Genealogical Greatness
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Parshat Bamidbar begins with Hashem commanding Moshe to “take a census of the entire assembly of Bnei Yisroel according to their families, according to their fathers’ household… you shall count them according to their legions...” The detailed instructions of this command support a powerful medrash in Yalkut Shimoni about Matan Torah/the giving of the Torah to Bnei Yisroel. While the beginning of the Medrash is well known, this version offers a unique variation that gives additional insight into the merit of Bnei Yisroel’s receiving the Torah.
After Bnei Yisroel received the Torah, the other nations were jealous and asked Hashem why Bnei Yisroel were chosen to be closer to Hashem than they were. After all, we are told You held a mountain over them and forced them to accept the Torah. Had You forced us, we too would have accepted the Torah. According to this medrash, Hashem responded that Bnei Yisroel brought with them to the census the equivalent of their genealogical tables, for they were counted according to their families and according to their fathers’ household. The nations of the world did not bring their yichus/genealogy with them. It was in the merit of this genealogy that Hashem gave Bnei Yisroel the Torah.
Actually, as Rabbi Pam z”l points out, Hashem did offer the Torah to the nations, but they refused it for various reasons. Why were they so angry now when they clearly had not wanted the Torah? After all, Bnei Yisroel said, “Naaseh venishmah/We will do and we will listen,” The other nations did not. But the Medrash uses an unusual word to convey that Bnei Yisroel came with their yichus. The medrash says, “Vayisyaldu al mishpechotam.” A grammatically literal translation of this clause is, “And they birthed themselves on/about their families.”
Rabbi Druck z”l begins by giving us a historical perspective. Upon our return to Eretz Yisroel after the Babylonian exile, Ezra established the general schedule for the weekly Torah readings. (Obviously, there will be exceptions based on the changing yearly cycles. Ezra mandated that the chapters of tochacha/rebuke be read two weeks before Judgment Day. However, there are two parshiot that include the rebuke, Parshat Bechukotai and this parsha, Parshat Bamidbar. There are also two judgment days, Rosh Hashanah and Shavuot. Parshat Bechukotai is read two weeks before Rosh Hashanah while Parshat Bamidbar is read two weeks before Shavuot in a regular, non leap year. ) There must be some connected between our genealogy and receiving the Torah that ties Parshat Bamidbar to Shavuot. So how can we explain this connection?
Rabbi Druck z”l cites Chemdas Shlomo in reminding us that when someone is forced to do something, he is not credited with doing it (except in the case of a recalcitrant husband who refuses to give his wife a divorce). The essence of a Jew is the desire to do the will of God. Sometimes that desire gets clouded through the influence of the yetzer horo. Beating him lets his innate will come out. Forcing us to accept the Torah was returning us to our innate will and inclination to serve Hashem. Therefore, even if we were forced at that moment, our desire was really to accept the Torah. But other nations do not have that innate desire to serve Hashem. Forcing them, therefore, would not be their desire in any way and therefore could not be credited to them.
Nevertheless, we still need to prove that accepting the Torah was indeed our will. The genealogical records of our forefathers are the proof, for they bequeathed us their will in our spiritual DNA. But we know that other nations are also descended from our forefathers argues Be’er Moshe, the Ozharov Rebbe. After all, Ishmael is descended from Avraham and Esau is descended from Yitzchak. But these other nations never acknowledged their connection to the God of Avraham and Yitzchak. In them, if this gene was passed down at all, it remains a recessive gene. [I will speculate that on occasion, this gene again becomes dominant in non Jews. These are the “lost sparks” that find their way back to Yiddishkeit and convert. CKS] We immediately acknowledged this relationship by declaring naaseh venishma before being forced. This explains that reflexive verb, vayisyaldu/they birthed themselves. Indeed, Bnei Yisroel saw themselves as reborn in the model of their forefathers.
Since our forefathers, our belief in God is instinctive, just as instinctive as as the homing instinct of birds who return to their nests without being taught, writes Rabbi Wolfson in Wellsprings of Torah. It s instinctual rather than rational. Like the homing pigeon, a Jew yearns to return to his source, to the belief he inherited from his ancestors. We are ma’aminim beni ma’aminim/believers the children of believers, those who continue the legacy that began with Avraham Avinu. Because of this trait, no matter what challenges we face, our emunah/faith will continue to burn within us and not be destroyed, just as the burning bush continued to burn and was not consumed, writes the Netivot Shalom, the Slonimer Rebbe z”l.
