{"id":46090,"date":"2018-07-09T18:51:29","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-118\/"},"modified":"2022-07-19T07:07:38","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T04:07:38","slug":"wall-118","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-118\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Numbers-1"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"118","date":"20260210","book":"Numbers","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"118","books_group":"Torah","hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"posts":[{"order":1,"id":"46303","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Numbers 1 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Numbers 1 - Judy Hammond","slug":"numbers-1-judy-hammond","old_id":"46303","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"118","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Numbers 1","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"read by Judy Hammond","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/numbers-chapter-1-read-by-judy-hammond","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"118","date":"20260210","wall_id":"118"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"46308","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"The Journey To ","post_title":"The Journey To","slug":"the-journey-to","old_id":"46308","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer. 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","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"118","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Hidden connections between Exodus and this new book hint at the success of the Israelites","post_main_content_content":"

It is clear from the first chapter where this book, <\/span>Bamidbar<\/em> <\/span><\/span>(\u201cin the desert\u201d) in Hebrew, received the English name Numbers. The book starts off with a census of the Jewish people in the second year after they left Egypt. The Hebrew name <\/span>Bamidbar<\/em> <\/span>is more of a thematic name as the book details the stories of the time period of the Israelites in the <\/span>midbar<\/span><\/i>, desert.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In this instance, it is the English name that only connects to the first few chapters, while the Hebrew name is thematic. This is the opposite of the book of <\/span>Shemot <\/span><\/i>(\u201cnames\u201d), or Exodus. In that case, the Hebrew name refers to the very first chapter and the English name is thematic. There are other important connections between the names of the two books and the opening chapters. The book of Exodus opens with the names of the sons of Jacob who went down to Egypt. They numbered seventy people, but the Torah only lists the twelve sons of Jacob.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Numbers opens with a census as well. This time, the tribes are listed again, but the names belong to the leaders of each tribe. Instead of seventy, there are now more than 600,000 men over twenty years old. Another difference is that the list of names in Exodus includes Levi and Joseph, while Numbers includes Ephraim and Menashe, and excludes Levi. At the time the brothers went down to Egypt, Levi had not yet assumed its place as the stewards of the Mishkan, and Ephraim and Menashe were just two sons of Joseph.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

