Numbers 4:21-7:89

Portion Summary

The portion describes the children of Israel’s preparations to set out on a journey from Mount Sinai to the land of Israel. The bulk of the work revolves around the tabernacle. The census in the tribe of Levi continues, and there is a description of the distribution of duties between the families of Levi, Gershon, Kohat, and Merari. The Creator gives an order to send the impure people outside the camp as preparation for the inauguration of the tabernacle.

Afterward, the portion narrates different situations in which the people need the help of the priests and the tabernacle. The incidents include negative acts, such as stealing, a person swearing in the name of the Creator in vain (for which one must offer a sacrifice), and a woman who has strayed and is suspected of committing adultery, and is therefore brought to the priest.

There are also positive incidents, such as the story of the hermit, detailing the laws that a person who makes a vow takes upon himself, and the blessing of the priests to the people.

The end of the portion discusses the gifts of the presidents and the great celebration—the inauguration of the tabernacle. The portion ends with the conclusion of the preparations, when the people of Israel can set out to the land of Israel.

Commentary

The Torah speaks only about our souls and how we should correct them. We do not correct the body because the body is an animal and acts according to its nature. We must reinstate the “portion of God from above” (Job 31:2); this is the soul.

We do it as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created for it the Torah as a spice,”¹ for “the light in it reforms.”² When we begin to connect to others under the condition, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”³ we find this act repellent. We do not want to see anyone if we cannot use them for our own benefit.

This is our nature, as the Creator said, “I have created the evil inclination.” However, the more we study and try to draw closer to each other, the more we discover how utterly impossible it is and the more we feel our nature as bad, as ill will, as the evil inclination. Then, we need a means to correct it, and this is the light that reforms.

When we study the wisdom of Kabbalah in the right group, with people who want to acquire the good inclination, the revelation of the Creator, who want to change and improve, then we discover within us a whole world of layers, degrees, and other parts. Indeed, the priests, Levites, Israel, and the entire world with its still, vegetative, animate, and speaking are all in our desires, in the evil inclination.

The Torah tells us by which context and with which order we can begin to transform the evil inclination into a good inclination. This is what we need to do in this world. The Torah teaches us how to use the light that reforms, which parts of the evil inclination should be treated first, and which ones later.

This process is like a doctor telling a patient, “First, we will take care of one thing, then the other. If a patient has a heart problem, it is the most urgent issue, even if the patient says, “But my sore leg hurts more.” Here the doctor has to say, “Wait, we’ll get to it, but it is not your most urgent problem.” The same goes for us.

The Torah instructs us how to scrutinize each detail, how to correct it, how to tie all the corrected parts together, and how to temporarily part from desires that still cannot be corrected because they are too big, so we must put them aside for now. We advance toward connection with others in order to discover the Kli (vessel) of the soul, where we discover the upper light, Boreh (Creator), called Bo Re’eh (come and see). We discover Him gradually, one at a time, through cause and effect.

The previous portion talked about dividing our desires into tribes, priests, Levites, and Israel. Who are the priests and what is their role among the people? How should the people divide into twelve tribes? Why is it specifically twelve, three lines and HaVaYaH, three times HaVaYaH, which are four letters, making up twelve parts of the will to receive?

Now, we are talking about the next stage in the correction of the soul of one who wants to correct and nurture it, since it is a “portion of God from above.” The Creator is utterly good and does good, so those who want to work with the good inclination, instead of with the bad one, do it by acquiring the good inclination, the form of the Creator. This is why it is called “come and see.”

The portion describes how this is done. The tabernacle is mysterious and unknown, a special place in our will to receive. There is nothing but the will to receive; the whole of Creation is desire to receive, and within our desire is a special place where we are connected with the upper light. We bring our desires there the same way we go to a doctor. It is called “a healer for the brokenhearted,”⁴ and they are corrected there. The tabernacle is the primary place where our desires are corrected.

Questions and Answers

Does each of us connect to the Creator separately?

Yes, each one must do it. This is why our work is mainly the work of sacrifices. Prior to that, we make all the scrutinies: what is kosher (fit/proper/legitimate), how it can be done, and what within us is a Levite, a priest, Israel, nations of the world, Klipot (shells/peels), still, vegetative, animate, or speaking. We need to learn how to sort and arrange our desires. At the end of all the scrutinies, we bring an offering. The word, Korban (offering/sacrifice), comes from the word Karov (near/close). When we correct our will to receive in the tabernacle, we are at the point of nearing the Creator.

