There is a tzaddik that we enjoy mentioning, Rebbe Bunim of Peshischa. The volume containing his teachings is known as Kol Simchah (since his full name is Simchah Bunim), and on our parashah he draws from the Midrash on a verse from the Song of Songs, “You, my beloved, are beautiful as Tirtzah.”
The Midrash explains this in a manner this verse reflects a pillar of Chasidic thought that is prominent in the schools of Peshischa and his followers, such as Izhbitza. The verse’s plain meaning is a reference to Tirtzah, which is both a city and the name of one of the daughters of Tzelofchad. However, the Midrash explains that “Tirtzah” (תִּ רְ צָ ה) also stems from the root meaning “to want” (לִ רְ צוֹת). Rebbe Simchah Bunim thus explains that a Jew truly and purely wants to do God’s will, which is why God helps him by aligning his will with His own. And thus, the person knows from himself, from his own heart and being, what it is that God wants.
The Special Role of a Jewish Soul
How does Rebbe Bunim connect this teaching to the parashah? From this verse ״these are the things that Havayah has commanded, to do them” our sages learn of the 39 categories of work that are prohibited on Shabbat. The two words, “And these are the things,” are analyzed in the following manner. The value of “these” (אֵלֶּה) is 36. To this are added 2 more, corresponding to “the things” (הַ דְּ בָרִ ים) and the definite article in “the things” (הַ דְּ בָ רִ ים) adds 1 more. Altogether we arrived at 39.
Rebbe Bunim asks: the verse is written in the prescriptive, “the things that Havayah has commanded to do them,” how is it that the sages glean the 39 prohibited categories from it. He answers that, regardless of the gravity of performing a prohibited category of work on Shabbat prohibitions of Shabbos, there are extraordinary situations in which one is required to indeed perform these prohibited actions on Shabbat.
Shabbat is equal in importance to the entire Torah, and one who is an apostate regarding Shabbat is likened to an apostate regarding idolatry. Idolatry is always prohibited, even if the situation is dire and would be a direct danger to one's life. Yet, regarding Shabbat there is a stipulation that life-threatening situations “mortal danger suspends the prohibitions of Shabbat.”
This is one of the most important applications of the Torah’s principle that the commandments are a source of life and not of death, “and you shall live in them and not to die from them,” because Shabbat is meant to be a source of life. Not only is this true in the case of an individual, today it is also very relevant to the communal sphere.
The name of our parashah stems from the first word, “He [Moses] congregated [or gathered the people]” (וַיַּקְהֵל) and the Jewish congregation nowadays requires us to consider the public realm including laws related to running an entire country’s infrastructure together with an army and other essential services required on Shabbat.
We Are All Shluchim
What is the main idea here? The fact that life-threatening situations suspend the prohibitions of Shabbat reveals that the Jewish people precede the Torah and its commandments. Shabbat is equated with the entire Torah. In addition, “all [the sages] agree that the Torah was given on a Shabbat.” Nonetheless, the “original thought regarding the Jewish people precedes everything,” even the Torah. The “original thought about the Jewish people” also refers to their purpose and mission. God foresaw the souls which would descend into the world, each of which is “literally, a part of God” to create a dwelling place below for God. We are all Shluchim, or emissaries, here, and the Torah is meant to help us fulfill our mission. That is why when a Jew dedicates himself or herself to God’s will, they simply and purely know from themselves what God really wants, even if it is not written in the Torah. They know when to keep the Torah exactly as it is written, and when to pursue something that is not written explicitly.
It is in this vein that Rebbe Bunim explains the verse, “And of the sons of Issachar, there were those who know to comprehend the times, knowing what Israel should do.” The Tribe of Issachar was able to sense the right timing for pursuing a particular course of action and when to pursue something else.
The Zohar says something similar regarding the punctuative halt (psik ta’ama) that separates the two subject and the verb in the commandments such as “You shall not murder.” Normally, the instruction of this verse is that murder is prohibited. However, there are times when the punctuative halt instructs us to kill, for instance when the high court, the Sanhedrin, is required to administer capital punishment to a murderer.
Rebbe Bunim does not explicitly state this, but we can say that the same understanding hinges on the language of our verse “These are the things that Havayah commanded to do them.” Moses’ special level of prophecy is identified by the phrase, “this is the thing that Havayah commanded” (זֶה הַדָּ בָר אֲ שֶׁר צִ וָּה י-הוה). Here in our verse, we find the same phrase, set in the plural, “the things.” Thus, in all that God commands us to do, there are “things” (הַ דְּ בָרִ ים ), there is a dichotomy. Sometimes, they must be performed and sometimes they should not be performed, and the Jew knows from his heart when to act or not to act. This is an intuition we receive from Moses himself, as it says, “Not so My servant, Moses,” where “Not so” is the two words for no and yes (א לֹ כֵן). The knowledge of when “not” (no) to act this way, and when to act exactly “so” (yes) is from Moses. A beautiful allusion to this can be found in the fact that the words, “These are the things that Havayah commanded to do” (אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה י-הוה לַעֲשׂוֹת) are equal to 5 times the value of “Moses” (מֹשֶׁה). The final word in the verse is “them” (אֹתָם) whose letter permute to spell the word “truth” (אֱמֶת), the secret of “Moses is true, and his Torah is true”).
In addition, the words, “the things” (הַ דְּ בָרִ ים), in the plural, refers to those things that were commanded explicitly as well as those known only in the Jewish heart.
The Secret of Being a King
“And Moshe gathered” (וַיַּקְהֵל מֹשֶׁה) and the words, “You are beautiful, my beloved” (הֵפַיְתָּ רַעְיָתִי) have the same value. Their value is also the same as “kingdom” (מַלְכוּת), or 496. Thus, it is the king of Israel that has the most intuition regarding what God’s will is. This allows the king to wage a voluntary war, one that he decides upon based on his own will, even if there is no Torah imperative to fight this war. He can wage war to expand the territorial boundaries of holiness, even to increase his own fame. When his heart tells him to, he is able to call upon the Jewish people to take risks in all these matters, even to suspend their learning of Torah.
To conclude, let us mention that the next word, “my beloved” (רעיתי) is equal to 2 times the value of “Moses” (מֹשֶׁה). Thus, the entire first verse is equivalent to “Moses congregated Moses Moses,” everything is about Moses.
(from a shiur given on 25 Adar 5782)
