Shabbos Parashas Beha'alosecha - 5780

Shabbos Parashas Beha'alosecha - 5780

Rabbi Hal Miller

And it was when the Ark would journey that Moshe said, "Arise God and let Your

enemies be scattered and let those who hate You flee from before You." And when

it rested he would say, "Return, God, to the myriads of the thousands of Israel."

[Bamidbar 10:35-36]

These two verses are subject to much commentary, covering why they are set

off with inverted letter nuns, whether they are in the correct place in the chronology,

whether they constitute a separate book of the Torah, etc. But all that aside, what

do the verses themselves mean?

The Gemora, Shabbos 115-116, cited by Rashi and others, says that these verses

belong in chapter 2 as part of the discussion of the banners and marching order of

the camp. Rashi goes on to say that the "myriads of the thousands of Israel" teaches

that God's Presence requires a minimum of 22,000 Jews.

Rav Hirsch sees these verses as a break in the story line. The Torah told of the

development of the Jewish nation, but that was interrupted by the incident of the golden

calf. Now, that incident is finally put to rest, and the national development continues.

Nechama Leibowitz, from Sifrei, understands the meaning as Moshe commanding

when the Ark would travel and when it would stop. But the inverted nuns, in her view,

stand for nikud, the Hebrew word for points. When a word has points above each

letter, we are to understand the opposite of the simple meaning. Here, the entire two

verses are reversed in meaning, such that they tell us that it was not Moshe, but God

who commanded the movements of the Ark. Why do this inverting? To teach us, "make

His will your will" (Pirkei Avos, Rabban Gamliel), thus Moshe ordered it because God

ordered it.

Malbim finds the meaning in the difference between "Your enemies" and "those who

hate You". An enemy is out in the open, obvious, clear in his intent to cause harm. They

gather as an army, and will be scattered by God. One who is a hater is secretive,

looking for sneaky ways to cause harm when we least expect it. They do not gather, so

cannot be scattered, but will flee from God's acts.

Another indicator to the meaning here is the word shuvah, translated above as return.

Commentators are all over the place on what this word means in context. Since the

first word of this verse is u'venucha, "and when it comes to rest", some translate shuvah

as rest as well, since the word can mean to dwell or to sit. Some see it as asking God to

bring His Presence within the camp, some as asking to allow the Jews to rest from travels.

But the word can also mean to return, which could refer to a prayer that the Jewish soldiers

will return safely from battle, or asking God to come back from His absence due to the

poor behavior of the Jews with the golden calf. Nechama notes that grammatically, the word

is an intransitive verb, implying to return, but should not take a direct object as it does here.

In short, these verses and the nuns raise more questions than there are answers, and there

are quite a few answers out there.