By opening the two books in a similar way, the Torah is providing a quick reference point as to the evolution of the Israelites from one family to an entire organized nation with encampments and tribal leaders and a massive amount of people. This comparison reminds me of the triumphant pictures of a Holocaust survivor sitting with their children, grandchildren and sometimes great grandchildren. To emphasize this, compare the verse right after the census in Exodus to the one in Numbers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, \u2018Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground\u2019 (Ex 1:8-10).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Israelites did accordingly; just as God had commanded Moses, so they did (Num. 1:54).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This nation is no longer under the control of a foreign power that wants to control them. They now are protected by and follow God. The start of Numbers is truly a photograph of triumph.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: map of Ya\u2019akov Oyshpitz,\u00a0Ish \u2018al Diglo,<\/i>\u00a01817<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":54214,"alt":"","title":"jo16-camp","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp.jpg","width":1907,"height":1522,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp-300x239.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":239,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp-768x613.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":613,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp-1024x817.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":817,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp.jpg","2048x2048-width":1907,"2048x2048-height":1522,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp-1200x958.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":958,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp-526x420.jpg","home_baner-width":526,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Names and Numbers","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Hidden connections between Exodus and this new book hint at the success of the Israelites","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":54214,"alt":"","title":"jo16-camp","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp.jpg","width":1907,"height":1522,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp-300x239.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":239,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp-768x613.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":613,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp-1024x817.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":817,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp.jpg","2048x2048-width":1907,"2048x2048-height":1522,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp-1200x958.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":958,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo16-camp-526x420.jpg","home_baner-width":526,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"118","date":"20260210","wall_id":"118"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"410","name":"Torah","old_id":"810"},{"term_id":"551","name":"Names","old_id":"951"}]},{"order":4,"id":"106468","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Deep In The Wilderness ","post_title":"Deep In The Wilderness","slug":"deep-in-the-wilderness","old_id":"106468","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":104022,"post_title":"Benji Zoller","slug":"benji-zoller","old_id":"104022","first_name":"Benji ","last_name":"Zoller ","description":"Benji Zoller is a current student of Jewish Thought and Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. 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And the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting on the first of the second month in the second year of their going from Egypt, saying\u2026\u00a0 (Num. 1:1)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Just one month prior, the Jewish people completed the Tabernacle, and, within that month, the priestly nation has learned their priestly responsibilities. Now, the new nation must begin their journey from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Deep in the wilderness of Sinai, in the heart of the desert, the Jewish people find themselves surrounded by nothingness. The desert offers no sense of direction and no hope for salvation. The wilderness is a senseless space, lacking any resources and exposing the people to the naked forces of nature.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet, here, in the infiniteness of the desert, the people who have witnessed revelation will come to know God as they trek to their final destination. Here, surrounded by endless sand and rock, the people will begin to understand their role as a nation. They will face their fears, both externally and internally; they will struggle to accept the blessings God bestows upon them, as well the curses. They will find themselves looking out at the openness and feeling completely and utterly lost. And, at other times, they will pause and listen to the \u201cstill, small voice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Though the people have left Mount Sinai, that moment in time will forever echo in their hearts. Recalling their encounter, the people invite the awe to reverberate into their everyday life. They learn to face the highs and lows with an awareness of the Ineffable, finding God in the infinite. And as they journey with the Tabernacle at the camp\u2019s center and flags waving from above, the community remembers their mission, and is inspired by their purpose. Even here in the vastness of the desert, it is this inner flame which guides the way, encouraging them to view the vastness as potential.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Lord\u2019s voice makes the wilderness shake, the Lord makes the Kadesh wilderness shake (Ps. 29:8).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the desert, sometimes one hears the voice of God, and sometimes there is utter stillness. Surrounded by brown and yellow hues, the world seems prehistoric. It\u2019s easy to go mad, to feel as though no progress is being made; everything looks the same. The growth, however, happens inside; God\u2019s voice may shake the wilderness, but often the individual is required to listen. And, deep in the wilderness, it is that passionate individual who shall strive to follow that voice seeking redemption.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":54849,"alt":"","title":"jo24-desert","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert.jpg","width":1920,"height":1442,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert-768x577.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":577,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert-1024x769.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":769,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1154,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1442,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert-1200x901.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":901,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert-559x420.jpg","home_baner-width":559,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Deep In The Wilderness","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Sometimes hearing God\u2019s voice; sometimes just the stillness\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":54849,"alt":"","title":"jo24-desert","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert.jpg","width":1920,"height":1442,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert-768x577.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":577,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert-1024x769.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":769,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1154,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1442,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert-1200x901.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":901,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-desert-559x420.jpg","home_baner-width":559,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"118","date":"20260210","wall_id":"118"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"787","name":"Wilderness","old_id":"1187"},{"term_id":"788","name":"Desert","old_id":"1188"}]},{"order":5,"id":"46272","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Deeper Meaning of Numbers ","post_title":"The Deeper Meaning of Numbers","slug":"the-deeper-meaning-of-numbers","old_id":"46272","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34004,"post_title":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg","slug":"avivah-gottlieb-zornberg","old_id":"34004","first_name":"Avivah Gottlieb","last_name":"Zornberg","description":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg lives in Jerusalem where she has been lecturing on Torah since 1980. She reads biblical narratives through the prism of midrash, literature, philosophy and particularly psychoanalysis.\r\nShe was born in London and grew up in Glasgow, where her father was a Rabbi and the head of the Rabbinical Court. She studied Torah with him from childhood. Her PhD in English Literature is from Cambridge University, England. She taught English literature at the Hebrew University before turning to teaching Torah. She now teaches throughout the Jewish world, at synagogues, universities, and psychoanalytic institutes.\r\nShe is the author of five critically acclaimed books. Her latest book, Moses: A Human Life, was published by Yale University Press.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg lives and lectures on Torah in Jerusalem. She is the author of five critically acclaimed books. ","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34006,"alt":"","title":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","width":454,"height":359,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg-300x237.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":237,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","medium_large-width":454,"medium_large-height":359,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","large-width":454,"large-height":359,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","1536x1536-width":454,"1536x1536-height":359,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","2048x2048-width":454,"2048x2048-height":359,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","post_full_size-width":454,"post_full_size-height":359,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","home_baner-width":454,"home_baner-height":359}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"118","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Indicating both continuity and rupture, the book yields an implicit narrative of catastrophe.","post_main_content_content":"

