From the Rabbi

At the end of last week’s Parsha, the evil prophet Bilaam, realizing he couldn’t curse the Jewish People, instead gives a piece of advice for how to ultimately bring about their downfall: after the men were seduced by the Midianite women, a plague erupted which claimed the lives of 24,000 people.  Curiously, immediately after the cessation of the plague, the Torah records a new census in which the Jewish People are to be once again counted. Why was it necessary for a census to take place at this moment in time? Could we not have simply subtracted 24,000 from the number of people taken from the recent census? Rashi famously answers that if there would be a pack of wolves who entered into a flock of sheep, killing many, the shepherd would want to count to see how many remained.

But Rabbi Shmuel Silber, quoting Rebbe Nachman, takes it a little deeper. In the aftermath of catastrophes and terrible mistakes, we often think that we are incompetent. We make such terrible blunders that we feel there is no hope for us– there is no way to recover from the mistakes we make. We can feel so broken, that the mistakes we made can forever change the trajectory of our lives– and we can never recapture the lost opportunities.

This likely was how the Jewish People felt after the plague: They must have come to the painful realization that a tribal prince brazenly, publicly committed an act of immorality with a Midianite woman, for all to see. These same Jews, who left Egypt, saw the miracles throughout the process, saw G-d speak to them at Mt. Sinai– had the audacity to commit such a public, humiliating act of immorality? 

How can they possibly move forward from this? With all of their mistakes they made in the desert– maybe it would be at this point that Hashem would finally give up on them!

But Rebbe Nachman notices something very curious about the way the census was recorded: The names of the tribes are all given a seemingly unnecessary addition to them:  a hei at the beginning and a yod at the end– the letters for the name of G-d. Nemuel became HaNemueli. Yachin became Hayechini. Each family has a yod and a hei to show that Hashem’s name testified for them. Rebbi Nachman explains right as the Jewish people specifically feel so poorly about themselves, that is when G-d tells Moshe to count the People. And what does he tell them? “Count the people, from age 20 and up, anyone who goes out to the army among Israel.” Despite what you have been through, you are still capable of waging the battles of life. Yes, you lost this specific battle, failing this test with the daughters of Moav– but that is but one battle that you lost– you did not lose the war. You are still needed for the rest of the war. And lest you are riddled with doubts, know that Hashem has attached His very name to yours– He is with you– and has faith in you that you can, and will succeed. 

Sometimes things happen to us–we make mistakes, and we feel like we cannot proceed and move forward.

But we must remember that we are G-dly people, with an eternal, brilliant, Divine soul resting within us. And therefore we believe with full faith that we can overcome any challenge sent our way. And we know that no matter how many battles in life that we lose, The Almighty attaches his Divine name to ours, empowering us to lift ourselves up, carry on, and triumph over the challenges that have previously haunted us.