Bamidbar: Before the Divine Presence

The Torah makes evident that the Creator guides and directs our steps when we choose to embrace His ways and attributes. It is also evident that He also directs all His Creation, and we realize this when we look at this world and the Universe.

As we have said before, this is indeed what agnostics call “intelligent design” though with God's Love as its cause, because all that exists is sustained by Him. This realization becomes even more evident for Israel in our relationship with God. He has been with us ever since He took our forefathers out of the house of slavery in Egypt, and dwelt with them in the desert (Bamidbar). 

Another census of the children of Israel takes place in this portion and let's recall that the counting (lit. rising of the heads) is fundamental to understand the primordial way in which the Creator relates to us: He counts us because we count for Him, because He loves us. He knows our names as He also knows each part of His Creation.

God loves His Creation and chose the children of Israel to proclaim and establish this transcendental Truth in the material world. What is God's Love? We can't conceive Him, neither His Essence, His Love or anything that is from Him and emanates from Him, but we can see His Creation (what is visible and tangible to us) and learn through His Torah how He relates to it. We know that He loves His Creation because He sustains it, and this means that He counts it as He counts the children of Israel.

This is how we deduce and conclude that His ways are His Love's ways, and Love is also the way we relate to Him because it is our common bond with Him. In this new census we learn that each individual member of the Jewish people is unique and special, and there are no preferences or privileges, simply because God's Love is not conditioned by the way we are individually. He wants us to be different and diverse, with traits and qualities that make us the way we are as individuals.

We have said countless times that Judaism does not create discriminating differences, levels, casts, categories or ranks among human beings, though this approach is typical of the other nations. However, we must admit that most of us Jews don't live according to the ways the Torah tells us.

As human beings we have the most enviable identity of all in the world, but most of us do not embrace such identity as the Torah defines it. It is ironic that the Creator counts each and all of us as His people, and we don't reciprocate His Love by counting Him in what we are, have and do.

We learn in this particular census that God wants each one of us counted to live in His Torah and His Commandments. As He knows us individually with our particular qualities and potential, He wants to give us our portion of His Torah, our portion of His Love for us to transform the darkness in the world into the radiant place in which He may dwell among us.

God makes us aware of His Love when He gave us the Torah, the means to know His ways and attributes which are manifest in our consciousness as Love's way and attributes. 

We enthrone Love as the ways, means, traits and qualities that must guide and conduct all levels and dimensions of consciousness, thus we reveal and proclaim God's Presence and Kingdom on Earth. He counts us to tell us that He loves us, and by knowing His Love we know that it is our Essence and true identity.

We are able to love each other because God loves us. We have said in previous commentaries in this blog (Parshat Bemidbar: “In the desert” of May 8, 2010 and “Uniting our Consciousness in God's Love” of May 22, 2011) that the Tribes of Israel represent particular traits and qualities destined to be united in their mission to create a place in this world for the Creator to dwell among (in) us.

The Tribes encompass all the potential goodness that we can become and manifest in all aspects of life, and by being and doing this we fulfill the identity and destiny that the Creator wants for us, as He tells us in the Torah.

We all count before God, from the most talented, powerful and capable to the lowliest, weakest and limited among us, because regardless of our human condition each one of us has a part in God's plan.

We may find this approach hard to understand when we follow the non Jewish mentality that human beings are divided by levels, classes, categories, etc. in which slavery, exploitation, oppression, subjugation, despotism and discrimination are plainly justified.

This approach is not shared in Judaism because the Torah commands us and destines us to love each other, and cooperate with each other for the common goal of fulfilling God's will for us, which is to make His ways and attributes prevail in human consciousness.

This is the legacy of the Torah for the world, and the main contribution of the Jewish people to humankind. This is what the Redemption and the Messianic era in Judaism are all about.

We will fulfill this mission as our destiny, and we begin transforming the negative aspects of consciousness by directing them into God's ways and attributes. We begin by eradicating ego's fantasies and illusions as the idols that separate us from Love as our Essence and true identity.

Once we are aware of God's Love as the source that creates and sustain our lives as well as all His Creation, we must choose to embrace His ways.

In this realization we become aware that He has been and always will be our sole Redeemer.

“And I will remove the names of the baalim [idols] from her [Jerusalem, as our consciousness of Love through our highest awareness of God's Love] mouth, and they shall no longer be mentioned by their name [the idols shall no longer be followed]. And I will make on that day a Covenant with the beasts of the field, and with the fowl of the sky, and with the creeping things of the earth; and the bow, the sword, and war I will break off the earth; and I will let them lie down safely. And I will betroth you to Me forever, and I will betroth you with righteousness and with justice, and with loving kindness, and with compassion. And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.” (Hosea 2:19-22).

