[VIDEO] The Five? No, the SEVEN books of the Bible [Parshat Sh’lach / Korach]

TRANSCRIPT

The Book of BaMidbar is compelling and perplexing. There are three different components: the introduction – the movement of the Jewish people towards the final stage of redemption, entering the land of Israel. Moshe tells his father-in-law, Yitro, “join us.”

We are introduced to laws, like Pesach Sheni – the second Paschal.

And we are also introduced to a formula that the Jewish people will use to decimate their enemies.

Vayehi binsoa haAron, vayomer Moshe. Kumu Ado’shem veyafutzu oyvecha. We’re introduced to this language that will be recited and which will help the Jewish people capture the land. And then what happens is, this language, this mantra, is placed in between two upside-down, Hebrew letter nuns; frozen – as Rashi says, it becomes like a book out of place.

In fact, the Talmud tells us that the few verses of vayehi binsoa haAron are considered its own book. That essentially, the book of Bamidbar is actually three books. One book is pre-vayehi binsoa haAron; a second book is this small unit of text, and a third book is everything that follows.

The post-vayehi binsoa haAron book is the reason why the entire piece of vayehi binsoa haAron is put inside of upside-down nuns. Primarily what happens in the parshiot of Shlach and Korach. Because in these parshiot, the Jewish people failed to understand the singular quality of various components of our life. They failed to understand the singular component of the land of Israel. They failed to understand the unique qualities of Moshe and Aharon as leaders.

In earlier post-vayehi binsoa haAron, such as Parshat Behaalotcha, Miriam and Aharon failed to understand the relationship between Moshe and God, and the Jewish people failed to understand the importance of food as sustenance in the whole story of the quail.

So the book of Bamidbar is essentially three sections. Section one, the movement of the Jewish people to redemption; section three, their failure to understand the unique qualities of various spiritual and physical aspects of life. And the middle section, the vayehi binsoa haAron section, that is frozen by upside-down nuns and is out of place.

We have the power to remove those upside-down nuns. We can move the text from being suspended when we recognize the unique gifts that God has given us and that we can change the world. The Jewish people has forgotten our singularly important, God-given gifts.

Each and every one of us has our own gifts. Let’s evaluate them. Let’s decide how to use them in a purposeful fashion, and through that, we can indeed redeem ourselves, and the Jewish people, and society.

Vayehi binsoa haaron will then be removed from being frozen in time and will become a piece of our prayers that we will be able to actualize through our practices.

Shabbat Shalom.

From: https://ots.org.il/parsha-and-purpose-shelach-korach-5780/#transcript