Bemidbar Rabbah

‫במדבר רבה‬

Chapter 1

...Another interpretation of 'And God spoke to Moses' - happy is Moses, [in] that sixty
thousand are standing there, and the kohanim, and the levites, and the elders, all are
standing there, and He only speaks to Moses.

...And God spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai. Why in the desert of Sinai? From here
our sages taught [that] through three things Torah is given: fire, and water and desert.
How do we know [Torah is given] through fire? 'and the mountain of Sinai was all full
of smoke' (Exodus 19:18). And through water? '...also the Heavens, also the clouds
dropped water' (Judges 5:4) And through the desert? 'And God spoke to Moses in the
desert of Sinai'. And why was it given through those three things? To point out that, just
as these are free for all the inhabitants of the world, so too the words of Torah are free,
as it is written 'Hey, everyone who is thirsty, go to water' (Isaiah 55:1). Another
interpretation of 'And God spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai' - whoever does not
make him/herself open to all [lit. ownerless], like a desert is not able to acquire wisdom
and Torah, therefore it is written 'in the desert of Sinai'...

Chapter 3

A righteous person will flourish like a date palm. No part of the date palm is wasted: Its
dates are eaten; its young branches are used for ritual blessing [of the lulav on sukkot];
its fronds cover the Sukkah; its fibers are used to make ropes; its leaves are used for
sieves; its planed trunks are used for roof beams. So too there are none worthless in
Israel: Some are versed in the Bible; others know Mishnah; some are masters of
aggadah [stroytelling]; others do good deeds; still others promote social equity.

Another [explanation]: "Bring close the tribe of Levi, etc." - this is [the meaning of]
what is written (Psalms 65:5), "Happy is the one whom You have chosen and You have
brought close": Happy is the one whom the Holy One, blessed be He, has chosen, even
though he has not brought him close. And happy is the man that He has brought close,
even though He has not chosen him. And who is the one whom He has chosen? That is
Avraham, as it is stated (Nehemiah 9:7), "You are He, Lord God, Who chose Avram."
But He did not bring him close, but rather he brought himself close. The Holy One,
blessed be He, chose Yaakov, as it is stated (Psalms 135:4), "For Yaakov did the Lord
choose." And so [too] it says (Isaiah 41:8), "Yaakov whom You have chosen." But He
did not bring him close, but rather he brought himself close, as it is stated (Genesis
25:27), "Yaakov was a simple man that sat in tents." He chose Moshe, as it is stated
(Psalms 106:23), "were it not for Moshe, His chosen"; but He did not bring him close.
Happy are those that the Holy One, blessed be He, chose, even though He did not bring
them close. Come and see - the Holy One, blessed be He, brought Yitro close, but He
did not choose him. He brought Rachav the prostitute close but He did not choose her.
Happy are these that whom He brought close, even though He did not choose them. A
[Roman] matron asked Rabbi Yose, "[Does] your God bring close whomever He wants
(arbitrarily)?" [So] he brought a basket of figs in front of her and she would choose a
nice one, she would choose it and eat it. He said to her, "You know how to choose,
[does] the Holy One, blessed be He not know how to choose? The one whom He sees
has good deeds, He chooses him and brings him close." Rabbi Nechemiah [said] in the
name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Rabbi Yitschak, "Not all who are close are close, and not all
who are distant are distant. There is one who is chosen and pushed off and brought
close, [and] there is one who is chosen and pushed off and not brought close. Aharon
was chosen - (I Samuel 2:28) 'And I chose him from all the tribes of Israel for Me as a
priest.' And he was pushed off - (Deuteronomy 9:20) 'And with Aharon did the Lord get
angry.' And it is written [after the event that the last verse cited was referring to]
(Exodus 28:1), 'And you should bring close to you Aharon your brother.' Shaul was
chosen - (I Samuel 10:24) 'Have you seen the one that the Lord chose?' And he was
pushed off - (ibid., 15:11) 'I have regretted that I have crowned Shaul, etc.' And he was
not brought close [again] - (ibid., 16:1) 'And I have been disgusted with him from ruling
over Israel.' David was chosen - (Psalms 78:70) 'And He chose David, His servant.' And
he was pushed off - (II Samuel 15:16-17) 'And the king went out, and all of household
on his heels,... and they stood in Beit Merchak.'" Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, "They
excommunicated him. Nonetheless, he accepted his excommunication. This is [the
meaning] of that which is written, (II Samuel 15:30) 'and David went up to the Ascent
of Olives, he went up and cried, and his head was covered.'" "And he was brought close
[again]." Rabbi Yudan said, "Eira Hayairi, the teacher of David, brought him close. This
is what David says (Psalms 119:79), 'Let those that fear You (<i>yeirecha</i>) return to
me, and they that know Your testimonies' - ['they that know'] is written as 'he that
knows,' [meaning that] Eira Hayairi was his teacher and brought [David] close." Rabbi
Yehoshua of Sakhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi, "There are six that were chosen:
the priesthood; the order of Levi; Israel; the monarchy of the house of David;
Jerusalem; [and] the Temple. From where [do we know this about] the priesthood?
Since it is written (I Samuel 2:28), 'And I chose him from all the tribes of Israel for Me
as a priest.' From where [do we know this about] the order of Levi? As it is stated
(Deuteronomy 18:5), 'As he was chosen by the Lord, your God.' From where [do we
know this about]Israel? As it is stated (Ibid., 7:6), 'the Lord, your God, chose you.' From
where [do we know this about] the monarchy of the house of David? As it is stated
(Psalms 78:70), 'And He chose David, His servant.' From where [do we know this
about] Jerusalem? As it is stated (I Kings 11:32), 'the city that you chose.' From where
[do we know this about] the Temple? As it stated (II Chronicles 7:16), 'I have chosen
and sanctified this house.'" David [meant to say in Psalms 65:5], "Happy is the one
whom the Holy One, blessed be He, has chosen, and happy is the one that He has
brought close. And who is the one who is doubly happy? The one that the Holy One,
blessed be He, chose and brought close." And who is that? That is Aharon and [the tribe
of] Levi. From where [do we know this about] Aharon? Since it is written (I Samuel
2:28), "And I chose him from all the tribes of Israel for Me as a priest." And from where
[do we know] that He brought him close? As it is stated (Exodus 28:1), "And you
should bring close to you Aharon your brother." The Holy One, blessed be He chose
Levi, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 18:5), "As he was chosen by the Lord, your God."
And from where [do we know] that He brought him close? As it is stated [here], "Bring
close the tribe of Levi, and stand [it up]." And about them the verse (Psalms 65:5) says,
"Happy is the one whom You have chosen and You have brought close, who dwells in
your courtyards"; as you say (Numbers 3:7), "And they shall keep his charge, and the
charge of the whole congregation, etc." [The continuation of Psalms 65:5 is:] "let us be
satiated from the good of Your house" - that thy would eat from the tithes that were
brought to the [Temple], as you would say (Numbers 18:21), "To the house of Levi,
behold, I have given all tithe in Israel for an inheritance, etc."