The book begins with a census of the people. With ceremonious precision, the masses are tallied and choreographed for the march into the Land of Israel. Entry into the Land is imminent; the people the people are arrayed for battle. At the beginning of the book, this is the immediate future of the narrative.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The name of the book, therefore\u2014in English (Numbers), in Latin <\/span>(Numeri), <\/span><\/i>in Greek <\/span>(Arithmoi)\u2014<\/span><\/i>conveys <\/span>just this memory of a moment of preparation for the fulfillment of God's grand narrative. The people are counted twice, once in chapter 1, and once toward the the end, in chapter 26. These two moments are thirty-eight years apart; and both, ironically, are in preparation for the imminent wars of conquest of the Land of Israel. Between these two moments, a whole generation dies. What separates the two moments of counting is a total shift in population. The double census lends the Hebrew name a sinister cast. A book that begins in optimism shifts its meanings as the original generation is condemned to die in the wilderness for their sins. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The double census intimates a great failure: an entire generation, with all its expectations, with the presence of God it its midst, has vanished into the sands. The book of Numbers is a narrative of great sadness, in which the <\/span>midbar<\/span><\/em>, the wilderness, swallows up all of the aspirations of a generation--people who experienced the Exodus, the Revelation at Sinai, and the creation of a sanctuary for God. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As a collective, of course, the people of Israel continues. It is constituted by the young (under twenty) of the previous generation and by the new generation. In terms of sheer numbers, there has been no loss. Strikingly, however, there is no mention of births. In a sense, the apparent continuity only serves to emphasize the terror that is encompassed in this narrative. The living presence of <\/span>numbers<\/span><\/em> is transformed in the second census into the record of <\/span>absences<\/span><\/i>. The tale of numbers, therefore, indicates both continuity and rupture, yielding an implicit narrative of catastrophe. In this sense, the book is well named Numbers, as though to indicate the tragic irony of altered expectations.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Valentin Drull\/shutterstock<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":46345,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_228394381","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381.jpg","width":4167,"height":4157,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381-768x766.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":766,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381-1024x1022.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1022,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1532,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":2043,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381-1200x1197.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1197,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381-421x420.jpg","home_baner-width":421,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Deeper Meaning of Numbers","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Indicating both continuity and rupture, the book yields an implicit narrative of catastrophe.","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":46345,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_228394381","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381.jpg","width":4167,"height":4157,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381-768x766.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":766,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381-1024x1022.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1022,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1532,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":2043,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381-1200x1197.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1197,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_228394381-421x420.jpg","home_baner-width":421,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"118","date":"20260210","wall_id":"118"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"689","name":"Census","old_id":"1089"},{"term_id":"788","name":"Desert","old_id":"1188"},{"term_id":"789","name":"Numbers","old_id":"1189"}]},{"order":6,"id":"46274","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"What Is Our Community? ","post_title":"What Is Our Community?","slug":"what-is-our-community","old_id":"46274","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":44967,"post_title":"Abe Mezrich","slug":"abe-mezrich","old_id":"44967","first_name":"Abe ","last_name":"Mezrich ","description":"Abe Mezrich wants to know what our sacred texts say about our world right now. Sometimes he writes down his answers to those questions. His second book, Between the Mountain and the Land Lies the Lesson, is available through Ben Yehuda Press. Learn more at www.abemezrich.com.","short_description":"Abe Mezrich wants to know what our sacred texts say about our world right now. Learn more at www.abemezrich.com.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":101452,"alt":"","title":"-61fd0e6c351e2--61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG.jpg","width":1914,"height":1754,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-300x275.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":275,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-768x704.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":704,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-1024x938.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":938,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1408,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG.jpg","2048x2048-width":1914,"2048x2048-height":1754,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-1200x1100.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1100,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-458x420.jpg","home_baner-width":458,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"118","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We lift each other from the blur of the masses to become counted people","post_main_content_content":"

i<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God tells Moses
\r\nto gather the tribal leaders
\r\nto take a count
\r\nof the people.
\r\nThe word that God uses
\r\nfor this counting is
\r\nSi\u2019u:
\r\nlift up.<\/p>\r\n

*<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the Desert
\r\nthese people who have been counted
\r\nencamp around the Priests,
\r\nmany of whom will lift up
\r\nthe pieces of God\u2019s tent
\r\nto carry the Tent
\r\nthrough the Desert.<\/p>\r\n

*<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When the Priests bless the people,
\r\ntheir closing phrase is:
\r\nMay HaShem lift up
\r\nHis face to you
\r\nand give you peace.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

ii<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We lift each other
\r\nfrom the blur of the masses
\r\nto become counted people.<\/p>\r\n

*<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We, a community
\r\nof counted people
\r\nlift up God\u2019s Tent
\r\nfrom the level of the ground
\r\nto a point above the earth.<\/p>\r\n

*<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We who raise God\u2019s tent
\r\ncall upon God
\r\nto lift His face up,
\r\nto lift \u00a0Himself up
\r\nmaking our lives
\r\nlives of peace:
\r\nlives of treating others
\r\nas more than a blur of masses
\r\nbut as people who are counted.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

iii<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In respect for each other
\r\nwe ready our lives
\r\nto bear the holiness
\r\nthat readies us
\r\nto bear God\u2014
\r\nWho guides us to respect each other.<\/p>\r\n

*<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This cycle
\r\nmakes up our community.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