It is truly holy work because the priests are the pure quality of bestowal in us. The high priest is GAR, meaning the “head” of this quality in us. This is the force within us that is called “priest.” This is also what can correct all the layers of the will to receive that are below it. This is why there is such elaboration on what to do with parts of the will to receive such as an uncorrected woman or man, or other problems that arise in the process of correction.

Our whole progress on the path of correction is similar to being in the desert. We discover our evil inclination and learn that it is an entirely egoistic desire, and we cannot draw any vitality from it. This is why we feel as though we are in the desert. Hence, we are all nourished by the light from above, called “manna from heaven”; this is how we advance.

The desert is a short phase in the process. Why did we stay in it for so long? It is written that we could have traversed it in three days, yet it took us forty years. Why?

The “three days” are what it takes to obtain three lines. “Forty years” is the participation of Malchut in Bina, which is called the “degree of forty.” It is not forty years; the Torah does not refer to years the way we do. Rather, it is a degree. A person who attains a degree in the will to receive that is called Bina ascends to the degree of the quality of bestowal, and is entirely immersed in the desire to bestow. Although the will to receive that has not yet been corrected burns within just as before, that person “freezes” it and restricts it, holding the burning inside. It is as if there were a box about to erupt like a volcano, and one puts the lid on top and remains above it. Such a person controls all the egoistic desires, and this is called “ascending to the degree of Bina and being ready to enter the land of Israel.”

“Rising above the volcano” means rising above the great desires, over all the big Kelim (vessels) that we took from Egypt. Each time we discovered the bad in the desert, it is considered that we sinned in the desert. Throughout this process of erring and sinning, time and again, Moses and Aaron were attending to these matters.

In other words, we discover all the corrupt thoughts and desires in the mind and in the heart, and are constantly looking for actions and efforts to connect to the environment, to the group we are in, to the upper light, the Creator. This is done in order to find how we connect to external elements, bring them closer, and are sanctified through them.

We keep saying that the only thing we need to correct is our connections; however, all that is described here seems to be internal. If we say that the preparations are over and we can begin, is this about something that we did alone?

We completed the preparations with all the desires, arranged and sorted them in order. We have already been equipped with our arms. Now we can set out and discover the new desires that will indicate how to proceed in the desert.

With whom do we proceed?

We proceeds with our own desires, which are already prepared for this process, including the priests, Levites, Israel, tribes, and the divisions made in the previous portion. After tending to every desire, we set out with them. In other words, we are now ready to advance toward the land of Israel, Bina, with all the desires that have been “paused.” Now we proceed with all those desires—the women, children, and all the men.

Even the animals are taken, meaning all the desires, our entire inner world. From here, we advance entirely toward bestowal, to the quality of Elokim, called Bina.

What is the measure of dependence? For example, if a friend is already there but I am not, does that mean that I am holding my friend back?

This has nothing to do with friends; it is one’s own inner work. Our friends can only help from the outside, evoke the importance of reaching the land of Israel and being in the state of Yashar El (straight to the Creator), where all the desires aim to bestow. Friends can help us increase our desire to correct the entire evil inclination into a good inclination, and they can increase the importance of the goal, thus indirectly helping us wake up and muster our strength.

Are some of the scrutinies we make done with friends?

All scrutinies are internal. It is inner work, and others should not know the work we are doing.

What are “impure people,” or a woman who strayed?

We all have such desires, hence we discover them. The Torah speaks of what exists within us. This opens up our own interior and explains what we can find inside: desires, qualities, and thoughts. It also explains how we should work with the “self.” We need to bring out all these qualities and desires to identify with the Creator, as it is written, “Return, O Israel to the Lord your God” (Hosea 14:2). It is not referring to us rising “above the moon,” but about spiritual ascension, our inner elevation from our own qualities.

My thoughts are also sent to me; is it the Creator who sends them?

Everything is sent to us. The Creator says, “I have created the evil inclination.” We have nothing to worry about; it is “His problem.” All we need to do is ask that the light that reforms will come and turn our evil inclination into a good inclination. This is our entire work; our entire lives are for that purpose.

If, for example, I discover within me the quality called a “woman who strayed,” what does it mean that I bring it to a priest? What does the priest do?

