As you may have guessed we begin the book of Numbers with a counting of the Jewish people. The commandment that Moshe gets from Hashem does not say the typical words for counting, which would have been מונה or פקוד, rather it says שאו which literally means to raise up. The basic lesson is that this choice of word was to teach us that the counting that was done was to highlight each person’s individuality and bring all of those disparate parts together into one group that is the Jewish nation. No person should ever feel insignificant or small, every one of us needs to know that we bring something to the world that no one else brings and that our uniqueness is crucial to the Jewish nation.
I have always felt a connection to that thought and I appreciated its timelessness. This year I saw something that I think adds a layer of depth to this idea. If you compare the words used when Hashem tells Moshe how to count the people and the words that the Torah uses when he actually counts them, it shows how Moshe was able to teach this lesson to the people, and it is a technique that we can use today so many years later.
When Hashem gives the commandment, there are a few elements which are all repeated when the Torah describes Moshe’s action, and one that is written with a different word. You can see here by the commandment verses:
שְׂא֗וּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ֙ כָּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמ֔וֹת כָּל־זָכָ֖ר לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם׃ מִבֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֤ים שָׁנָה֙ וָמַ֔עְלָה כָּל־יֹצֵ֥א צָבָ֖א בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל תִּפְקְד֥וּ אֹתָ֛ם לְצִבְאֹתָ֖ם אַתָּ֥ה וְאַהֲרֹֽן
And here at the action verses:
וְאֵ֨ת כָּל־הָעֵדָ֜ה הִקְהִ֗ילוּ בְּאֶחָד֙ לַחֹ֣דֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִ֔י וַיִּתְיַֽלְד֥וּ עַל־מִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמ֗וֹת מִבֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֥ים שָׁנָ֛ה וָמַ֖עְלָה לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם׃ כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַֽיִּפְקְדֵ֖ם בְּמִדְבַּ֥ר סִינָֽי׃
The words למשפחותם, במספר שמות, from the age of 20, all those are consistent. But the word seuh that we used teach ourselves how each person is unique and can be lifted does not appear when describing the actual counting. Instead it says ויתילדו, loosely translated as “and they provided their lineage” to prove which family they come from. But those dikduk lovers out there will notice that this word is in התפעל form, which is conjugated in the reflexive, when someone does an action to themselves (ex: to get yourself dressed is להתלבש). So, the word literally means “and the people youthed themselves”. This doesn’t translate to English well so it gets overlooked, but I think the Torah is telling us how to go about lifting yourself up once you have been counted.
It is very nice to hear that counting should bring out your individuality, but practically speaking how do you do that? At the end of the day you can still get swallowed in the crowd and feel like just a number. The answer is to “youth” yourself.
I once saw a meme that had astronauts, painters, chefs, musicians, firefighters, police, professional athletes, and ballerinas all hanging out together, and the title was “if we all followed our childhood dreams”. As a child the we do not see limits in the world around us, a child’s little mind can conjure up the most bizarre yet fascinating scenarios and questions about the world that they live in.
As we mature, we lose this ability, partially for obvious reasons since the world does not look like a Dr. Seuss book, and we have to come to terms with the fact that we can’t talk to trees or jump to the sky to play with clouds. But there is something so valuable to be able to explore in our minds without the barriers and restrictions of the world. If we can hold on to that ability as we get older, we will find that we have an entire world open to us, a world that only we can access with our specific blend of personality and imagination.
The medrash says that by מתן תורה Moshe looked into the eyes of each Jew and told him/her where to stand in relation to the mountain. This was because each Jew is created to occupy a specific place in relation to Hashem and that gives them a unique vantage point of and relationship with Hashem. We all know the saying from chazal that Hashem is going to make a circle of all the tzadikkim and each one will point with his finger and say “this is Hashem my God, we have waited for Him and He has saved us”. The picture that this chazal paints is beautiful, but the most wonderful explanation I ever heard explained as follows. Every single point in a circle in brought together by the center of the circle, they are al equidistant from the center and there are no two points in a circle that have the same vantage point of the center of the circle. We all have our own “viewpoint” of Hashem so to speak, and that is cultivated by allowing our inner child to thrive even once we are adults.
May we all be zoche to be young forever and always know that we are the only ones with our vantage point of Hashem.