Parsha for Kids: Bamidbar 2023
Below is the transcript for the past week’s episode of Parsha for Kids, Bamidbar 2023.
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Season 4 Episode 1:
Hello! My name is Chana and this is Parsha for Kids. The Parsha of the week is Bamidbar.
Bamidbar means “in the desert, or wilderness” and it refers to the fact that God spoke to Moshe in the desert.
Please note that some of the ideas in this week’s podcast come from The Little Midrash Says.
The main theme of this parsha has to do with structure and roles. In Judaism, we have a balance between roles that are assigned to us- because we were born to them, or God gave them to us- and roles that we can choose. For example, if you are a male whose father is a Kohen, you will also be a Kohen. You didn’t do anything to earn that role- you were simply born to it. Similarly, if someone is a king, their child is a prince. Their child didn’t earn that- they were born to it. However, there are some roles in Judaism- such as that of the Nazir, which we will learn more about in a future parsha- where one can choose to take on that role. In this way, there is a balance between roles that we are simply born into, or that God assigned to us, and roles that we can choose.
As we study Sefer Bamidbar, we will explore some of these roles that we choose as opposed to roles that are assigned.
It can be hard to accept an assigned role. It could be that someone might chafe against having been told they have been born into a certain role, or God has appointed them to it. Part of this week’s parsha focuses on people being able to follow rules, structures and instructions. There is a certain way that God wanted us as members of Bnei Yisrael to be counted. There is a certain way that God wanted us to camp when we traveled in the desert. There are certain people that God wanted to serve Him in the Mishkan and others He did not give that honor. Being able to accept our role, and to do our best to fulfill it properly, is an important skill.
Even in regular life, you may have times where you receive or don’t receive certain roles. For example, maybe you are cast as a small part in a play when you really wanted to be the main part. Or maybe you applied to a special opportunity and you got rejected. There’s different ways to cope with these experiences. Healthy ways to cope focus on thinking about what you can do to learn from the experience and making sure to try again. Just because you didn’t get one opportunity doesn’t mean you will never get a different opportunity that might even be better suited to you. But unhealthy ways to cope focus on being jealous of other people who have the role you want, or even orchestrating a rebellion because of it. As we continue to learn Sefer Bamidbar, we will see examples of people who accepted their roles graciously, and others who were jealous or rebellious.
TRANSITION
God commanded Moshe to count the men of Bnei Yisrael who were between the ages of 20-60. This was the age that would make a person eligible to serve as a member of the army and go out to war. God wanted Moshe to note how many individuals were in each shevet, tribe.
The Midrash explains that one reason that God wanted Bnei Yisrael counted at this time is because they had recently dedicated the Mishkan. Dedicating the Mishkan as a place where God’s presence would rest was similar to a coronation, when a king is crowned. On coronation day, a king counts his army to find out how many soldiers he has. Similarly, God wanted to know how many Jewish men there were in the camp.
A commentator named Ramban also explains that each man was counted by contributing a half shekel coin. This way, Moshe and Aharon counted the coins for each shevet rather than counting the people themselves. The reason we don’t count people themselves is because this could cause God to scrutinize each individual, determine that some are not worthy, andd bring punishments upon them.
In the end, there were 603, 550 Jewish men who were counted. However, this did not include the tribe of Levi. They were counted separately, at a later time.
TRANSITION
After the census, which means the counting of people, the parsha goes on to explain how exactly Bnei Yisrael camped when they were traveling through the Midbar, desert.
There were three separate camps- Machaneh Shechinah, the Camp of the Shechina, Machaneh Leviyim, the Camp of the Levites and Machaneh Yisrael, the Camp of Bnei Yisrael. Machaneh Shechina referred to the section of the camp that was taken up by the Mishkan itself. Machaneh Leviyim referred to the Levite families who camped adjacent to the Mishkan. Each Levite family had an assigned place, like guards who would be positioned around a king’s castle. And finally, there was Machaneh Yisrael, the camp of Bnei Yisrael.
When it came to Machaneh Yisrael, God declared that the shevatim, tribes, needed to be divided up into four groups based on God’s instructions. Each group would camp on a different side of the Mishkan. One shevet of each group would be the leader.
On the east side of the Mishkan, the tribes of Yehuda, Yissachar and Zevulun camped. The tribe of Yehuda was the leader and this division was referred to as Degel Machaneh Yehudah.
On the south side of the Mishkan, the tribes of Reuven, Shimon and Gad camped. The tribe of Reuven was the leader and this division was referred to as Degel Machaneh Reuven.
On the west side of the Mishkan, the tribes of Efrayim, Menashe and Binyamin camped. The tribe of Efrayim was the leader and this division was referred to as Degel Machaneh Efraim.
On the north side, the tribes of Dan, Asher and Naftali camped. The tribe of Dan was the leader and this division was referred to as Degel Machaneh Dan.
Some of our Sages say that when Bnei Yisrael traveled through the Midbar, they remained in this formation, with the Mishkan at the center, the Levites surrounding it, and the twelve tribes surrounding the Levites.
