"A Time of Transition"

This Shabbat marks a time of transition.  We are now in the last week of the "Sefirat HaOmer,"  the count of forty-nine days that raised the Jewish People from the Physical Redemption of "Pesach" to the even more momentous Spiritual Redemption of "Shavuot," "Zeman Matan Torateinu," when we commemorate the transition of the Torah from Heaven to Earth.

It is the Shabbat that we begin reading a new "Sefer Torah," when we "transition" from the Book of Vayikra to the Book of BaMidbar.  Last week, we finished Sefer Vayikra, full of Temple-related Commands many of which are now suspended during our Exile, but for which we pray that they be re-instituted, in the time of Mashiach, in the Third Temple that he will build "soon and in our days," and then last forever.

As the RAMBAN concludes his Commentary on the Book of Vayikra with a beautiful poem,

"May G-d, the Most High, restore matters to their former condition,

The Levites to their Song, the Priests to their Ministry,

And Israel to their Mighty Habitation.

And may our eyes behold Jerusalem, the Garden of the Palace;

And "The Palace upon its wonted place,

The Temple and Innermost Sanctuary upon their firm foundation,

And the daughters of Judah in their security." (Yirmiyahu 30:18)

"Then will the Offering of Judah be pleasant unto the Eternal

As in days of old and as in ancient years…" (Malachi 3:4)

And Acceptable upon His Altar will be the Daily Whole Offerings,

In their Order, and the Additional Offerings, according to their Law.

Finished and completed is the Book of Vayikra with the Help of G-d."

And we begin the Book of BaMidbar, a Book about a transitional period in the life of the Jewish People.  Despite being saved miraculously by HaShem at the "Yam Suf," the Sea of Reeds, and in Egypt, they still lacked sufficient faith in Him and in themselves.  They could not picture themselves as conquerors of the mighty Nations of Canaan, and as inheritors of the Land of Israel; hence they committed the terrible sin of believing the Report delivered by the "Meraglim," the unfaithful "Scouts."  Hence they were barred by the Holy One from entering the Promised Land, and were cast back into the desert.

"BaMidbar" is a book full of sadness, rebellion and frustration, one of the Books of the  "Torah," the Divine Law, with virtually none of the Laws that apply for all time except, as  the RAMBAN mentions in his Introduction to the Book, the completion of a few matters that were introduced in "Vayikra," but their complete explanations were not given there.

The Story of the "Wandering Jews" had begun; exiled already, even before they reached their Homeland.  Wandering from place to place in the Desert until, after the forty-second stop, they would finally enter the Promised Land.

But now, when the People reached "Arvot Moav," the Plains of Moav, a transition in leadership would be deemed necessary by the Almighty.  Moshe, the greatest Prophet, the "faithful servant" of HaShem, whose face shone like the sun, and symbolized the great miracles of Egypt and the Desert, had to step aside in favor of Yehoshua.  Yehoshua was the faithful disciple of Moshe who never left the tent of his master, whose face shone also, but only like the moon, symbolizing the entry of the People into the Land of Israel, where they would begin to lead a more "normal" life.

The First Temple would be built by "Shelomo HaMelech," King Solomon, and stand for about four hundred years; until it would be destroyed by the Babylonians, who exiled the Jews for seventy years.  The Jews would rebuild the Temple under the leadership of the great Ezra, with Nechemiah and Zerubavel at his side.  This Second Temple would stand for about six hundred years until it too was destroyed, this time by the Romans, who burnt down the Temple and the magnificent City in which it stood, Yerushalayim, massacring or exiling almost its entire population.  The Jewish People went sadly into Exile all over the world for about two thousand years.

Master of the Universe, let the Trumpet Call of Transition, already sounding, grow louder and louder, until the Jewish People returns en masse to Yerushalayim to greet the Mashiach!

Rabbi Pinchas Frankel

Rabbi Frankel is an Educational Coordinator at the OU