Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
In This Week’s Parashah: מָה בַּפָּרָשָׁה
Full Parashah Reading: Bemidbar 1:1-4:20
- Benei Yisrael get organized for their journey through the מִדְבָּר (midbar, wilderness).
- Moshe takes a census. He gets help from one representative of each שֵׁבֶט (shevet, tribe). The total number in the count is 603,550.
- This number did not include the שֵׁבֶט (shevet, tribe) of Levi, who were counted separately. Shevet Levi, which included the כֹּהֲנִים (kohanim, priests), were responsible for the mishkan and its כֵּלִים (keilim, vessels). When Benei Yisrael traveled, it was the לְוִיִּם (Levi’im, members of Shevet Levi) that took apart the mishkan and carried it.
- When Benei Yisrael camped in the midbar, they followed a precise formation.
- The mishkan was in the center.
- Shevet Levi camped closest to the mishkan, all around it. The other twelve tribes were divided into four groups of three.
- These four groups were arranged in a square, going around the Levi camp in all directions.
- Moshe counts the firstborns of Benei Yisrael. God explains that firstborns were originally dedicated for special work in the mishkan, but that Shevet Levi should take their place.
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