The verses that support this prohibition are quoted in the Talmud, but interestingly enough, do not include the verse in parshas Vayishlach 32:13 in which Hashem promised Yakov that his seed would be numerous “like the sand of the sea which cannot be counted” that also clearly indicates that it is prohibited to count the Jewish people. Furthermore, Rav Meir Simcha points out another interesting observation. In Breishis 13:16, and Breishis 28:14 both Abraham and Yakov are promised that their offspring will be numerous as the soil of the earth, whereas in Breishis 32:13 and Hosheah 2:1 they are likened to the sand of the sea.
So what is the significance of the change in the metaphor from soil of the earth to sand of the sea? Here is how Rav Meir Simcha views it. Soil, in comparison to sand tends to be a cohesive aggregate of many small particles, whereas sand is a loose collection of distinct and separate particles. Originally our forefathers Abraham and Yakov wanted to spread their teachings throughout the entire world bringing all of humanity under the umbrella of the oneness of Hashem. In line with their plans and desires Hashem promised them that their seed would be like the soil that covers the entire earth, including all of humanity together as one cohesive group [ref. Breishis 13:16, and Breishis 28:14] . However, after Yakov gave birth to his sons, the forefathers of the twelve tribes, he entirely changed his approach. The job of his descendants would not be to reach out to all of humanity. Rather, they were to form a separate and distinctive nation apart from the nations of the world. The oneness of Hashem was to emanate from within the exclusive group of Yakov’s direct lineage.
Therefore, the metaphor for klal Yisroel changes from soil of the earth to the sand of the sea. The sand of the sea does not cover the entire world. It is found only at the boundaries of the seas. But even more significant is the fact that sand is not cohesive as soil is. This is a prophetic allusion to the fact that although Yakov’s seed would be numerous they would not always be united. They would separate into many factions and many of them would cease to behave as Yakav’s descendants. However, one thing would bring them together in all generations. At times when the churning seas of spiritual or physical persecution threaten they would come together to form a beachhead to thwart off the assaults.
The Jewish people over the course of many generations have divided and subdivided into many groups but we must always bear in mind that although we lack unity we must stand united against the waves of spiritual assimilation and physical persecution. Any Jew who insists that he is a Jew despite the fact that he falls short in many areas of observance is still an integral and indispensible part of klal Yisroel.
This is the message of Hosheah. Even when the Jewish people are astray and unworthy of being called Hashem’s nation, separated and wayward as they may be, they are still part of the klal. Just as we are instructed not to count the Jewish people when they are unified in purpose and conduct, resembling one collective mass like the soil of the earth, so too when they are in a state of disjointed alliance like sand it is still forbidden to count them. As fractionated as they may be they stand like sand to break the destructive waves of assimilation. As long as they insist on identifying as Jews, it is prohibited to count them just as if they were in a state of harmonious oneness. This is why Hosheah, after accusing the Jewish people of infidelity, was taught the important lesson that Am Yisroel is, and always will be, the one [uncountable] and only nation of Hashem as long as they retain an incontrovertible commitment to retain their Jewish identity at all costs.
When Am Yisrael is united like the soil of the earth it is self-evident that they cannot be counted; they are in a state of indivisible oneness. But what about when they are separated into factions; what could be the problem with counting them when in any event they consider themselves to be separate individuals with little that binds them? This is why the Talmud sites the verse in Hosheah that refers to the Jewish people as sand, not soil, in order to teach us the prohibition of counting the Jewish people even in their diminished and disjointed stature.
Hosheah bears witness to a disparate nation who failed to live up to their calling as Hashem’s children, metaphorically they are as the sand of the sea. Nonetheless, he exhorts the Biblical prohibition not to count them. The nation that bears the excruciating suffering of endless generations of persecution and exiles is the undeniable nation of Hashem for eternity even when they are less than perfect in their observance of Hashem’s commandments. Even if our only unifying factor is our oneness in opposition to those who seek to annihilate us physically and spiritually, we are still the one and only nation of Hashem. May Hashem speedily gather us in from spiritual and physical exile.
By Rav Yitzchak Schwartz Rosh Yeshiva Orchos Chaim Jerusalem
yschwartz@orchos.org.
In this week’s Haftorah we find some perplexing verses in the first chapter of Hosheah. Hashem instructs the prophet Hosheah to marry an unfaithful woman and to bear offspring from her, only to later be instructed to cast her out from their home along with their children. Our sages ob”m tell us that Hosheah recommended that since the Jewish people no longer lived in a manner that was faithful to Hashem’s will, they should no longer be entitled to call themselves His nation. Hosheah therefore suggested that Hashem chose a different nation and abandon the Jewish people. In response, Hashem instructs Hosheah to; marry a woman, raise a family together with her, and then… banish them forever. There was a powerful lesson that Hosheah needed to learn. The ways of Hashem are infinitely merciful. As unthinkable as it would be to banish your own wife and children despite their less than sterling behavior, so too Hashem will never abandon the Jewish people in favor of a gentile nation no matter how wayward they may be. After learning this poignant lesson Hosheah [chapter 2:1] felt the need to bless the nation that he was previously only too eager to have abandoned. And so in the opening verse of chapter 2 Hosheah blesses the Jewish people to be as numerous as the sand of the sea.
