‘Did You Prepare?’ Parashat Bemidbar 5786
If you think that the first verse in the Book of Bemidbar sounds eerily familiar, you have a good memory. The Book of Bemidbar begins with a preface [Bemidbar 1:1]: “On the first day of the second month, in the second year after the exodus from the Land of Egypt, G-d spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying”. The Book of Vayikra begins with a very similar preface [Vayikra 1:1]: “[G-d] called to Moshe and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying”. While the verse in Bemidbar provides additional data regarding the date, both verses set the stage for a message from the Divine.
Nevertheless, once the stage is set, the messages diverge. In the Book of Vayikra, G-d plunges into the laws of sacrifices, timeless commandments pertaining to the holiest rituals in Jewish Law. But in the Book of Bemidbar, G-d commands Moshe to perform a census. To count the people. A prosaic, clerical task with absolutely no halachic ramifications. Even the final tally was irrelevant – it would change the moment after the census was completed. The Jewish People are counted no less than four times in their desert sojourn and each time with a different number. One could assert that the date in the preface to the census is a caveat for the final result, as if to say “This result is correct as of 7:00 AM, the second day of Iyar, the year 2449”. More than three thousand years ago. What is the message for the generations?
Rashi[1], in one of his more famous explanations, teaches that G-d counted the Jewish People repeatedly because they are dear to him, similar to the way in which a miser counts his money. This parallels nicely with the laws of sacrifices, which begin with the words [Vayikra 1:2]: “When a man from among you offers (yak’riv) a sacrifice to G-d; from animals, from cattle or from the flock you shall offer (tak’rivu) your sacrifice.” The Hebrew verb KRV means “close”. Indeed, the Seforno[2] makes this connection explicitly, that the purpose of a sacrifice is to draw near (lehit’karev) to G-d. Leveraging this explanation, the Books of Vayikra and Bemidbar both begin with testimony of G-d’s desire of intimacy with the Jewish People.
The Ibn Ezra[3] has a different take on the situation. He explains that G-d spoke to Moshe “to teach him to arrange the flags[4] and to instruct him how the Israelites were to journey and how they were to camp… for they journeyed on the twentieth day of the second month[5]”. Hence it was necessary to determine the number of travellers prior to their trip. This explains why the date is included in the beginning of the Book of Bemidbar but not in the beginning of the Book of Vayikra. The Jewish People would be breaking camp in less than three weeks and they needed to nail down the logistics. They needed to prepare for the journey. Historically, preparing for journeys was not their forte. Two weeks before the Egyptian exodus, G-d tells them in intricate detail that in exactly two weeks they will be freed from bondage. They are commanded to slaughter a Paschal lamb and to eat it [Shemot 12:9] with their suitcases packed and passports in hand, ready for immediate boarding. Yet when the time came, they had forgotten to bake their bread, leaving insufficient time for it to rise. They were unprepared. But this time would be different.
The Portion of Bemidbar is always read no more than two weeks before the Holiday of Shavuot. According to the Talmud in Tractate Megillah [31b], the Portion of Bemidbar serves as a buffer for the Admonition, read in the Portion of Bechukotai one week earlier. I suggest that the innovation of the Ibn Ezra can shed new insight regarding the proximity between the Portion of Bemidbar and Shavuot. We all know that Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah at Sinai, on the sixth day of Sivan. It turns out that not only is the date of the Revelation at Sinai not explicitly mentioned in the Torah, but that Shavuot is described in the Torah only as an agricultural holiday – the holiday on which the first wheat is threshed. Further, the date of Shavuot is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah. All we are told is that Shavuot falls fifty days after the first day of Pesach[6]. Why must a simple date be so enigmatic?
Now here is the kicker: The Talmud in Tractate Shabbat [86b] describes a disagreement between the Rabbis and Rabbi Yosi ben Halafta as to the date the Torah was given. The Rabbis assert that it was given on the sixth day of Sivan while Rabbi Yosi maintains that it was given on the seventh. Without going too deep into the weeds, the crux of the argument revolves around a law regarding family purity. The problem is that normative halacha [Beit Yossef – Yoreh Deah 196] rules like Rabbi Yosi, such that from a halachic perspective, the Torah was indeed given on the seventh of Sivan and we’re celebrating Shavuot on the wrong day.
Unless we are celebrating something else. Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch[7] explains that Shavuot is deliberately not defined as the anniversary of the giving of the Torah, but as the day on which the Jewish People completed their preparation to receive it. The Torah assigns Shavuot no fixed calendar date because revelation is not bound to a historical moment, but to a state of moral and spiritual readiness. The seven-week Omer period that precedes Shavuot is not a countdown to an event, but a process of inner formation, transforming a newly freed people into one capable of accepting Divine law. Freedom alone is insufficient – it must be shaped by discipline, responsibility, and purpose. Shavuot celebrates not what G-d did on a particular day but what the Jewish People became by the end of the process. Revelation occurs when human beings are ready to receive it, making Shavuot an enduring model for every generation.
The ambiguity surrounding Shavuot’s date and the Torah’s focus on preparation rather than commemoration is not accidental. It is a reminder that revelation is not a fixed event, but a process that depends on our readiness. The Portion of Bemidbar, with its census and organization, is more than logistics. It is a spiritual exercise in knowing who we are and where we stand. Before moving forward, the community must be counted, prepared, and, most importantly, united.
The Portion of Bemidbar immediately precedes Shavuot because it models the necessary groundwork for receiving the Torah. The counting is not about numbers – it is about identity and readiness. Rabbi Hirsch’s insight reframes Shavuot as a celebration of preparation, not just history. The Torah asks: Are you ready? Have you done the work? This question echoes through every generation, urging us to engage, prepare, and receive anew. The lessons of the census guide us from the wilderness to Sinai, and beyond.
About six weeks ago, Rabbi Meyer Berglass passed away. Rabbi Berglass had a long list of achievements: He was founder and Dean Emeritus of Midreshet Moriah. He was the Rabbi of Sha’arei Tefilla in Toronto, Young Israel of Neve Alizah, and he led fifty families, including my in-laws, on aliya. Most importantly, at least to me, Rabbi Berglass taught us Mishnah in Grade 10. It was critical to him that we come to class having read the Mishnayot we would be learning. He always began each class with the same words: “Did you prepare (pre-paiuh)? Nearly fifty years later, I can finally answer in the affirmative. May his memory be a blessing.
Shabbat Shalom,
Ari Sacher, Moreshet, 5786
Please daven for a Refu’a Shelema for Rachel bat Malka, Iris bat Chana, Sheindel Devora bat Rina, Esther Sharon bat Chana Raizel, Meir ben Drora, Golan ben Marcelle and Hodayah Emunah bat Shoshana Rachel.
[1] Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, known by his acronym “Rashi,” was the most eminent of the medieval commentators. He lived in northern France in the 11th century.
[2] Rabbi Ovadia ben Jacob Seforno, known as “The Seforno”, lived in Italy at the turn of the 16th century.
[3] Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, usually referred to as “The Ibn Ezra,” lived in Cordoba, Spain, at the turn of the 12th century.
[4] The Portion of Bemidbar describes in intricate detail how each tribe camped and under which flag.
[5] See Bemidbar [10:11]
[6] Even this is not clear. Shavuot falls fifty days after [Vayikra 23:15] “the morrow of the Shabbat”.
[7] Rabbi Hirsch lived in Frankfurt am Mein in the 19th century.