We know Him through His ways and attributes, and we come to realize this as long as we follow them also as our ways.

The Psalmist reminds us about this.

“Know Him in all your ways, and He will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:6)

Parshat Bamidbar: Uniting our Consciousness in God's Love

The first portion of the book of Numbers (lit. in the desert) starts with the third census of the Jewish people after the Exodus from Egypt.

"The Lord spoke to Moses in the desert (bemidbar) Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting (…)" (Numbers 1:1)

In this new census the Levites are counted separately from the rest of the Tribes.

"Bring forth the tribe of Levi and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. They shall keep his charge and the charge of the entire community before the tent of meeting, to perform the service of the tabernacle. They shall take charge of all the vessels of the tent of Meeting and the charge of the children of Israel, to perform the service of the tabernacle." (3:6-8)

"(...) and you shall take the Levites for Me, I am the Lord" (3:41, 45)

As we mentioned in previous commentaries, the Levites represent the highest knowledge of God, and also the highest awareness of our connection with Him through His love. The fact that they are counted apart does not mean separation from the rest of the tribes, but a definition of what they represent in their particular mission as part of the people of Israel.

We read in this portion that the tribes are counted "by families following their fathers' houses; a head count of every male according to the number of their names.

"(…) you shall count them by their legions, you and Aaron." (1:2-3)

This task is done specifically by Moses and Aaron who represent our highest knowledge of the Creator and the highest awareness of our connection to Him. This knowledge and awareness are the means to realize our true essence and identity that make us part of Him, and enable us to be led in His ways and attributes.

In this sense the Levites are the spiritual leaders and teachers of the Israelites, with their respective individual qualities. We mentioned many times that each tribe represents particular traits that must be directed and guided by the trait (Levi) that better knows the greatest love of all, God's love.

We were created as multidimensional beings that encompass great diversity to face an also diverse and complex material reality, for which we are divinely commanded to deal and act according to the challenges that the world has for us.

In this context all the tribes need each other for the common goal of making this world the best we can in order to turn it into a dwelling place for its Creator. This is the dynamics of His creation, and that is why we are here.

We have problems to solve, situations to fix, troubles to correct, and natural phenomena to make us aware that we must care for each other when natural disasters appear. Our differences and diversity indeed enrich us and invite us to make our journey in the world more interesting and pleasant. Thus we turn them into reasons to enjoy and be happy and not the opposite. In order to achieve our mission we must clear our consciousness of all fantasies and illusions derived from ego's materialistic agenda.

We are in a world full of diverse people with their own principles, values and culture, including ideologies, beliefs and particular approaches to divinity. These beliefs clash when a person tries to impose his/hers on others, and that is the critical point in which we must reflect on.

We must find the true meaning and value of what we believe, and why that eventually may generate confrontation with other people's beliefs. This makes us question what it supposes to be the truth and what is not, regardless of how relative or subjective that truth may be.

The Torah brings us to this reflection at some point and gives us the answer in the ways the Creator gives us, in contrast to the ways of the "nations" referred as the ways of idolatry. These are what we call love's ways and attributes represented by God's commandments, in contrast to ego's fantasies and illusions as the idols followed by the lower aspects of consciousness. Love is the truth that transcends all beliefs, values, principles and ideologies. 

In the haftarah for this portion, the prophet repeatedly warns us about the consequences of being subservient to ego's materialistic desires.

"Because their mother (our consciousness) played the harlot; she who conceived them (ego's fantasies and illusions) behaved shamefully, because she said 'I will go after my lovers (ego's fantasies and illusions), those who give my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drinks.' (The self-absorbed conviction that ego is the real provider instead of love). Therefore behold, I will close off your way with thorns, and I make a fence against her, and she shall not find her paths (when we despise Love and let ego rule the result is harshness and self-isolation as a consequence of separation from love's ways). And she shall pursue her lovers and not overtake them, and she shall seek them and not find them; and she shall say 'I will go and return to my first Husband, for it was better for me then than now.' (Once we get tired and fed up with our own materialistic fantasies eventually we return to Love's ways). But she did not know that I gave her the corn, the wine, and the oil, and I gave her much silver and gold, but they made it for Baal (our consciousness pretends to ignore that God's love is our sole sustainer and provider, and we devote the love that nurtures our life to feed ego's fantasies and illusions). Therefore, I will return and take My corn in its time and My wine in its appointed season, and I will separate My wool and My flax, to cover her nakedness." (Hosea 2:7-11)

God's love always sustains us and always waits for our consciousness to return to Him and fill all its levels, aspects and dimensions with His ways and attributes.

Let's listen to the Levites that represent our highest thoughts, feelings, emotions and awareness of God's love in our consciousness, and let them lead all dimensions of our life in His ways and attributes.

