SAR High School פרשת השבוע פרשת במדבר במדבר פרקים א – ד Numbers chapters 1 – 4 is a book of transition, which records the Jewish people’s ספר במדבר journey in the desert to the cusp of entering the land of Israel. In the midst of its chapters, the transition from the first generation that left Egypt to the second generation that entered the land unfolds before us. We will follow along as the Jewish people organize themselves and seem to reach a zenith, only to fall from grace in a series of episodes that make up the very heart of the book. QUESTIONS The Census 3. The Census – Part 3 - פרק א .1 of each Note the numbers of men above the age נשיאים Note carefully the list of In what of 20, counted in each tribe. What .פרק א tribe, as presented in order are the tribes presented? Is it in generally is the range of almost each birth order, or some other logical tribe that is counted? Which tribe seems arrangement? You may need to go back conspicuously larger in number than to the average tribe? Which tribe seems בראשית פרקים כט-ל to the stories in refresh your memory on the birth order conspicuously smaller in number than s children. the average tribe? What might these’יעקב of anomalies foreshadow in the history of 2. The Census – Part 2 the Jewish people? Does the size of a After the Torah presents the list of the tribe possibly relate to its success or it then continues with the story travails in later history? Think about the ,נשיאים of the census. The Torah groups the last chapters in Sefer Shoftim. into four units, each led שבטים various לויים Note carefully: Is there 4. The Counting of the .שבט by a head not counted among לויים any discrepancy between the Why are the in this section the general population of the Jewish שבטים organization of the play לויים and that which appears at the list of people? What function do the in the Torah ספר princes found in the beginning of are counted in the לויים seems out of order, How many שבט Which ?במדבר and why? census, and how does that number ?in Israel שבט correspond to the average seems to have לויים Which clan of the ?משכן the most “important” job in the 1 SAR High School פרשת השבוע TO CONSIDER: Our parasha describes that each and every tribe had a specific banner or flag that it hoisted during the encampment in the desert. According to rabbinic tradition each and every flag had a symbol and color that represented the essence of the nature of the tribe. This week we all celebrated Yom Yerushalayim which marks the salvation of the Jewish people and the State of Israel during the Six Day War and the return of Jewish sovereignty to our holy capital. For many of us looking at the blue and white of the State of Israel evokes a very special feeling. Read the passage below from the Rav zt”l from a derasha he gave to the Mizrachi organization in the mid 1960’s: “If you ask me, how do I, a Talmudic Jew, look upon the flag of the State of Israel, and has it any halachic value? – I would answer plainly. I do not hold at all with the magical attraction of a flag or of similar symbolic ceremonies. Judaism negates ritual connected with physical things. Nonetheless, we must not lose sight of a law in the Shulchan Aruch to the effect that: “One who has been killed by non-Jews is buried in his clothes, so that his blood may be seen and avenged, as it is written: “I will hold (the heathen) innocent, but not in regard to the blood which they have shed” (Yoel 4:21). In other words, the clothes of the Jew acquire a certain sanctity when spattered with the blood of a martyr. How much more is this so of the blue and white flag, which has been immersed in the blood of thousands of young Jews who fell in the War of Independence defending the country and the population. It has a spark of sanctity that flows from devotion and self-sacrifice. We are all enjoined to honor the flag and treat it with respect.” Does these powerful sentiments resonate with you? What do you think about when you see the blue and white flag of Israel? Why do you think they chose blue and white as the colors for the flag of Israel? 2 .