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Parshat Bamidbar
2007
Making the End of the Year Count
This Shabbat we read Parshat Bamidbar, the start of the fourth book of the Torah. We find the Jewish people wandering through the desert, starting their epic 40-year journey. But first, Moses and Aaron take a census of the Jewish people. This is the reason that the English name for this book is Numbers.
As I read through the chapters, my mind kept returning to the same topic – the end of the year and graduation. It is sad and exciting to see students depart for the summer or graduate, and even more difficult for departing staff to leave everyone behind. Yet, as Hillel staff, we do it and we move on to the next year. This week’s parsha highlights the best way to say goodbye and honor the graduating class of seniors.
In many ways, this census is no different from graduating from college. This is actually the second census taken of the Jewish people. In Parsha Ki Tisa, the Jewish people are counted as one large group shortly after leaving Egypt and arriving at Sinai. However, in this new census, each tribe is counted one by one, each group getting its own recognition (Num. 1:20-42). Just as the Class of 2007 arrived four years ago as one large mass of bright-eyed, nervous freshmen, they leave as engineers, nurses, musicians, teachers, businessmen, and much more. Each group deserves its own mention and its own consideration. Just as the Jewish people have grown from a mass of former slaves into a nation, our students have grown from undecided majors into professionals and the leaders of tomorrow.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, a 20th century authority, comments that Bamidbar represents the Jewish people’s return to reality from the almost romantic listing of laws and practices in Vayikra (Leviticus). The Jewish people now must manage the relationship between the ideal of the laws and the practicality of their lives. Similarly, seniors struggle to leave their “college bubble” and start life outside of the university. However, the lesson here is not one of uncertainty and anxiety. Hillel Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Learning Senior Advisor Rabbi Aryeh ben David argues that it is because they have been taught these religious guidelines that the Jewish people are now ready to begin traveling together as a nation. The education that our students have received has made them wise, responsible adults who are now fit to enter the “real world.” Whatever lack of confidence or trepidation any of your students might express, simply remind them that these past four years have been training and that they are now prepared to go “into the wilderness,” the exact translation of the word Bamidbar. The lessons have been learned and the students are ready.
These morals are beneficial for students, but what can we as Hillel staff learn? Contemporary interpreter Rabbi Yehudah Nachshoni says the purpose of the counting is for self-examination. We also are part of the whole nation, the whole campus community. I recommend attending a graduation ceremony. When you witness the sea of happy graduates and hear of the amazing paths each is taking, you will recognize your impact.
The end of the year is often the hardest for us. We are tired and ready for the summer to begin, because after all, as one class leaves, another one enters. Modern scholar Nehama Leibowitz argues that this apathy is the exact mentality to avoid. It turns our students into numbers on our spreadsheets and lines in our reports. The Sforno, a 15th century commentator, sees the naming of each tribe as stressing the importance of the individual. In the same vein, Nahmanides, the 12th century scholar, impresses on us the value of the individual, created in the divine image and unique unto him or herself. The Torah very easily could have told us there were 603,550 males over the age of twenty (Num. 1:46), but instead counts tribe by tribe. Each tribe is important and in turn, each individual is honored for his or her specific contribution to the nation. By counting the students leaving campus and following the model of the Torah, we spend time to look each and every soul we have touched. Hopefully every student who has stepped through the door or attended a program has been inspired in some way. This is the ideal time of the year to enjoy the results of our hard work. Spend time thinking about the four-year progression of those seniors. They were first counted as shy freshmen at a Welcome Back BBQ, but now they are counted as educated college graduates ready to embark into the wilderness.
Written by Jason Levine, Steinhardt Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow, Hillel at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Learn More
To read additional articles and commentaries on Parshat Bamidbar go to MyJewishLearning.com.
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