Ilustration Credit: Rivka Tsinman
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
The journey in the מִדְבָּר (midbar, wilderness) begins and ends with a census, a count of all the people in Benei Yisrael.
Counting the people takes up over 100 pesukim in Sefer Bemidbar! Why is counting the people so important?
מָשָׁל לְאָדָם שֶׁהָיָה לוֹ פְּרַגְמָטוֹטִין שֶׁל אֲבָנִים, שֶׁל זְכוּכִית, וְהָיָה מוֹצִיאָן לַשּׁוּק וְלֹא הָיָה מַבְחִין בַּמִּנְיָן, שֶׁלֹא הָיָה מוֹצִיאָן בְּמִנְיָן, וְנִכְנָס לְהַנִּיחָן וְלֹא הָיָה מַנִּיחָן בְּמִנְיָן, שֶׁלֹא הָיָה מַשְׁגִּיחַ עֲלֵיהֶם שֶׁהָיוּ שֶׁל זְכוּכִית.
וְהָיָה לוֹ פְּרַגְמָטֵיס אַחַת שֶׁל מַרְגָּלִיּוֹת נָאוֹת וְהָיָה נוֹטְלָהּ וּמוֹצִיאָהּ בְּמִנְיָן וּמַנִּיחָהּ בְּמִנְיָן.
It’s like a merchant who had a business selling glass stones. He would bring his merchandise to the market and he wouldn’t be careful about counting them, so he wouldn’t count them as he brought them out. When he took them back home, he wouldn’t count them as he stored them; he wouldn’t check on them because they were glass.
But he also owned one set of beautiful pearls—and he would count it while he took it out and count it while he put it back.
- Why does the merchant not count her stones and glass but only her pearls? What does this suggest about how God thinks about Benei Yisrael?
- How does this story explain why there are two censuses that take up 100+ pesukim?
- What do you do to look after your favorite possessions?
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