From<\/span><\/i> The House at the Center of the World: Poetic Midrash on Sacred Space<\/span><\/i><\/a> by Abe Mezrich<\/span><\/i><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":105146,"alt":"","title":"-628ea104a7fca--628ea104a7fcdex30-count 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The book of Numbers is called in Hebrew \u201cBemidbar.\u201d The English names of the books of the Torah are usually synopses of the contents: Genesis tells of beginnings, Exodus of leaving Egypt, Leviticus, priestly laws. The Hebrew designations make no pretense at summary; they are simply the first significant word of the book.* <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet with the fourth book, the chance opening word, Bemidbar \u2013 \u201cIn the Desert\u201d, or \u201cIn the Wilderness\u201d\u2014is far more apt than the topic-based title, \u201cNumbers,\u201d which refers to censuses that take up only a few chapters.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In this book, the narrative shifts to the nitty-gritty of what it was like for the Children of Israel to actually live in the wilderness. The Bible provides grounds for argument about the nature of that experience. In one view, it was a time of hardship and chastisement. No sooner do they set out, then they start complaining: No meat to eat, though they had been subsisting on divine manna, none of that fresh Egyptian produce, seemingly never enough water. Later we learn of the people\u2019s terrified response to the intimidating reports of the spies.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Or was it an awe-filled time of feeling God\u2019s closeness through daily divine miracles? Manna and quail\u2014bread and meat directly from God\u2014water gushing forth from the rock, pillars of fire and clouds to guide them. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Anybody who has ever gone camping knows it was almost surely both. Wilderness experience can be arduous, uncompromising, harsh, lacking in creature comforts. And yet precisely those qualities can open one up to deeper encounters. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The book begins, \u201cGod spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai\u2026.\u201d In the midrashic collection of Bemidbar Rabba, the rabbis ask: Why was the Torah given in the wilderness, in the desert? \u00a0The midrash answers: \u201cAnyone who does not throw himself open to all, make himself master-less like the desert cannot acquire wisdom and Torah.\u201d Note: \u201cWisdom\u201d and \u201cTorah\u201d are not identical. Rabbi Lawrence Kushner has written: \u201cThe wilderness is not just a desert through which we wandered for forty years. It is a way of being\u2026 A place that demands being present with all of yourself. In the wilderness\u2026 you are left alone each day with an immediacy that astonishes, chastens and exults. You see the world as if for the first time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The wilderness as the place of Torah contrasted with the mighty civilization of Egypt and its corruption that the Israelites left behind. God can speak (<\/span>medabber<\/span><\/em>) better in the desert (<\/span>midbar<\/span><\/em>). Or maybe we can just hear better.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Without wildness, and wilderness, and our direct experience of them, our lives become dominated by numbers; we become calculating creatures. And numbers can be numbing. Maybe it\u2019s time to leave Numbers behind, and go out In the Wilderness, where revelations can still happen.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

*Interestingly, the last Hebrew words of each of the Five Books provide a neat synopsis of the entire transformation and growth of Israel as a people, from slavery to freedom to independence: Egypt, journeys, Sinai, Jericho (at the edge of the land), Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: end of Leviticus, beginning of Numbers in the Leningrad 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In 1973, in his Pulitzer-Prize winning history, <\/span>The Americans: The Democratic Experience<\/span><\/i>, Daniel Boorstin incorporated a beautiful teaching that essentially contrasted modern Americans with the Children of Israel in Numbers, chapter 1. Boorstin appreciated the delightfully democratic impulse behind our constant counting: X percent of Americans belong here! Do this! Believe that! Americans rejected the Old World\u2019s \u201cinvidious distinctions,\u201d rooted in class snobbery, Boorstin explained. \u201cNumbers were neutral.\u201d The \u201cnumbering of people (one person, one vote)\u201d symbolized democratic equality.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As an objective historian assessing pros and cons, Boorstin also identified the damage \u201cstatistical communities\u201d caused. Obsessively slotting individuals into categories made membership so passive the relationship risked becoming meaningless. \u00a0These \u201csupermarket of statistics\u201d offered no \u201cmoral guide.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Having coined the phrase \u201cpseudo-events\u201d to identify PR stunts staged just to get media coverage, Boorstin essentially, presciently, warned against pseudo-communities too. \u00a0Decades later, our lives are filled with superficial associations: Facebook \u201cfriends\u201d we\u2019ve never met, trends that define us simply by clicking or \u201cliking.\u201d We don\u2019t even notice that a \u201cvirtual community\u201d is an oxymoron \u2013 even as many American Jews seek a Jewish community with no red lines, no meaningful boundaries or definitions.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

