The book of Numbers is in large part historical, telling the story of the Jewish people’s sojourn in the wilderness. Interspersed with the historical account, however, are various mitzvot. The connection between these two strands of narrative is often fascinating. We have cases where the mitzvah in question seems to stand alone from the surrounding story, as in the case of the Sotah and Nazir in last week’s Parshah. We also have cases where there is a clear connection between the two narratives, as in the institution of Pesach Sheni, in this week’s Parshah; directly emerging from an incident in the wilderness. We also have situations where the connection between the historical narrative and the mitzvah, is implicit rather the obvious. A fascinating interplay of history and commandment occurs in the command concerning the silver trumpets. This starts off as of purely historical interest. G-d commands Moses to make trumpets in order to call the people together and to order the journey. This would seem to be of relevance only to the period of the sojourn in the wilderness. The Torah, however, then declares that this shall be a statue for generations. It then proceeds to elaborate two new uses of the trumpets for future generations: for prayer at times of crisis and on days of public festivity, such as Rosh Hodesh and Yom Tov. Here we have an example of a historical mitzvah which is transformed into one relevant for all generations. What, if any, is the connection between the two parts of this section: the use of the trumpets in the wilderness and their use in the future? The trumpets in the wilderness were used for both calling the people together on important occasions and telling them when and how to journey. They served to unite a disparate people of twelve tribes into an orderly, unified entity. In national life, there are two times when a national polity is in danger of disintegration; at times of great crisis and during exceptional prosperity. The trumpets serve to obviate that danger. When the people are threatened they call them to unite and turn to G-d. At times of great significance, they turn the festivities into a national, spiritual event; rather than an individual hedonistic party. As in the wilderness, the trumpets serve to create one people under G-d.

ALIYAH BY ALIYAH SYNOPSIS

Sidra Statistics

Parshat Behalotcha

·               has 136 verses;

·               is the 3rd  in Numbers,  36th  in the Torah

·               3rd longest in Numbers,  10th  longest  in the Torah  

·                has 3 pos + 2 neg =  5 mitzvot.