This fire within every Jewish soul was dramatically revealed to Rebbetzin Smiles several years ago. Trying to get to a celebration on the beach with her daughter and student, Rebbetzin Smiles drove through a “shortcut” through the sand. Her car got stuck in the sand. While she was waiting for help to arrive, a group of boys not wearing kippot approached and offered to help. They made multiple arduous attempts, calling other friends, and finally succeeding in towing the car out. Immediately afterward, the boys started spontaneously dancing and singing, “Hakodosh Boruch Hu anachnu ohavim otcha/The holy One, blessed be He, we love You.”
The Nefesh HaChayim makes an interesting observation about Pirkei Avot/Ethics of our Fathers. He notes that when the Mishneh presents the lists of ten generations, Avraham is just called Avraham. But when the mishnayot continue and list the ten tests/challenges Avraham faced, he is called Avraham Avinu, our Father Avraham. We acknowledge our relationship to our forefathers because we inherited their capacity and willingness to self- sacrifice, physically and conceptually, to do Hashem’s will. Through the generations, how many Jews have given their lives for the sanctification of His name? And on a more positive note, how many of our people have made aliyah, following the example of Avraham Avinu to go. Have the other nations attached themselves to these traits?
Rabbi Druck z”l recounts a medrash on Eichah. An Athenian in Jerusalem sent a youth to the market to buy him some cheese and eggs. When the youth returned, the Athenian asked him which cheeses came from a black goat and which from a white goat. The youth countered by asking the Athenian which egg came from a brown hen and which from a white hen. While on the surface, the reply seems to indicate that neither the Athenian nor the youth could tell which was which, Rabbi Druck z”l sees tremendous wisdom in this anecdote. The Athenian was implying that there is no difference between the Greeks and the Jews, since both at that time worshiped idols. The youth replied that while outwardly they appear the same, if you put heat to the eggs and see them hatch, you will see from the chickens that were produced which eggs came from the brown chickens and which from the white. So too outwardly the Jews may seem no different from the other nations, but if you put them to the test, that belief, passed down from the DNA of our parents, will emerge. [A recent example: The journalist Daniel Pearl was so assimilated that he intermarried. But as he was about to be beheaded, he declared, “My mother is Jewish, my father is Jewish, I am a Jew.” CKS]
The difference between a Jew and a non Jew may not be outwardly visible, but Jews have three overriding character traits. Jews are merciful, they have a sense of shame, and they do kindness. These are the traits of non observant Jews as well as observant Jews. Jews are at the forefront of every human rights [or animal rights] movement, for they are merciful. Jews tend to be very loyal to family, for they have a sense of shame, and they are extremely generous. These qualities are prevalent among Jews in every generation, in every culture. It is a result of the spiritual content inherited from our forefathers and passed down to every generation. This is the closeness that Jews seek, writes Rabbi Feldman in The Juggler and the King. Jews seek a spiritual content to their lives. This need for spiritual closeness is not a function of keeping the mitzvoth, but a legacy from our forefathers. It is part of our essential being. Our set of values goes back to our yichus/connection to our ancestors. Are we faithful to this legacy?
Rabbi Tatz in The Jewih Teenager’s Guide to Life clarifies that the true meaning of emunah is not as it is generally translated, faith or belief. The true meaning is faithfulness and loyalty, acting and living according to that belief. It takes work to live up to one’s beliefs.
As the Torah states at the beginning of this Parsha, Hashem gave us the Torah in the desert. The Shevelei Pinchas, Rabbi Friedman, notes that our sages learn that the Torah was given with three things, with the fire that surrounded the mountain, with water, for it says it says that the heavens dripped water, and desert where Hashem here spoke to Moshe in preparation for receiving the Torah. How are these three relevant to accepting the Torah and remaining faithful to it for all these generations?
