NO EXCHANGES

What is the connection between the end of VaYikra and the beginning of BaMidbar? The very last verse of VaYikra, which summarizes the idea that the commandments of the Torah were given to Moses and the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. How does this theme tie in with the idea of no substitution and counting?

THE END IS WEDGED IN THE BEGINNING

In Torah study, there is a rule that there always is a connection between the end of one text and the beginning of the next.

As we begin a new book, the Book of BaMidbar, also known as Numbers, let us reflect on the connection between the end of the preceding book, VaYikra-Leviticus, and the beginning of BaMidbar and see what lessons we can derive from this connection.

VaYikra concludes with the law concerning tithing of animals. A Jew was required to take every tenth animal of his flock and offer it as a sacrifice in the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

The Torah then adds the following admonition:

“He should not select a good or a bad one, nor should he offer a substitute for it.”

In other words, when the person counted ten animals, the tenth one is holy and cannot be exchanged for a superior or inferior one.

This command is followed by the concluding verse in VaYikra:

“These are the commandments that G-d commanded Moses at Mount Sinai for the children of Israel.”

BaMidbar begins with G-d’s command to Moses to take the census of the Jewish people.

What is the connection between the end of VaYikra and the beginning of BaMidbar?

RECIPROCATION

R. Yitzchak Caro explains that the law against substituting a sacrifice also applies to our relationship with G-d. Just as we are not permitted to substitute another animal for the tenth one, we cannot also substitute anything else for G-d. The beginning of BaMidbar, which is about G-d’s command to count the Jewish people, teaches us that this relationship is reciprocal. Rashi explains that counting the people was G-d’s way of showing His love for them. When one counts something it demonstrates that one ascribes value to those particular items. Counting the Jewish people suggested that G-d would never exchange them for any other nation. Just as we cannot substitute anything for G-d, so too G-d will never look for a substitute for the Jewish people.

This reciprocal love that we have for each other is captured by King Solomon in the Song of Songs: “My beloved is to me and I am to My beloved.”

THE LINCHPIN

However, we must still search for the connection between the very last verse of VaYikra, which summarizes the idea that the commandments of the Torah were given to Moses and the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. How does this theme tie in with the idea of no substitution and counting?

Upon reflection it seems that the verse concerning the giving of the Torah is the linchpin that links the two foregoing forms of exclusivity and reveals their joint meaning.

At first glance, the connection between Torah and the theme of reciprocal exclusivity between G-d and the Jewish people seems fairly simple. Just as there is no substitute for G-d or for the Jewish people, so too there is no substitute for the Torah and its Mitzvos. The very same commandments that were given at Mount Sinai are no less relevant today than they were then. A basic principle of Judaism, in fact, one of the Thirteen Principles of Faith enumerated by Maimonides, is that the G-d given laws are immutable. No one can abrogate them or even slightly change them. Just as G-d is immutable, so are His teachings and commandments.

Indeed, the Talmud, commenting on the words in the last verse of VaYikra : “These are the commandments…” states: “A prophet may not introduce any new laws from Sinai onward.” The Torah as it was given then cannot—and will not—ever be substituted.

Contrary to a misconception that came from non-Jewish sources, Moshiach will not change the Torah, G-d forbid, or in any way diminish its importance or replace it with a new Torah. Maimonides explains that, on the contrary, Moshiach’s role is to strengthen our observance of the Mitzvos and enable us to fulfill all of them in the most complete fashion.

The first lesson that emerges from this bridging between VaYikra and BaMidbar is: When a Jew is faithful to the teachings of the Torah and subordinates his will to it and not the other way around, the Jew demonstrates his fidelity to the notion that there is only one absolute G-d, which, in turn, will enhance G-d’s absolute and exclusive love for us.

TRUE MEANING OF EXCLUSIVITY

Upon further reflection, we can find a deeper understanding of the connection between the exclusivity of Torah and the exclusivity of G-d and the Jewish people.