By contrast, unlike our hollowed-out communities, <\/span>Numbers <\/span><\/i>begins with a powerful moral process of community-building. The children of Israel are not mere numbers. They are not just counted passively, logged into a statistical community. They \u2013 we \u2013 are challenged to count, because in this community you only count by standing up for one another.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Far beyond being tabulated in a census, and even more profound than ponying up a shekel to be counted, Verse 45 proclaims the children of Israel \u201cwere counted according to their fathers' houses, from twenty years and upward, all who were fit to go out to the army.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Those who contribute count: creating meaningful communities not statistical communities.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Boorstin and <\/span>Bamidbar<\/span><\/i> help correct the common mistranslation of verse 2, which is often rendered as: \u201ctake the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel.\u201d \u00a0The Hebrew proclaims: \u201cSe\u2019u et rosh kol eidat b\u2019nai yisrael<\/em>.\u201d The first word -- \u201cSin-Aleph-Vav <\/em>-- is related to carrying, lifting up, leading, marrying \u2013 transcending through committing.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Torah \u2013 and Reb Boorstin -- teach that belonging is more profound than being. True belonging entails investing, embracing, truly joining. From that I-thou relationship \u2013 or those relationships with others and with shared ideals \u2013 we catapult toward becoming better people and bettering the world.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":104621,"alt":"","title":"-6276db5b1c9b7--6276db5b1c9caex17-community 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Is More Profound Than Being","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"From passive statistical pseudo-communities to meaningful, moral relationships","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":104621,"alt":"","title":"-6276db5b1c9b7--6276db5b1c9caex17-community 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","post_title":"Generations","slug":"generations","old_id":"46262","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":35831,"post_title":"Ruth Fogelman","slug":"ruth-fogelman","old_id":"35831","first_name":"Ruth ","last_name":"Fogelman ","description":"Ruth Fogelman was born in England and has lived in Jerusalem\u2019s Old City for most of her life. She is the author of four books. Her poems, articles, short stories and photography have appeared in anthologies and various publications in Israel, USA and India, including Arc, Back to Joy: Little Reminders to Help Us Through Tough Times, The Deronda Review, Prosopisia, Poetica, and the International Literary Review. Ruth holds a Masters Degree from the Creative Writing Program of Bar Ilan University and leads the Pri Hadash Women\u2019s Writing Workshop in Jerusalem. \r\nShe is a member of the Israel Association of Writers in English\r\nVisit her website at http:\/\/jerusalemlives.weebly.com\r\n","short_description":"Ruth Fogelman is a poet, and lives in Jerusalem\u2019s Old City. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":35832,"alt":"","title":"Ruth Fogelman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ruth-Fogelman-.jpg","width":969,"height":973,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ruth-Fogelman--150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ruth-Fogelman--300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ruth-Fogelman--768x771.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":771,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ruth-Fogelman-.jpg","large-width":969,"large-height":973,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ruth-Fogelman-.jpg","1536x1536-width":969,"1536x1536-height":973,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ruth-Fogelman-.jpg","2048x2048-width":969,"2048x2048-height":973,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ruth-Fogelman-.jpg","post_full_size-width":969,"post_full_size-height":973,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ruth-Fogelman--418x420.jpg","home_baner-width":418,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"118","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"I march with the thousands of my tribe","post_main_content_content":"

Warm sand trickles through my toes;
\r\n<\/span>White, luminescent clouds fill the sky,
\r\n<\/span>Protect me from the burning desert sun.
\r\n<\/span>I march with the thousands of my tribe.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I cannot see the two acacia arks;
\r\n<\/span>One holds the sets of the Divine Words,
\r\n<\/span>And in the second ark, the bones
\r\n<\/span>Of Grandmother\u2019s grandfather.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Sitting on Grandmother\u2019s knee,
\r\n<\/span>She would stroke my long, black hair,
\r\n<\/span>Her wrinkled, leathery hands calloused
\r\n<\/span>From a lifetime of back-breaking work,
\r\n<\/span>And tell me stories of her grandfather.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Her eyes twinkled when telling me
\r\n<\/span>How her grandfather taught her to form letters
\r\n<\/span>(Unlike Egypt\u2019s hieroglyphs),
\r\n<\/span>But she would brush something from her cheek
\r\n<\/span>When she told
\r\n<\/span>How her grandfather was thrown into the pit.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Grandmother\u2019s palms, deeply lined, turned heavenward.
\r\n<\/span>Sitting on her lap, I gazed into her dark, heavy-lidded eyes;
\r\n<\/span>In front of them past generations danced.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I danced with Grandmother
\r\n<\/span>When we crossed the Reed Sea
\r\n<\/span>And joined Miriam in her Song.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And now, I tell my children her tales
\r\n<\/span>While through the wilderness we trek
\r\n<\/span>Back to the Land,<\/span><\/p>\r\n

With Moses\u2019 Commandments
\r\n<\/span>And the bones, unearthed from the Past,
\r\n<\/span>Of Grandmother\u2019s grandfather.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This poem appears in Ruth\u2019s book, \u201cCradled in God\u2019s Arms\u201d<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":106475,"alt":"","title":"-62d4044d656e7--62d4044d656e8num1-march wander 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Desert Invitation ","post_title":"A Desert Invitation","slug":"a-desert-invitation","old_id":"46459","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"118","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"To take a leap of love and create meaning out of the seeming barrenness","post_main_content_content":"

Usually, new books like to start with a hook, something to draw the reader in to the story. The book of Numbers makes no such attempt, flooding us with a long list of statistics to begin the tales of our journey from Sinai to the shores of the promised land. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