The Shevilei Pinchas continues and explains that these three are not just entities; they are the source of our mesirat nefesh/self-sacrifice throughout the generations. It is a legacy transmitted to us through our forefathers. Avraham Avinu went through the furnace of Nimrod’s fire for his belief. He also took fire to use on the altar upon which he would place Yitzchak who would be offered as a sacrifice. The entire nation demonstrated their self sacrifice with water when they arrived at the Reed Sea. The Egyptians were behind them, but the water in front of them was high. Nevertheless, Hashem told them to proceed. Nachshon ben Aminodov jumped in, followed by the entire nation, and the sea split. Finally, Bnei Yisroel followed Hashem into the wasteland of the desert with only their faith in Hashem to sustain them. This was the sefer yuchsin/genealogical table that Bnei Yisroel brought with them to merit receiving the Torah, and this spirit of mesirat nefesh has stayed with us throughout our long and often tragic history. In contrast, Esau sold his birthright for the temporary indulgence of a bowl of soup, and Yishmael steeped himself in idol worship and immorality. This was the legacy the other nations inherited.
As a corollary to the idea of self sacrifice, the Shevilei Pinchas writes that Hashem’s promising that we would be His am segulah/treasured nation if we follow the Torah, is a reference to the vowel segol, formed by three dots in triangular formation. Citing the Shem Mishmuel, he notes that whichever way you turn the segol, it retains its shape and its function. So too must Bnei Yisroel follow their legacy of mesirat nefesh and never change, no matter the circumstances.
The Be’er Moshe finds another telling difference between Bnei Yisroel and the other nations. Among Bnei Yisroel there is an innate sense that we are one people, especially in difficult circumstances. At Sinai, we encamped at the foot of the mountain in the singular, vayichan. Where did this sense of unity come from? From Yaakov Avinu who descended to Egypt with shivim nafesh/ seventy soul(!) in the singular. In contrast, when Esau parted from Yaakov and went to Mount Seir, he took with him all the nefoshot/souls, in the plural.
This legacy of unity and feeling for each other is most noticeable in trying times. There are many stories of the Holocaust when one starving Jew shared his small morsel of bread with another. When Jewish boys were imprisoned in Japan, when hurricanes destroyed the Jewish community of Houston, when there was a terror attack in a Chabad house in Poway, California Jews around the world mobilized to help. Even gentiles are aware of this trait. There are stories of gentiles who when being stranded on roads with flat tires, don a kippah, aware that if a Jew passes, he will stop to help.
The nations now come with a different complaint, writes the Tosher Rebbe z”l. They tell Hashem that while He tested them with mitzvoth that went against their nature, He did not test Bnei Yisroel. On the contrary, replied Hashem. I gave Bnei Yisroel a very difficult command before they would receive the Torah. I set boundaries beyond which they could not go. The very nature of Bnei Yisroel is to seek closeness to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Yet, at Sinai, I forbade them from coming closer. In spite of this, they accepted all the commandments of the Torah.
Actually, Rav Pam z”l provides us with the simplest and most logical psychological insight. The nations had the opportunity to accept the Torah as did Bnei Yisroel. They refused. Now seeing the benefit to Bnei Yisroel, they regret their previous choice but are unwilling to take responsibility for it. Instead, they complain and place the fault on others.
While the other nations may truly now have desired to have received the Torah, they failed in their mission because they themselves did not make themselves a barren wilderness, writes Rabbi Mordechai Miller z”l. Rabbi Miller explains that it is not enough to desire spiritual greatness. After all, Lot too took the journey with Avraham Avinu, and Orpah also stayed with her mother in law Naomi for part of the journey. How did they fail when Avraham Avinu and Ruth succeeded? Because, explains Rabbi Miller, they failed to uproot their negative traits in the process. Yes, Lot wanted to be spiritual, but when he saw the fertile plain of Sodom, he couldn’t resist the lure of Sodom and its culture. Orpah too went only so far and then reverted to the decadent lifestyle of Moav. To make the Torah your own, you must look inward and uproot that which runs counter to a proper Torah lifestyle. You must make yourself a midbar, a desert devoid of negative growth.
This was the work of the generation of the desert and of ourselves. Vayisyaldu, they recreated and re-birthed themselves with the values of our forefathers and disciplined themselves to uproot the negative. Thus they were able to proudly enter themselves in the sefer hayuchsin/genealogy book that began with our forefathers, was reinforced at Har Snai, and continues to this day. May all our names be proud entries into this continuing book.