Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Numbers Bamidbar Verses 1:1-4:20

As I start the book of Numbers, I realize it is the least known book of the Torah. Almost everyone knows Genesis and Exodus. Leviticus is well known too and Deuteronomy is just a review of it all. Is it really about numbers? Instead of trying to get one of my own points or interpretations across, my first goal will be to get the point of the story across.

We start in the desert. Israelites are traveling for only the second out of forty years. We now have all the laws written and all at Sinai is the past. God commands Moses to take a census of the sons of Israel, but not the Levites. Levites are the nobles of the Israelites.

Why is it that the under 2000 Levites rule of the 74,000 Judahs. Is that right? Slaves outnumbered the Spartans in ancient Greece. 2% of Ancient Rome was the Roman Elite. We don't call it Levitism. It is Judaism.

One thing I like about Ancient Israel is money does not rule everything. The sign of nobility in Biblical times was to guard the tabernacle. Similar to my beliefs, the Israelites believed that there was nothing more important than being true to God. You could be the sneakiest, dealer on Wall Street, but getting that money leaves out time for family and religion. No Torah or Avodah and the world can not stand. This dealer definitely had to do something in order to get his money and from what I know it is not always fair in the finacial world. Torah, Avodah, and Gemulit Hasadim (Torah, Worship, and Acts of Love and Kindness) is what the world stands on. To conclude, we may be in a cracked economy, but when you lose faith (this includes being with your family) we live in a cracked world. We hold the puzzle pieces.

1 comment:

  1. Very insightful. Once people realize the world does not revolve around greed and money and is just an instrument in the world rather than an all consuming entity - the world will be a far better place. Greed is not good!

    ReplyDelete