It refers to what we sanctify. In this case, we sanctify a desire called “a woman who strayed.” “A woman who strayed” is a desire to receive that does not want to work in order to bestow, but only to receive. It is a desire that wants to draw the light of Hochma (wisdom) from above downward, instead of from below upward. In other words, it does not want to work in bestowal and love of others, but for itself. It is an egoistic desire at the degree of a woman.

There is a husband, a wife, and nations of the world. These are all inside of us. Our desire suddenly appears as one that wants only for itself, as having no intention of ever being close to the Creator, to others, or to bestowal. When we discover we are like that, and that this is what delays our progress, we discover it as “a woman who strayed.”

In response to those who say, “What about women who commit adultery,” one might say that there are male adulterers, too. Moreover, today adultery is very prevalent.

The men and the women in this case are our own desires. You cannot say that men or women are doing something wrong. Everything is in our inner world—the men and women are all our own desires.

A woman carries with her a greater deficiency, while a man is more prone toward Masachim (screens), toward the power to overcome. But in fact, when a person discovers these discernments within, it does not pose a problem as it does in this world. After all, it is about one’s own desires, and it makes no difference what they are called, “woman,” “man,” “priest,” “Levite,” “Israel,” or “nations of the world.” All of them must be arranged by levels and qualities to see what should be done according to the Torah, called Hora’a (instruction), meaning what should be corrected within me next.

Is there any connection between that and our relationships in everyday life?

No connection whatsoever. You might meet a person on the street who seems wicked or foolish, or someone who seems smart, or someone who is completely righteous, but you cannot really tell about that person’s insides. It could be nothing but an act.

From The Zohar: A Woman Who Strayed

Why should a man bring his wife to a priest and not to a judge? The judge is the best man of the queen, correcting the Malchut for a Zivug with ZA. Hence, the correction of the flaw of the straying woman, which reaches Malchut, belongs to him. ...Only the priest is fit for it. It is the quality of Bina, the strong quality of bestowal. Priests have a special character. It is such a powerful and strong desire, and so corrected in order to bestow, that it can add to itself all the small, corrupted desires and correct them ... because he is the queen’s best man. Also, all the women in the world are blessed by the Assembly of Israel ... while the priest is poised to correct the words of the queen, Malchut, and look into all that she needs. This is why only the priest is worthy of it, and none other.

Zohar for All, Nasso (Take), item 61

We talked about the strength of the priest, but this portion also mentions hermits and even rules about them. What is a hermit?

A “hermit” is anyone who limits himself or herself. If a person who weighs 300lb (136 kg) stops eating something, does that make him or her a hermit? Likewise, when we see that we cannot work with the revelation of the Creator, with the great pleasures being revealed, and we take everything for ourselves and become egoists once more, we limit ourselves and do not draw these pleasures. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is considered “not drawing light of Hochma.” Such a person does not touch grapes or grape products, such as wine. This is called “being a hermit.” However, it is not so for a priest, who is permitted to have some of it.

These are forms of correction that everyone will have to experience in some of their desires. Through them, we correct the desire and move on. In that state, we already know how to use the light of Hochma from below upward and receive it. Everything that was forbidden was only for lack of strength to use it with the aim to bestow.

Assume that a person offers us a box of great chocolates, and we love sweets. Although we could give it to others, we say, “Don’t give it to me.” This is called “being a hermit.” Afterward, we acquire a bigger Masach (screen), and acquire a measure of love for someone, and that measure is greater than the love we have for the chocolate. Now we say, “Give it to me” because we are now ready to make an act of bestowal, to pass this light, this pleasure, to another.

In our world, Kabbalists talk about having to enjoy life, marry, and lead a normal life. That is, we can do anything as long as we bring these pleasures to a spiritual level and not lose them on the corporeal one. After all, on the corporeal level we cannot enjoy everything in life.

The Torah teaches us how to rise to such a level of pleasure that it will flow through us to others and return, going back and forth. This is called “spiritual life”—endless, whole, and to which we are being elevated. When we grab for ourselves everything we think we deserve, it immediately stops the flow and leaves us with nothing in its stead until we die. However, if we enter the circle of energy, flow, knowledge, and sensation of endless pleasures—because it passes among everyone—we are regarded as leading a spiritual life.

What is a blessing in spirituality?

A “blessing in spirituality” is a force that exists on the level of Bina, influencing lower desires and blessing them, leading them to the level of Bina, too. A blessing is the degree of bestowal, Bina; it is the ability to bestow, to give.