Adapted from a shiur given by the Tolner Rebbe shlita, Bamidbar 5773
וְאֵת כָּל הָּעֵדָּה הִקְהִילוּ בְאֶחָּד לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵנִי וַיִתְיַלְדוּ עַל מִשְׁפְחֹתָּם לְבֵית אֲבֹתָּם בְמִסְפַר שֵׁמוֹת מִבֶן עֶשְרִ ים שָּׁנָּה וָּמַעְלָּה לְגֻלְגְלֹתָּם – They gathered together the entire assembly on the first of the second month, and they showed their birth according to their families, according to their fathers’ house, by number of the names, from twenty years of age and up, according to their head count. Rashi explains, They showed their birth according to their families – They brought their documents of lineage and witnesses to the status of their birth, each and every one of them, to trace their tribal ancestry.
Documents of Lineage and Witnesses to the Status of Their Birth
The Chasam Sofer cites this Rashi and wonders how people so bitterly enslaved by the Egyptians managed to record documents of lineage and find witnesses to births. We can add that we find nowhere else that records Bnei Yisrael taking along with them documents of lineage when they left Egypt. The only alternative, that they were to write up these documents at that time, is untenable!
Q1
A further difficulty is the unusual Hebrew word, vayisyaldu, from the root related to birth. According to Rashi, would it not have been more appropriate to use a word such as vayisyachsu, which means they showed their genealogical record?
Q2
They Merited Receiving the Torah Because of Their Genealogy
The Midrash states: When Bnei Yisrael received the Torah, the nations of the world were jealous... Hashem shut their mouths and said, “Bring your documents of genealogy... just as my children have brought...” It was only because of their careful lineage that they merited to take (litol) the Torah.
This is astounding! If they merited to receive the Torah only because of this lineage, why were they first told to show their lineage now, on the first of the second month, in their second year after their exodus from the land of Egypt, almost a full year after receiving the Torah? Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate for them to have been told to show their lineage before the Torah was given?
Q3
More fundamentally, the Gemara says that anyone who wants the crown of Torah may come and take it. Elsewhere, the Gemara says that a mamzer who is wise in Torah has precedence over an unlearned Kohein Gadol. So how does the Midrash connect between genealogy and the Torah, when, apparently, the opposite is true?
Q4
Vayisyaldu – They Ascended to the Highest Level, Like a Newborn
The Sfas Emes has something marvelous to say on the matter. He notes that the Parshah begins with a command to take a census, or more literally, “Raise up the head of the assembly...” In other words, raise them up higher and higher until they are virtually like a newborn relative to their previous level, much as a convert is considered like a newborn. Thus the term vayisyaldu, with its implication of birth, is appropriate.
While this answers our second question, we are still left with the questions of why this waited until the second month of the second year, and the exact connection to genealogical records.
This Was a Test to See if the Torah Had Become Part of Them
Many people of impeccable yichus are so impressed with their own yichus and their self-perceived exalted status, that they feel no need to work as hard as others – both in material and in spiritual matters. When it comes to Torah, it is easy for them to decide that toiling in Torah is not for them. Accordingly, at this stage, close to a year after receiving the Torah, they were commanded to examine themselves to see if the holy Torah left an indelible mark deep inside them, to the degree that they still excitedly pursued the Torah, studying to the very best of their ability – despite their impeccable yichus.
So when Bnei Yisrael passed this difficult test, Hashem gave them an additional gift – they had their heads “raised up” to a level much higher than their former level, to the point where they were like newborn or converts. All this was to teach them that the more they cleaved to the Torah with great toil, out of love and yearning, the more they could ascend to greater and greater levels, and feel each day like a newborn.
We can now understand why they were commanded to bring their yichus briefs, documents of lineage, specifically now, close to a year after the Torah was given, rather than at the time it was given. When the Torah was given they were indeed at a peak level, and they were all filled with a burning love for Torah. It was only eleven months later, however, that it was possible to determine if it was just a passing love, or a true, full-fledged burning love (as will be explained).
They Merited to Take the Torah
The above-cited Midrash says, “It was only because of their careful lineage that they merited to take the Torah,” not to accept the Torah. Chazal were very precise with their choice of words here, to teach us that true kabbalas haTorah is not just accepting the Torah with great unity and on the highest level. To truly take – acquire – they required their exalted yichus, but also not to pay attention to that yichus and toil with great love and yearning in Torah, and thereby acquire the Torah as an internal spiritual acquisition.
