|
BaMidbar (Numbers) 8:1
1st Aliyah
HaShem spoke to Moshe saying, "Speak to Aharon and say
to him: When you kindle the lamps, toward the face of the Menorah shall the
seven lamps illuminate the menorah."
The Torah teaches us that Aharon was deeply distressed when he saw the
eleven tribes, plus, Ephraim, had brought offerings, but HaShem had not
instructed the tribe of Levi to do the same. Aharon began to blame himself
for the lack of a sacrifice-offering through the Levi tribe because of the
Golden Calf tragedy. HaShem immediately spoke to Moshe saying, "Tell your
brother, Aharon, that his service in the Tabernacle will a greater and more
demanding duty than offering sacrifices. It will be his duty, plus,
generation to generation, to maintain and keep the Menorah lamps lit for
eternity."

BaMidbar (Numbers) 8:15
2nd Aliyah
After you have purified
them and designated them as a wave offering, the Levites shall come to perform
the service in the Tent of Meeting.
The Torah teaches us that three times the words, "and designate them as
a wave offering," corresponding to the three family branches of Levites, namely,
the Kohathites, the Gershonites, and the Merarites. Aharon will perform
the waving ritual by taking hold of each, 22,000, Levite and shake him as
one shakes the lulav (palm branch) on the feast of Tabernacles. Just
as the offering is sacrificed in lieu of man bringing it, so did the Levites
take the place of the Israelites.

BaMidbar (Numbers) 9:1
3rd Aliyah
HaShem spoke to Moshe, in the Wilderness of Sinai, in
the second year from their exodus from the land of Mitzrayim, in the first
month, saying: "The Children of Yisra'el shall make the pesach-offering in
its appointed time."
The Torah teaches us that this was the only pesach-offering in all forty
years of their sojourn in the desert on which the Yisra'elites brought the
offering. The Sages tell us it was necessary for HaShem to command
them again "in the second year," otherwise it might have been thought that
this commandment of the Korban Pesach was meant to take effect only
upon their entry into the Land of Isra'el, but not while they remained in
the desert.

BaMidbar (Numbers) 9:15
4th Aliyah
On the day that the
Tabernacle was erected, the cloud covering the Tabernacle, the Tent of
Testimony; then, in the evening, there was something that appeared to be like
fire on the Tabernacle.
The Torah teaches us that by means of this cloud the Children of
Yisra'el were shown when to set up camp and when to journey. Thus, when the
cloud remained stationary, they were to remain encamped; and when the cloud
moved off, they were to travel.

BaMidbar (Numbers) 10:11
5th Aliyah
In the second year, away
from Mitzrayim, on the 20th of the second month, the cloud rose from the
Tabernacle of Testimony. The Children of Yisra'el thus began their travels
from the Wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud came to rest in the Paran Desert.
The Torah teaches us that it was time for the Children of Yisra'el to
journey from Mount Sinai. It was the first time they broke camp since coming to
the Wilderness of Sinai. Their duration in the Wilderness of Sinai was
twelve months minus ten days, since they had encamped there on the first day of
the month Sivan, of the first year, and they were departing on the 20th of Iyar
of the second year.

BaMidbar (Numbers) 10:35
6th Aliyah
When the Ark would
journey, Moshe said, "Arise, HaShem, and let Your foes be scattered, let those
who hate You flee from before You." And when it rested, he would say, "Reside
tranquility, O, HaShem, among the myriad of Yisra'el's thousands."
The Torah teaches us that when Moshe spoke; "Arise so that the enemy who
venture out against us will be scattered before You, and those who come to
oppress us out o hatred for You, will flee from Your presence." On the
other hand, when setting up camp Moshe would call out, "Rest You presence upon
the myriads of Yisra'el's thousands, and let not Your Shechinah depart from
them. Bless them and multiply them into the thousands and tens of thousands."

BaMidbar (Numbers) 11:30
7th Aliyah
Moshe then returned to
the camp along with the elders of Yisra'el. HaShem caused a wind to start
blowing, sweeping Quail up from the sea. They ran out of strength over the camp,
and were flying only two cubits above the ground for the distance of a day's
journey in each direction.
The Torah teaches us that Moshe and the elders were at he Tent of
Meeting, and HaShem waited until they returned to their own tent before
inflicting upon the Yisra'elites the punishment that He had set for them.
As soon as they entered their tents, a divinely induced wind transported the
quail from the sea and deposited them upon the camp over a distance extending
one day journey in all directions, and to a depth above ground two cubits. Thus
a person standing up could take some just by extending their hand. HaShem
even spared them the exertion of having to bend down to the ground.

Return to Top
|