Parshas Bamidbar begins the portion of
the Torah when we follow Bnei Yisrael through the desert on their journey to
Eretz Yisrael. So many of our favorite Torah stories are found in the next few
parshiyos, but before we get to those, this week’s parsha begins discusses the traveling
process.
The parsha begins with the appointment
of the Nesi’im, the leaders of each tribe. These men represented their
respective tribes to Moshe, and by extension, Hashem, for any necessary tasks.
The first task is the next idea listed in the parsha, a census of the nation.
Rashi at the beginning of the parsha explains that like a man with a precious
object, Hashem was constantly counting Bnei Yisrael because they were (and are)
so special to him. Any excuse He had, He would make a census. In this case, the
excuse was the inauguration of the Mishkan and resting His Shechinah among the
People.
While counting the nation, Hashem instructed
Moshe to save the counting of Shevet Levi for later and not to count them
together with the rest of the nation. This was in recognition of their special
status as Kohanim and Leviim, the ones with the most access to Hashem through
their responsibilities in the Mishkan, and later on in the Beis Hamikdash. While
the rest of the nation was counted only from the age of twenty, Shevet Levi was
counted starting from a month old. Even with this ‘advantage,’ they still only
numbered 22,000 people; much less than even the smallest tribe.
The parsha ends with the Leviim’s
responsibilities of transporting the Mishkan. There were three families of
Leviim: Gershon, Kehas, and Merari. Each family was responsible for
transporting a different part of the Mishkan. This week’s parsha discusses Kehas’
responsibilities. They were in charge of moving all the special utensils,
namely, the Aron, Shulchan, Menorah, both Mizbe’achs, and all the utensils that
were used together with them.
The pesukim go into detail as to how
they were prepared for travel; the Ramban explains these different requirements
and how they were specific to each special piece.
The Aron was first covered by the
Paroches, the curtain that separated the Kodesh Hakedoshim, the room that
housed the Aron, from the rest of the Mishkan. Then, a covering of Tachash skin
was placed over that. Finally, a cloth made of blue wool was placed over it,
and the Aron was ready for traveling. The Paroches was used to make sure the
Aron was continually kept out of sight from everyone. (The only person who
could look at the Aron was the Kohen Gadol, and then, only on Yom Kippur.) The
Tachash skin was used as protection from the rain. And while Tachash skin was
used as the outer layer for the other utensils, the extreme holiness of the
Aron called for a more honorable outer cover; in this case, a blue cloth was
used to remind all onlookers of the holy and pure heavens.
The Lechem HaPanim, the Show Bread was
kept on the Shulchan at all times, even during travel. The other utensils used
in conjunction with the Shulchan were also kept together with it during travel.
The table with the bread was first covered with a layer of blue woolen cloth;
the utensils were placed on top of this cloth and covered by a red woolen sheet
which was then covered by the Tachash skin. Because of the holiness and
importance of the bread, they were kept separate from the other utensils. Once
again, blue was used to signify its’ holiness. The utensils were then covered
by a red cloth to signify kingship, since the Shulchan represented Hashem’s
rule over the world.
The Menorah and the Golden Mizbe’ach
were also covered with blue cloth under the Tachash skin. Finally, the Copper
Mizbe’ach was covered with a purple cloth, a deeper shade than the Shulchan’s,
to symbolize the blood of the many korbanos that were brought on it, which
granted forgiveness to Bnei Yisrael.
Shabbat Shalom!
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