A page turner it's not. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why? Why doesn't the Torah try to make more of an attempt to sell itself, to tempt the reader inside? Doesn't it want to be meaningful for people's lives?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The answer lies in the desert. The Torah was given in the desert, the Torah was given as a desert, sometimes seeming barren of meaning. This barrenness can be its great strength, allowing the space for anyone and everyone to come and find themselves within it. As the Midrash puts it, as the desert is free and open to all, so too is the Torah free for all to partake from.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But to do that, the Midrash continues, you need to make yourself 'hefker'- you need to realize that to see the Torah as something that's trying to sell itself would mean that the choice would be ours to evaluate- is it worth it to buy it, or not? That kind of calculus can only cheapen the Torah. The reason to partake in Torah can't be based on that kind of evaluation- in the end it will never last. It needs to be a leap of love. That's what the desert demands. \"Thus says the Lord, I have remembered for you the lovingkindness of your youth, the love of our newlywed days, when you walked after me in the desert...\" (Jeremiah 2:2).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And when you enter the desert with love, you start to do what the children of Israel start doing in chapter 1. You start to make order, to create meaning out of the barrenness, and that's when you begin to understand that there's richness there that you never imagined. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

That's the opportunity the desert affords, and that's the invitation that participating in the 929 project extends. As Jeremiah says later- - \"there is a reward for your work, says God.\" In the end, you'll get your just desserts. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

illustration: Angie Yeoh\/shutterstock<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":46460,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_591756005","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005.jpg","width":5472,"height":3648,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"A Desert Invitation","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"To take a leap of love and create meaning out of the seeming barrenness","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":46460,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_591756005","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005.jpg","width":5472,"height":3648,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_591756005-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"118","date":"20260210","wall_id":"118"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"381","name":"love","old_id":"781"},{"term_id":"788","name":"Desert","old_id":"1188"}]},{"order":12,"id":"46264","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Make Yourself Like Wilderness ","post_title":"Make Yourself Like Wilderness","slug":"make-yourself-like-wilderness","old_id":"46264","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"118","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The wildness of creative interpretation...","post_main_content_content":"

At the beginning of the Book of Numbers, we are told that \u201cthe Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting\u201d (Numbers 1:1). What might the rabbinic sages make of this simply informative indication? It is the fundamental nature of midrash to \u201csearch out\u201d [the Hebrew root D-R-Sh means \u201cto seek\u201d] the possible implications of every discrete linguistic element in the Scriptural text -- individual letters, words, phrases, verses, chapters and whole biblical books. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

A parade example of the rabbinic tendency to focus particularly on a single word is found in the opening chapter of the most well-known aggadic-midrashic composition on the book of Numbers (Numbers Rabbah 1:7): <\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhy does God choose to speak to Moses \u2018in the <\/span>wilderness<\/span> of Sinai\u2019? Pondering this question, the Sages formulated the following teaching: \u201cThe Torah was given through three entities \u2013 Fire, Water and Wilderness. Through Fire, is suggested by the verse \u2018Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the Lord had come down upon it in fire\u2019 (Exodus 19:18). Through Water, is suggested by the verse \u2018The heavens dripped. Yea, the clouds dripped water. The mountains quaked before the Lord, Him of Sinai\u2019 (Judges 5:4-5). And through Wilderness, is suggested by the verse \u2018the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting\u2019 (Numbers 1:1).
\r\nBut why was the Torah given through these particular entities? Because Fire, Water and Wilderness are all freely available to everyone in the world. So too, the Words of Torah are freely available to all, as it says in Scripture: \u2018Ho, all who are thirsty, come for water. Even if you have no money, come! Buy food and eat. Buy food without money, wine and milk without cost\u2019 (Isaiah 55:1). But only those who, in turn, make themselves like the Wilderness \u2013 that is, \u201cfreely available\u201d (<\/span>hefqer<\/span><\/i>, i.e. unencumbered, intellectually open) to grasp the word of God \u2013 only they will be able to acquire the Wisdom of Torah. This is what is suggested by \u201c\u2026in the <\/span>Wilderness<\/span> of Sinai\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps the creators of aggadic midrash are here hinting to us, that to fully appreciate their creative approach to Scripture, we may \u2013 on occasion \u2013 need to suspend our everyday rationality in order to resonate with their sometimes seemingly \u201cwild\u201d interpretive imagination.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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She is the author of 12 books. Her forthcoming book is The Book of Esther: Power, Fate and Fragility in Exile (Maggid\/OU).","short_description":"Dr. Erica Brown is Director of the Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership at The George Washington University.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39526,"alt":"","title":"erica brown","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","width":154,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","medium-width":154,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","medium_large-width":154,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","large-width":154,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","1536x1536-width":154,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","2048x2048-width":154,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","post_full_size-width":154,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","home_baner-width":154,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"118","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"How does one prepare for the wilderness, a place of anxiety and romance, independence and intense dependence?","post_main_content_content":"

