Welcome Parshat Bamidbar, the beginning of the third book of the Torah, and enter Year 2 of the Jewish people’s journey in the desert. Yep, that is right. The entire Sefer Shemot and Vayikra covered the occurrence of the prologue and first year of our journey to receive the Torah and head to the land Hashem had promised, Eretz Yisrael. However, this was not going to be a smooth journey at all.
Over the book of Bamidbar we learn about Korach’s rebellion, the Meraglim - spies - that were sent to take account of the best method to take control of Eretz Yisrael and the ultimate demise that results in 38 years of wandering until the nation was ready to take on this mission anew with Yehoshua leading the way. Something clearly goes awry along the way. The generation that saw the makkot in Egypt, the splitting of the Yam Suf, the wonders of Har Sinai, the miracle of the ma’an and the beauty of the Mishkan fell off the ladder and lost their way. How could it have gone so wrong in just a bit over a year’s time?
Bamidmar’s main idea outlines the design of the encampments of the Jewish people according to their tribes and the roles that the Levi’im hold to transport the Mishkan from location to location during their journey in the desert.
אִ֣ישׁ עַל־דִּגְל֤וֹ בְאֹתֹת֙ לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֔ם יַחֲנ֖וּ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל מִנֶּ֕גֶד סָבִ֥יב לְאֹֽהֶל־מוֹעֵ֖ד יַחֲנֽוּ׃
Each person according to the flag of their father’s household, the Jewish people encamped around the Tent of Meeting (the Mishkan) - Bamidbar 2:2
The tribes were divided into four groupings, one in each direction, surrounding the Mishkan and the tribe of Levi who encamped around the Mishkan due to their role supporting the Kohanim. We could easily explain this formation as strategic, military in design and meant to protect the central representation of the Jewish people and their relationship with Hashem. It certainly was meant to protect from the force that threatened it from the outside. Yet, there is something more internal, integral and elemental.
The first 2 ½ parshiot of the book of Bamidbar, the Jews were focused on welcoming Hashem’s presence amongst them, feeling His warmth, comfort and support. Then, as if never knowing the wonders that had befallen them, the temperature amongst the people changed, altering their relationship with Moshe, Ahron and finally Hashem. In the Torah, this moment is indicated by two inverted letters - Nun. This literary tool represents something far more serious.
The message of Bamidbar, as explained by the Netziv in his introduction to the book, is the centrality of Hashem’s impact on us from within so that we can stand tall and withstand the attacks from the outside. Each grouping of tribes surrounding the Mishkan was situated as such in order that it saw itself connected, tapped into the source of meaning, of purpose, and of life itself - Hashem. The Netziv warns us that when we forget, actively blocking Hashem’s glory from shining upon us, we become complacent, unsatisfied and searching in all the wrong places for all the wrong things.
As we get ready to wrap up our 22-23 school year, my first year as your Head of School, I have found myself thinking about the state of Jewish education, the role RMBA plays and the messages that we are instilling in our homes, our community and in the hearts of the children who we are humbly tasked to care for. Each day they are exposed to many wonderful messages. Messages that nurture within them a deeply meaningful connection with Hashem, with a way of life that is not reflective of the majority of society and with a growing commitment to stand up in support of that way of life. And, just as the inverted nuns remind us, our children are exposed to elements that are not tethered to our Jewish roots, that do not support a long term commitment to a Torah way of life and, perhaps the most disheartening thought of them all, sometimes we are the source of that exposure.
Jewish education is a fundamental tenet and vital element determining whether there is a Jewish nation to speak of in the next generation and the one thereafter. It, however, cannot be left alone to fend for itself. It demands and requires the partnership of communities, families and individuals to not just say that it is important, rather, to live a life that removes all doubt that it is essential.
With just one week until Shavuot, the chag that celebrates our relationship and connection to Hashem and His Torah, we must decide if we are going to stand by as we watch Jewish education and the Torah’s way of life slip away into oblivion or if we are going to stand firm, hand in hand, fighting for it every day. If we choose the latter it is now that we must recognize what we are affirming and fashion ourselves, as the Jewish encampment in the desert, in a manner where we are sustained by Hashem and His Torah.