Each division had its own flag. Rashi explains that the flag included the colors that matched the stones representing that tribe that were on the Choshen Mishpat, breastplate that the Kohen Gadol wore.
The Midrash elaborates on this. Degel Machaneh Yehuda’s flag had three stripes, a blue one representing Yehuda, a black one representing Yissachar and a white one representing Zevulun. It had the names of the three tribes embroidered on it, and also a pasuk that read “Rise up, O God, so that your enemies will be scattered and your haters will run away from you.” The flag had a picture of a lion because the leading shevet, Yehuda, was compared to a lion.
Degel Machaneh Reuven had three stripes as well- red for Reuven, green for Shimon and a black/white mixture for Gad. It had the names of the three tribes embroidered on it, and also a pasuk that read Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad, Hear oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.
The picture on this flag was a doe, which means a female deer.
Degel Machaneh Efrayim had black for both Ephraim and Menashe and a mixture of the colors of all the flags for Binyamin. It had the names of the three tribes embroidered on it and a pasuk that said “God’s cloud rested on Bnei Yisrael by day when they traveled.” The picture on this flag was of a young boy.
Degel Machaneh Dan had purple for Naftali, sapphire blue for Dan, and a pearl color for Asher. It had the names of the three tribes embroidered on it, as well as the pasuk, “When the Ark rested, Moshe would call out, “Return, Oh God, and rest among the tens of thousands and thousands of Israel.” The picture on this flag was a snake.
Note that we have learned one opinion of our Sages- that there were four flags in total, and they showcased each division. However, there are other opinions that suggest that each tribe flew their own flag, so there were twelve flags in total.
TRANSITION
The tribe of Levi was counted differently from the other tribes. In their case, God wanted all males counted starting from the little babies who were one month old. Even with this, there were only 22,000 Levites. This was a small number compared to the other tribes.
Why were there so few Levites?
One reason offered by the commentaries has to do with who exactly was enslaved in Egypt. There is an opinion that the tribe of Levi was not enslaved because Pharoah understood the need to treat a priestly class of people, even among the Israelites, differently. We see that even in the time of Yosef, Yosef and the Pharaoh he served treated the Egyptian priests differently from the rest of the Egyptian workers.
If the Levites were not enslaved, then the great miracles God performed to make Bnei Yisrael multiply and increase would not have applied to them. Therefore, the other tribes increased based on the backbreaking labor they performed, but since the Levites were not included in performing the backbreaking labor, they also did not increase in a major way.
Our forefather Yaakov’s son, the original Levi, had three sons of his own, Gershon, Kehas and Merari. Each of those sons had families as well. When it came time to travel through the desert, each of these families was given a particular role when it came to packing up and transporting different vessels and pieces of the Mishkan.
The men who were transporting pieces of the Mishkan had to be between the ages of 30 and 50.
The men of the family of Gershon carried the hangings, screens, tapestries and ropes of the Mishkan.
The men of the family of Kehas carried the holiest items- the Aron, Ark, Shulchan, Table, Menora, Candelabra and the two altars. These items needed to be carried on the men’s shoulders after being wrapped in special wrappings. They could not be moved in wagons as that was considered disrespectful.
The men of Merari carried the planks of the Mishkan, its bars, its pillars, its utensils, and the pillars of the surrounding courtyard including their sockets, stakes and ropes.
TRANSITION
Originally, God had planned for the firstborn sons to be the ones to minister to Him and serve Him in the Mishkan. The firstborn sons lost that right due to their participation in the Chet HaEgel, Sin of the Golden Calf. The right to serve God in the Mishkan was instead given to the Leviim, who became the chosen tribe for this purpose.
During the count, it became clear that there were 22,000 Levite males in total but 22,273 firstborn males in Bnei Yisrael. That meant there were an extra 273 firstborn children. God commanded that each of the 273 extra firstborn needed to pay five shekel coins. Through making this payment, they would no longer have to serve in the Mishkan, and the collected money would go to Aharon and his sons.
According to the Midrash, Moshe used a lottery system to determine which of the firstborn children were considered the extra 273 who had to pay this amount.
TRANSITION
So here’s what we learned this week!
God assigned particular people particular roles. For example, He assigned people to serve him in the Mishkan- a task for a Kohen or Levi but not for a firstborn son who was not from the tribe of Levi.
God also assigned people to camp in a particular division and according to the Midrash, beneath a particular flag.
Sometimes it’s important for us to be individuals who focus on what we want and our own strengths and weaknesses. But other times it’s important to be willing to subject our own wishes or desires to what God wants. It could be that as a member of a particular tribe I would have preferred to have camped in a different place surrounding the Mishkan. But that’s not where God assigned me to camp.
Even nowadays, it’s important to strike a balance between what we want and what we need to do for the good of the community. Let’s say your class has earned a prize. Everyone in the class wants to go visit a museum as the prize, but you want to go to an amusement park. In this situation, it is best to go happily to the museum for the good of the community. Who knows- maybe you will even enjoy the experience!
If you have any questions or comments on this week’s episode, please email me at parsha4kids@gmail.com. That’s parsha the number 4 kids at gmail.com. Good Shabbos!