When the Tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down, and when the Tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up; any outsider who encroaches shall be put to death. The Israelites shall encamp troop by troop, each man with his division and each under his standard. The Levites, however, shall camp around the Tabernacle of the Pact, that wrath may not strike the Israelite community; the Levites shall stand guard around the Tabernacle of the Pact (Num 1: 51-53).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How does one prepare for the wilderness, a place of anxiety and romance, independence and intense dependence? A review of the word \u201c<\/span>midbar<\/span><\/i>\u201d in a Concordance offers us a range of biblical verses that speak of primal love and terror in a wasteland of flash floods, vicious animals, deep darkness and despair. One cannot ever completely prepare for it. Readers of the Book of Numbers will understand the book better if wilderness is studied as an actual character. The natural world the Israelites face was harsh and unforgiving. It makes and breaks people. One scholar notes that there is not one recorded birth in its pages but plenty of deaths, thousands in fact.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

T.\u00a0<\/span>S. Eliot\u2019s \u201cWaste Land\u201d helps us imagine the hardships of such a place: \u201c\u2026I was neither\/Living nor dead, and I knew nothing\/Looking into the heart of light, the silence.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The first ten chapters of Numbers put mechanisms in place to manage this wilderness. Numbers opens with a census to determine a credible army for protection. The camp is divided by tribe and flag with a strategic formation with every pause in the trek. Organization accompanied by intense vigilance was needed to fight the chaos of the wilderness. Discipline of this magnitude is captured magnificently by Amitav Gosh in his historical fiction, <\/span>The Glass Palace<\/span><\/em>, about British rubber plantations tended by in Burma before the Second World War: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cThis is my little empire...I made it. I took it from the jungle and molded it into what I wanted it to be. Now that it\u2019s mine, I take good care of it. There\u2019s law, there\u2019s order, everything is well run. Looking at it you would think that everything here is tame, domesticated, that all the parts have been fitted carefully together. But it\u2019s when you try to make the whole machine work that you discover that every bit of it is fighting back. It has nothing to do with me or with rights and wrongs. I could make this the best run little kingdom in the world and it would still fight back. It\u2019s nature; the nature that made these trees and the nature that made us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The fight to conquer nature was constant so their sources of spiritual inspiration needed to be. It is for this reason that the <\/span>Mishkan<\/span><\/i>, the Tabernacle, lay at the center of the camp, the beating heart of the wilderness venture. On its altar were the tears and the joys of this impossible journey. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Where is your spiritual center when chaos surrounds you?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Israel Encamped Roundabout the Tabernacle in the Wilderness of Sinai<\/a>,\u00a0<\/i>John W. Kelchner (c. 1843-1939).<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":46347,"alt":"","title":"Num1-Kelchner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","width":591,"height":362,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner-300x184.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":184,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","medium_large-width":591,"medium_large-height":362,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","large-width":591,"large-height":362,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","1536x1536-width":591,"1536x1536-height":362,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","2048x2048-width":591,"2048x2048-height":362,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","post_full_size-width":591,"post_full_size-height":362,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","home_baner-width":591,"home_baner-height":362}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Impossible Journey","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"How does one prepare for the wilderness, a place of anxiety and romance, independence and intense dependence?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":46347,"alt":"","title":"Num1-Kelchner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","width":591,"height":362,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner-300x184.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":184,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","medium_large-width":591,"medium_large-height":362,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","large-width":591,"large-height":362,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","1536x1536-width":591,"1536x1536-height":362,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","2048x2048-width":591,"2048x2048-height":362,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","post_full_size-width":591,"post_full_size-height":362,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","home_baner-width":591,"home_baner-height":362}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"118","date":"20260210","wall_id":"118"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"788","name":"Desert","old_id":"1188"},{"term_id":"790","name":"Wandering","old_id":"1190"}]},{"order":14,"id":"46266","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Listening Silence in the Soul ","post_title":"A Listening Silence In The Soul","slug":"a-listening-silence-in-the-soul","old_id":"46266","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer. Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"118","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Why the Torah was given in the desert: several suggestions","post_main_content_content":"

The opening section of the Book of Numbers \/ Bamidbar is usually read on the Shabbat before Shavuot. So the sages connected the two. Shavuot is the time of the giving of the Torah. \u201cBamidbar\u201d means, \u201cIn the desert.\u201d What then is the connection between the desert and the Torah, the wilderness and God\u2019s word?<\/p>\r\n

The sages gave several interpretations. According to the Mekhilta the Torah was given publicly, openly and in a place no one owns because had it been given in the land of Israel, Jews would have said to the nations of the world, \u201cYou have no share in it.\u201d Instead, whoever wants to come and accept it, let them come and accept it.<\/p>\r\n

Another explanation: Had the Torah been given in Israel the nations of the world would have had an excuse for not accepting it. This follows the rabbinic tradition that before God gave the Torah to the Israelites he offered it to all the other nations and each found a reason to decline.<\/p>\r\n