Indeed, throughout the generations, the greats were not necessarily the ones with the most impeccable yichus. Who was greater than David Hamelech, of whom Chazal said such wonderful things? Yet the maternal head of his royal line was Rus, a Moabite convert!
Their Offspring Will Be Known...The Seed That Hashem Blessed
We can now return to the question of the Chasam Sofer and those related to it. Yeshaya prophesizes: Their offspring will be known among the nations ... all who see them will recognize them, that they are the seed that Hashem has blessed. In other words, all will recognize them as blessed seed, even gentiles, as if they saw their lineage documents. For a person writes his own document of lineage through his own actions and behaviors.
By way of drush we can say that Rashi is saying that bnei Yisrael were commanded to bring the lineage documents that they themselves wrote for themselves, as testimony that the Shechinah rests among them, and thus, all will recognize their lineage as the seed that Hashem has blessed, as Kosher Jews. This status as a kosher Jew stays with him well after the Torah was given.
Ties of Love for Torah Are Not Measured in Hours or Pages
One’s love for Torah is not quantitatively measured in hours or pages. One who was not privileged to stay all day in the halls of Torah, because he has to earn a living, but sets daily times for Torah study – times that are never compromised – during which it is clear to all that he is enraptured by the study can fulfill the requirement of “it should be fresh for you each day”, and is clearly studying Torah out of love.
By contrast, one who has the privilege of spending his days in the halls of Torah, but studies Torah with no passion, and does not use free time to study more, may indeed learn for many hours and may finish many tractates, but it is not “fresh for [him] each day.” He does not study Torah out of love.
As Precious to Those Who Study It As It Was Originally
As we approach the day the Torah was given to once again accept the Torah, we must ask ourselves whether the holy Torah leaves a mark on our hearts, a mark of desire and love, a mark that makes us feel that we barely began to scratch the surface, or not.
Who Knows More Than a Bit?
I once had the privilege of being summoned to a dawn session with the Gerrer Rebbe, the Beis Yisrael. Also there was a top bochur from a well-known litvisher Yeshivah. The Rebbe asked him where he was staying, to which he replied that he was staying at his brother’s, with whom he had a chavrusa each night. The Rebbe asked what they were learning, and he replied, “We finished Bava Basra and started Sanhedrin.” The Rebbe got very agitated and said, “finished Bava Basra? Whoever heard of finishing to learn?! All one can hope to do is begin to scratch the surface! He continued along this vein standing all the while. Then he took us into his private room, sat down and told us the following story. He received a letter from an old chasid who had the privilege of being present several times by the Rebbe’s grandfather, the Sfas Emes. When this chasid was a young man, and had finished Shas several times, he went for his first time to the Sfas Emes as part of a group. The Sfas Emes stopped him as he passed and asked him if he knew how to learn. The young man hesitated for a moment, thinking that if he answers ‘yes’ he is transgressing haughtiness, and if he answers ‘no’ he is lying. So he answered, “A bit.” The Sfas Emes stomped his foot, and said, “Who knows more than a bit?” The Chasid wrote in his letter that he understood that the Sfas Emes knew that he felt that he knew how to learn and reprimanded him by saying that in truth, he actually only knows “a bit.”
Having Intent During the Brachah of Vehaarev Na
If one wants to know what to do if he doesn’t actually feel love for Torah, we can answer that it is for people like him that the brachah Vehaarev Na – Please Hashem our God, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths – was instituted. When we ask that each day – as if we mean it – the inevitable result is for the prayer to be answered. There are several similar requests in our davening; before krias Shema and twice in our Shmoneh Esrei, as well as in maariv. If we truly ask for it from the depths of our soul we can see the fruits of that request, and truly feel the love of Torah in our heart.
In addition, one should try to arouse this love as he goes to study Torah, and certainly when he feels that it is hard for him. The way to do this is by thinking how great is the reward for each moment of Torah study, and how each word of the Torah helps him in this world and in the World to Come. The more one thinks about the greatness of Torah and the great reward for studying it, the more he will find it easier to learn Torah and he will be able to connect with ropes of love.
Additionally, one can try to show external manifestation of joy when he goes to study Torah, and at the time of Torah study, since external actions have an effect on ones internal state. Besides, the Torah returns love given to it to those who study it, and the more one cleaves to it in love, the more love the Torah returns. In this way, one can merit achieving love of Torah and receiving reward for himself and for his offspring forever. Amen, KY”R.