Parshat Bamidbar: In the Desert

In the desert (bamidbar) is the name of the fourth book of the Torah and also the name of its first portion. There are circumstances in this book that make our sages reflect on, and one of them is the meaning of the phrase in the desert.

"And God spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai." (Numbers 1:1)

Some reflect on the apparent redundancy in the words "desert" and "Sinai", considering that Sinai is located in the desert, and they understand this in several ways.

In the desert we were constantly before our Creator whose presence dwelt in Sinai where He communicated directly with Moses, our teacher. Both places mentioned imply the unity of the people of Israel with God, that later continues with the tabernacle as the intermediary.

In the desert we are separated from our mundane life, a place where there is nothing to depend on or to be attached in order to live according to what we choose to do in life. Indeed the desert is where we briefly dwell because there is nothing there except what we carry to sustain us while we are there.

In the desert there are no materialistic illusions that we may desire to have or to be, and no chance for idol worshiping because there are no images to bow to (unless we make them): The perfect circumstances to conceive God and be aware of His love that created us and sustains us, the "place" to receive His Torah.

If we don't clear our consciousness from materialistic desires and attachments, we will never be the empty vessels to be filled with the permanent awareness of God's love. This awareness is the marriage of God and Israel, the eternal bond of love evoked in the Song of Songs and in the haftarah we read along with this portion.

"I will marry you to Me forever. I will marry you to Me with righteousness and with justice, and with loving kindness and compassion. I will marry you to Me with faithfulness, and you will know the Lord." (Hosea 2:21-22)

These verses are preceded by the times when the idols as ego’s desires and materialistic illusions do not fulfill the true meaning of life.

"And she shall run after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them, and she shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then shall she say: 'I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now'." (Ibid. 2:9)

As soon as we are finally willing to return to God, He will embrace us.

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her in the desert, and I will speak to her heart. (…) as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." (2: 16-17)

"I remember the loving kindness of your youth, your bridal Love, your following after Me in the desert, in an unsowed land." (Jeremiah 2:2)

Once again the Torah reminds us that it is our choice to return to love as God's legacy, and also as our permanent connection with His ways and attributes.

"Take a head count (lit. "raise the heads") of all the congregation of the children of Israel (…)" (Numbers 1:2)

This "head count", according to our sages represents how precious every soul is for our Creator. "Raising the heads" to Him is how we make ourselves aware of this. Why could it be otherwise? How can we conceive God's love without loving all His creation? When we look around and see the perfection of that He has created we realize that what we make imperfect is the way we conceive it, and the way we relate to it and to our fellow man.

After this head count, the Torah mentions the way the tribes of Israel settled every time they encamped in their journeys by the desert.

"The children of Israel shall encamp, each man by his division with the flag staffs of their fathers' house; at some distance from the Tent of Meeting they shall encamp." (2:2)

The tribes represent traits and qualities that combined into their service of the Creator achieve the mission for which Israel was chosen to be and to do. These traits are the blessings they received from their father Jacob and from Moses (Genesis 49:3-27, Deuteronomy 33:6-29)

"All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is it what their father spoke unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them." (Genesis 49:28)

These blessings are the qualities that we elevate to God in order to make a place for Him to dwell in this world. Judah, the one that has encompassed all the Tribes for more than two thousand years, as the one chosen to bring redemption to the world, is represented by a lion and a precious stone that shines in darkness: Light in the darkness of the world.

While describing the way the tribes encamped around the Tabernacle, Levi is not mentioned because their space, their land, is with God.

"Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be Mine." (Numbers 3:12)

As we mentioned throughout our commentaries on the book of Leviticus, the high priest as part of the tribe of Levi are our higher consciousness always close to God.

The idea of the way the tribes encamped is that all must be united around a center, the tabernacle, and close to those who serve in it: the Levites who encamped in its grounds.

The mission of the Levites is emphasized by being counted separately as part of God, the ones that lead our consciousness to His domains. Our sages say that Levi and his descendants were blessed by his father to be the teachers for his brothers.

"I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." (Genesis 49:7)

This to keep them always close to love's ways and attributes as the higher consciousness the Levites represent, including safekeeping peace among their people.

"And the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of the testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel, and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony." (Numbers 1:53)

The portion ends with instructions for the high priest and his sons to care for the duties inside the tabernacle, and instructing those who will carry it when moving in the desert.

"Aaron and his sons shall first come and appoint each man individually to his task and his load." (4:19)

With this we learn again that every aspect of consciousness serve accordingly as a vessel of God's ways and attributes. They are taken into account based on their particular qualities, either it be thought, emotion, speech, action, feeling, passion or instinct as it is mentioned later in parshat Naso.

"According to the commandment of the Lord they were appointed by the hand of Moses, everyone to his service, and to his load; they were also counted as the Lord commanded Moses." (4:49)