Yet another: Just as the wilderness is free \u2013 it costs nothing to enter \u2013 so the Torah is free. It is God\u2019s gift to us.<\/p>\r\n

But there is another, more spiritual reason. The desert is a place of silence. There is nothing visually to distract you, and there is no ambient noise to muffle sound. To be sure, when the Israelites received the Torah, there was thunder and lightning and the sound of a shofar. The earth felt as if it were shaking at its foundations. But in a later age, when the prophet Elijah stood at the same mountain after his confrontation with the prophets of Baal, he encountered God not in the whirlwind or the fire or the earthquake but in the \u201ckol demamah dakah<\/i>,\u201d the still, small voice, literally \u201cthe sound of a slender silence.\u201d I define this as the sound you can only hear if you are listening. In the silence of the midbar, the desert, you can hear the Medaber, the Speaker, and the medubar, that which is spoken.<\/p>\r\n

To hear the voice of God you need a listening silence in the soul.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: <\/span>The Sound of Silence (Covenant & Conversation, Bamidbar 5776)<\/span><\/i><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":106483,"alt":"","title":"-62d40a117b4b5--62d40a117b4b6num1-meditation 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Listening Silence In The Soul","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Why the Torah was given in the desert: several suggestions","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":106483,"alt":"","title":"-62d40a117b4b5--62d40a117b4b6num1-meditation 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Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"410","name":"Torah","old_id":"810"}]},{"order":15,"id":"46259","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Family Haiku ","post_title":"Family Haiku","slug":"family-haiku","old_id":"46259","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36669,"post_title":"Yakov Azriel","slug":"yakov-azriel","old_id":"36669","first_name":"Yakov ","last_name":"Azriel","description":"Yakov Azriel, who lives in Israel, has published five books of poetry in the USA and hundreds of poems in journals and magazines. His poems have won twenty-two prizes in international poetry competitions, and he has twice been awarded fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.","short_description":"Yakov Azriel is an English language poet who lives in Israel","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36670,"alt":"","title":"Yakov.Azriel.Photo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","width":1099,"height":1519,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-217x300.jpg","medium-width":217,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":741,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","large-width":741,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","1536x1536-width":1099,"1536x1536-height":1519,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","2048x2048-width":1099,"2048x2048-height":1519,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-868x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":868,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-304x420.jpg","home_baner-width":304,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"118","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Through four seasons... ","post_main_content_content":"

\"And the Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year following the Exodus from the land of Egypt, saying, 'Take a census of the entire community of the Children of Israel, according to their families \u2026\" (Numbers 1:1-2)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I. spring night<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

a broken <\/span>matzah
\r\n<\/span><\/i>near goblets of dark red wine;
\r\n<\/span>my daughter singing<\/span><\/p>\r\n

II. summer night<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

men sitting on floors
\r\n<\/span>in a dark <\/span>shul <\/span><\/i>without chairs;
\r\n<\/span>my father missing<\/span><\/p>\r\n

III. autumn night<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

stars through a lattice
\r\n<\/span>of boughs on a dark <\/span>sukkah<\/span><\/i>;
\r\n<\/span>my small son counting<\/span><\/p>\r\n

IV. winter night<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

children with matches
\r\n<\/span>and candles in a dark room;
\r\n<\/span>in my wife\u2019s eyes, Light<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":79934,"alt":"","title":"ps1-seasons","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","width":1083,"height":384,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons-300x106.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":106,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons-768x272.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":272,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons-1024x363.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":363,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","1536x1536-width":1083,"1536x1536-height":384,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","2048x2048-width":1083,"2048x2048-height":384,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","post_full_size-width":1083,"post_full_size-height":384,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-seasons.jpg","home_baner-width":1083,"home_baner-height":384}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"Family Haiku","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Through four seasons... 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\u201cOrigins of Jewish demography: Censuses in Tanakh\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Ezra Fishman: Explore Biblical instances of counting the Jewish people.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cHefker K'Midbar: Making Room For Wilderness\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Jacob Fine: How can the natural world affect our spiritual states?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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    \r\n\t
  1. What order?<\/em> The census is done according to tribes. But the order in which they are presented is surprising. It\u2019s not exactly the birth order, nor is it arranged according to the mothers (Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, Zilpah). But Reuben\u2019s places as the first born is preserved, at least in this chapter.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Now it\u2019s official!<\/em> The sons of Joseph - Ephraim and Menashe - are officially two tribes. And that\u2019s how the number 12 was \u201creconstituted\u201d - after the Levites were promoted out of the regular count.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. How many exactly?<\/em> \u201call who were enrolled came to 603,550\u201d (46). Remember that that is only the males, aged twenty and above, and without the Levites. <\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Daily Summary","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder: Numbers 1","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"118","date":"20260210","wall_id":"118"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/46090"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}