BS"D Parshath Bemidbar by Yitzhak Kolakowski -------- "And the L-RD spoke unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai... saying: 'Take the census of all the congregation of Bnei Yisrael, by their families, by their father's houses..." (Numbers 1:1-2) "And they declared their pedigrees after their families, by their father's houses..." (ibid. 18) "Yet the number of Bnei Yisrael will be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor counted; and it shall come to pass that, instead of what was said to them, that 'You are not My people', it will be said to them, 'You are the children of the Living G-d'." (Hosea 2:1) --------- My dear friends, people sometimes make the horrible mistake of thinking that they don't count. It's obvious to a lot of people that G-d exists, but they don't realize how great He is. They think in their minds, "G-d is SO BIG, and I'm so small, what could HE care about little old me?" When they say this, they are making G-d small, chas veshalom. They can easily believe that G-d created the entire universe, but they find it very difficult to believe that the Great, Mighty, and Awesome King cares one bit about we little peasants. The truth is, however, that those earthly leaders who are recognized for greatness are generally those who care for the "little people". It is those who show their concern for those with less power than they who are known as truly great. Shouldn't it be obvious that the case is all the more so with the King of all kings, the Holy One, Blessed is He. How can anyone, may G-d have mercy upon us, so insult the Alm-ighty by saying that He is so small, G-d forbid, that He doesn't care what happens here, that we don't count. Hashem's intense scrutiny of what happens here shows His Greatness. It is this greatness of Hashem which David beautifully praised in the following Hallel Psalm: "The L-RD is High above all nations, and His Glory is above the heavens. Who is like the L-RD our G-d, Who dwells on High, yet Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are (down) in heaven, and (even) on earth?!" (Psalms 113:4-6) -"The L-RD is High above all nations...." The highest person possible in a nation is a king, yet there was never an earthly king, in any nation, who was even a grain of sand in comparison to Hashem. -"...and His Glory is ABOVE the heavenss..." Many people foolishly think that G-d lives in heaven. However, King Solomon exclaimed in his prayer, "Behold! Heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee!" (I Kings 8:27; II Chronicles 6:18) Hashem is far, far above the heavens, as our sages tell us, "He is the Place of the universe, but the universe is not His place." -"Who is like the L-RD OUR G-d..." Andd yet, so high, He is still OUR G-d! -"Who humbles Himself to behold the thiings that are in heaven and on earth!" This shows that He is "High above all the nations", inasmuch as no human king of any nation has ever concerned himself with even the majority of the "unimportant" affairs of the common people. Yet Hashem is directly involved in each and every detail of the Universe He created. This is His Greatness, for before Him all of creation is naught, yet He runs the entire Universe, constantly creating it every second, in His loving mercy. This is His Greatness, the fact that the difference between a human king and a commoner is infinitessimally small compared to the difference between that flesh and blood king and the King of all kings - and yet He involves Himself, may He be blessed, and cares about everything in this world He made for us. This is why He takes the time, in this week's parsha, and many other times in the Bible, to count us. He counts us, because He wants us to know that we count. Each one of us is very important, we all have a job to do, and if one of us is missing the world is not complete. This is the way it was when we first received the Torah. The Torah was not revealed in secret, to one mysterious prophet, but rather to the entire people of Israel. It is this which makes the giving of the Torah unique amongst all the events in the history of the world. It is unique because you were there. If you, my dear, holy fellow Jew, weren't there, it would not be the same Matan Torah. Each of us is important in the Torah, each of us has our piece, without which it wouldn't be whole. You know, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, z"l, used to say that it's not such a big deal to tell people to believe in G-d. People are not so impressed by that. He said that what a person really needs to hear is how much G-d believes in him (or her). A person needs to know that G-d appointed him (or her) for a particular job in helping to create and perfect His world. A person needs to know how much G-d believes in him (or her) that he (or she) can do that job. A person needs to know that he (or she) has a piece in the Torah, an important piece in the world. A person needs to know that without him (or her), the world is not complete. A person needs to know that he (or she) counts. Now we've all been counting each day for the past seven weeks. Now the big day is coming, Hashem is going to reveal Himself, take us under the canopy of His word, and give us His Torah. Hashem is going to show us how much He loves us, and show us that we count. But without each and everyone of us, it won't be complete. All of us have to get together on Shavouth morning, ready to hear the voice of the Living G-d tell us how He is the L-RD our G-d who took us out of misery and brought us to true joy and eternal life, ready to receive Hashem's awesome love, His word. All of us have to be together, not one can be missing. Then, even though there'll be so many of us that no human could count us all - like the sands of the sea, yet Hashem will count us, and let us know how much we count. And it shall be said to us, "Ye are the children of the Living G-d." "And the children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one leader, and they shall go up out, to the Land, for great will be the day." (Hosea 2:2) May we all gather together, and go up together, and on that day we'll truly know how much we count. Gut Shabbos. (c) 2001 J. Kolakowski, All rights reserved. Duplication and distribution is permitted and encouraged.