The unity of G-d implies that there is nothing else in existence other than G-d, not only that there is no other G-d. Everything that exists is a manifestation of G-d’s creative power. What appears to be an independent existence is only a mirage. The reality of the world is that it is an extension of G-d’s will. If G-d would withdraw for one instant, the world would revert to utter nothingness. Hence the world’s true nature is G-d.

However, G-d possesses and uses the power to conceal His presence, which He did to enable us to uncover it through our actions. The very word for world in Hebrew—Olam—means concealment. How then do we pierce through the veil of concealment to see the reality of G-d’s exclusivity? We do so through the Torah.

Torah is called a light for good reason. In addition to lighting up our lives with direction and meaning, it illuminates the reality of existence. Torah enables us to remove all of the covers that obscure the reality of G-d. The teachings of Kabbala, and particularly Chassidus, are directed to this end.

Thus, Torah is the means through which the lesson of the ending of Leviticus comes to life. When the message of Sinai is clear, as indicated in the very words “These are the Mitzvos…” and we do nothing to dim the Torah’s radiance, we become acutely aware of G-d’s exclusivity.

TORAH: TELESCOPE AND MICROSCOPE

The Torah is also the means through which the exclusivity of the Jewish people is highlighted. This premise is based on the Chassidic interpretation of the verse: “Look down from Your holy abode in heaven, and bless your people Israel…” The Hebrew word for heaven-Shamayim-is a composite of two words: eish and mayim, fire and water. Shamayim thus is a metaphor for the Torah which is itself compared to both fire and water. When G-d “looks” through the prism of Torah at us, it helps to spotlight and magnify our innate qualities and render us worthy of His greatest blessings. Chassidic thought explains that the Torah is like a microscope through which hidden qualities are identified and magnified.

When we remain faithful to the dictates of the Torah—as indicated in the last verse of VaYikra—it enhances our unique status and makes us worthy of being counted, which is the theme of the beginning of BaMidbar.

In short, the Torah serves both as a telescope and a microscope. As a telescope the Torah enables us to see far beyond the limits of human reasoning to recognize the reality of G-d’s exclusivity. As a microscope the Torah enables G-d and us to see beneath the facade of our beings, so we can discover and actualize our innate holiness.

THREE KNOTS, TWO CONNECTIONS

There is yet a third message conveyed by juxtaposing the theme of Torah with the theme of exclusivity of G-d and the Jewish people. This message relates to the connection between G-d and the Jewish people. To put it succinctly: The link between G-d and the Jewish people comes through Torah. The degree to which we are connected to G-d, and He is to us, is commensurate with the degree of our fidelity to the Torah.

This idea of Torah linkage is alluded to in the words of the Zohar: “There are three knots that are tied together, Israel is bound to the Torah and the Torah is bound to the Holy one Blessed is He.”

A question has been raised about the way the Zohar puts this. If we are connected to Torah, and the Torah is connected to G-d, then there must be only two knots. Why does the Zohar speak of three? The answer given in Chassidic philosophy is that there is a third connection that we enjoy with G-d, one that is direct. We are connected to G-d as well as to the Torah. However, that connection between us and G-d can only be appreciated and activated through the medium of Torah.

In effect, there are two avenues through which we connect to G-d: The first is indirectly through Torah. However, the Torah also illuminates the other more direct and unconditional connection we have.

It may be suggested that concluding VaYikra with the theme of fidelity to Torah alludes to the power Torah has to reveal the deepest bond we have with G-d.

In times of exile, we don’t see clearly the role that G-d plays in this world and we certainly do not intuitively see G-d’s exclusivity. Likewise, the status of the Jewish people is left compromised due to galus conditions and conditioning.

To remove the screen that separates G-d from us and us from Him, it is imperative that we turn on the lights of Torah, specifically, the parts of Torah that are designed to bring unfiltered light to the world—the light that existed on the very first day of creation that transcended the limits of the world. These are the very teachings of Chassidus, particularly, the parts that discuss the theme of Geula, the ultimate, true and complete Redemption.