Rabeinu Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk explains Hosheah’s sudden change of heart in an original manner. The Talmud in two different places refers to the prohibition of counting the Jewish people Yuma 22: and Brochos 62: The verses that support this prohibition are quoted in the Talmud, but interestingly enough, do not include the verse in parshas Vayishlach 32:13 in which Hashem promised Yakov that his seed would be numerous “like the sand of the sea which cannot be counted” that also clearly indicates that it is prohibited to count the Jewish people. Furthermore, Rav Meir Simcha points out another interesting observation. In Breishis 13:16, and Breishis 28:14 both Abraham and Yakov are promised that their offspring will be numerous as the soil of the earth, whereas in Breishis 32:13 and Hosheah 2:1 they are likened to the sand of the sea.
So what is the significance of the change in the metaphor from soil of the earth to sand of the sea? Here is how Rav Meir Simcha views it. Soil, in comparison to sand tends to be a cohesive aggregate of many small particles, whereas sand is a loose collection of distinct and separate particles. Originally our forefathers Abraham and Yakov wanted to spread their teachings throughout the entire world bringing all of humanity under the umbrella of the oneness of Hashem. In line with their plans and desires Hashem promised them that their seed would be like the soil that covers the entire earth, including all of humanity together as one cohesive group [ref. Breishis 13:16, and Breishis 28:14] . However, after Yakov gave birth to his sons, the forefathers of the twelve tribes, he entirely changed his approach. The job of his descendants would not be to reach out to all of humanity. Rather, they were to form a separate and distinctive nation apart from the nations of the world. The oneness of Hashem was to emanate from within the exclusive group of Yakov’s direct lineage.
Therefore, the metaphor for klal Yisroel changes from soil of the earth to the sand of the sea. The sand of the sea does not cover the entire world. It is found only at the boundaries of the seas. But even more significant is the fact that sand is not cohesive as soil is. This is a prophetic allusion to the fact that although Yakov’s seed would be numerous they would not always be united. They would separate into many factions and many of them would cease to behave as Yakav’s descendants. However, one thing would bring them together in all generations. At times when the churning seas of spiritual or physical persecution threaten they would come together to form a beachhead to thwart off the assaults.
The Jewish people over the course of many generations have divided and subdivided into many groups but we must always bear in mind that although we lack unity we must stand united against the waves of spiritual assimilation and physical persecution. Any Jew who insists that he is a Jew despite the fact that he falls short in many areas of observance is still an integral and indispensible part of klal Yisroel.
This is the message of Hosheah. Even when the Jewish people are astray and unworthy of being called Hashem’s nation, separated and wayward as they may be, they are still part of the klal. Just as we are instructed not to count the Jewish people when they are unified in purpose and conduct, resembling one collective mass like the soil of the earth, so too when they are in a state of disjointed alliance like sand it is still forbidden to count them. As fractionated as they may be they stand like sand to break the destructive waves of assimilation. As long as they insist on identifying as Jews, it is prohibited to count them just as if they were in a state of harmonious oneness. This is why Hosheah, after accusing the Jewish people of infidelity, was taught the important lesson that Am Yisroel is, and always will be, the one [uncountable] and only nation of Hashem as long as they retain an incontrovertible commitment to retain their Jewish identity at all costs.
When Am Yisrael is united like the soil of the earth it is self-evident that they cannot be counted; they are in a state of indivisible oneness. But what about when they are separated into factions; what could be the problem with counting them when in any event they consider themselves to be separate individuals with little that binds them? This is why the Talmud sites the verse in Hosheah that refers to the Jewish people as sand, not soil, in order to teach us the prohibition of counting the Jewish people even in their diminished and disjointed stature.
Hosheah bears witness to a disparate nation who failed to live up to their calling as Hashem’s children, metaphorically they are as the sand of the sea. Nonetheless, he exhorts the Biblical prohibition not to count them. The nation that bears the excruciating suffering of endless generations of persecution and exiles is the undeniable nation of Hashem for eternity even when they are less than perfect in their observance of Hashem’s commandments. Even if our only unifying factor is our oneness in opposition to those who seek to annihilate us physically and spiritually, we are still the one and only nation of Hashem. May Hashem speedily gather us in from spiritual and physical exile.