SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION
28 | MAY 13 • 2021
Everyone Counts
W
e’ve now arrived
at the fourth
book of the
Torah, Bamidbar, “in the
wilderness.” We refer to
this book as Numbers. Both
names are accurate
since the narrative
takes place in the
desert, and there are
many censuses taken
through the story.
The Torah por-
tion opens with
the scene of the
Israelites organizing
themselves for the
long journey to the
Promised Land. Since
the text is focused
on preparation to
cross the wilderness,
which includes taking a
census, there are no explicit
permanent mitzvot found
here. However, we can
understand one of the com-
mandments based on its
connection with a verse in
our Torah portion:
“The Lord spoke to
Moses, saying: ‘I here-
by take the Levites from
among the Israelites in
place of all the first-born,
the first issue of the womb
among the Israelites: the
Levites shall be Mine. For
every first-born is Mine: at
the time that I smote every
firstborn in the land of
Egypt, I consecrated every
first-born in Israel, man
and beast, to Myself, to be
Mine, the Lord’s’.”
The mitzvah connected to
these verses is the redemp-
tion of the first-born, or
pidyon ha’ben. The general
idea is that the first-born
male of every regular
(non-Kohein) Israelite fam-
ily is consecrated to God
and needs to be redeemed
from service by a ceremony
with a descendant of the
priests and five silver
coins, or its equivalent.
The ceremony can be
understood as not only
a reminder of the deep
history of our people,
but also as teaching a
powerful theological
idea, namely that we
do not “own” our pos-
sessions — not even
our children.
“Redeeming” a
child is a way of rit-
ualizing the idea of
stewardship; that we
are entrusted with precious
things, yet have a responsi-
bility beyond our own per-
sonal preferences, desires
and ambitions.
Even though pidyon
ha’ben is not an “every day”
mitzvah; and even though
we can, and should, raise
questions about a mitzvah
that seems to privilege the
birth of one sex over anoth-
er, we can still learn what
I believe the mitzvah is
trying to teach. Ownership
is only an illusion; and,
in a spiritual sense, we all
belong to God. That is true
not only of the firstborn but
of every human because we
are all created in the holy
image of God.
Rabbi Jason Miller officiates at bar
and bat mitzvah ceremonies around
the country — both in person and
virtually. More information can be
found at mitzvahrabbi.com.
Rabbi Jason
Miller
Parshat
Bamidbar:
Numbers 1:1-
4:20; Hosea
2:1`-22.
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