Bamidbar
On the first day of
the second month, in the second year following the Exodus from the land of
Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of
Meeting, saying: Take a census of the
whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses…
1:1-2
Scripture mentions here “in the wilderness of
Sinai” in order to tell us that they did not travel away from there until they
were counted (the first time, as described here)…but the actual communication
was in the Tent of Meeting.
Ramban (13th Century)
Awareness of the imperative to count and of the
value of counting remains essential to an understanding of Judaism. Why is our tradition so concerned with
counting?...First, we count in order to evaluate: What have we experienced up to this
point? How long have we been on this
journey? What have we learned?...Second, we count in order to celebrate: Having come this far, having overcome
obstacles and persevered…we thank God for
having “kept us alive…sustaining us to reach this time. Third, we count in order to anticipate: How long will it take to get there? Have we left ourselves enough time to
complete the trip…The Book of Numbers serves as the bridge between the Exodus
from
Richard Hirsch (Contemporary)
The wilderness is not a mere description of the
geographic location where the word of the Lord came to Moses. The wilderness represents an important,
perhaps inevitable, stage in the long journey of the people of
Pinchas Peli (20th Century)
The years in the wilderness were extraordinarily
hazardous. Nature and man conspired so
severely against the recently liberated slaves that they often wished they were
back in
Sidney Greenberg (Contemporary)
One fifth of the Torah is given over to the desert
experience; it is not a momentary sidebar to