Saturday, September 24, 9707

Bamidbar: the complete Jew

Who or what is a complete Jew? Perhaps someone who learns the lessons implicit in Sefer BaMidbar, aka the Book of Numbers.

The story of the Nazirite from Parsha Nasso tells us that if we get too attached to worldly pleasures we can take a "time-out," and, for a period of thirty days, abstain from wine, and from concerns with our superficial appearance by not cutting our hair, and -- in keeping with our more spiritual and holy focus, refrain from becoming "con-tuma-nated," by touching a dead body.

But, it can only last for thirty days. Psalms tell us we must praise G-d for giving us wine (or, as most say, spirits), because it gladdens our hearts. In order to apologize to Hashem for abstaining from one of His gifts to us, the Nazirite must bring a sin-offering after the conclusion of his ascetic period.

The bottom line is, enjoy life in the prescribed way; do not trivialize or spurn the gifts G-d has given us in order to do so.

Of course, while enjoying life in the prescribed way is G-d's wish for us, there is a whole other sphere of focus for Jews.

The degalim, flag standards with symbolic graphics and letters on them, one for each tribe, are also mentioned in Sefer Bamidbar, in the first, eponymous, parsha. Moreover, all the tribes are grouped into four camps with each camp having a dominant degel.

Is this just a case of school spirit? Flying the colours? It's all that but much more.

The sages tell us that the Children of Israel wanted four camps with standards for each because they had seen it somewhere before. Where? At Mount Sinai.

When the great moment came for Matan Torah, when G-d spoke from the top of Mount Sinai, the Children of Israel could not help but notice that He was accompanied by a host, an army of four divisions of angels surrounding the mountain, each under its own banner, and led by one of four angels, Michael, Uriel, Gavriel, and Raphael.

This is why the Children of Israel wanted four camps with standards: to remind them of the Power and the Glory of G-d they witnessed at Mount Sinai, and, in a way, to relive it.

And this, to me, is the complete Jew: one who has ever uppermost in his mind, the Power and Glory of Hashem, but who makes sure he enjoys the life and world he has been given in a way consistent with Torah, and has a "L'Chaim," a libation of enjoyment, and partakes of the bounty G-d has bequeathed us.