Chapter 4

Another interpretation: "Number all the first-born males..." (Numbers 3:40) This is what
is written (Song of Songs 6:8-9): "There are threescore queens ... My dove, my
undefiled, is but one ..." Compare in parable to a person who had a sales-bundle of glass
stones and would bring them them to the market, but would not notice their number,
since he would not bring them out by number. He would go in to put them away and
would not put them away by number, since he would not care about them, as they were
glass. But he had one sales-bundle of precious pearls, and he would take it and bring it
out by number and put it away by number. Similarly, so to speak, the Holy One Blessed
be He said to the nations of the world, "I have not assigned a number. Why? Because
they are not important to me at all. As it says (Isaiah 40:17), 'All the nations are as
nothing before Him.' But you are My children, as it says, (Isaiah 46:3), 'that are borne
[by Me] from the birth ...' Therefore, I count you all the time." Therefore, it is said
"Number all the first-born males." That is: "There are threescore queens ... My dove, my
undefiled, is but one ..." - these are Israel.

Chapter 8
Man or woman, who does any of the sins etc. - Rabi Abahu says (Hosea 14:8): 'Those
that dwell under His shadow' those are the gerim that come and have love for the
shadow of the Holy One of Blessing. 'They shall grow as grain' in [the study of]
Talmud. 'Shall blossom as vine' in [the study of] Aggadah. 'His memory/scent shall be
as the wine of Lebanon' - said the Holy One of Blessing: "The appreciation of the gerim
is as dear to me as the wine that was poured on the altar [as libation.]" And why does
He call it [the altar] Lebanon (root LVN)? Because it whitens (maLViN) the sins of
Israel like snow, as it is written (Isaiah 1:18) 'though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be as white as snow.' Rabi Shimon Bar Yochai says: because all the hearts (LeVavot)
become happy due to it. As it says (Psalms 48:2): 'Fair in situation, the joy of the whole
earth.' And the rabbis say - because of the verse (II Kings 9:3) 'and My eyes and My
heart shall be there perpetually.' Another interpretation: 'they will grow as grain' - they
will make the essence, they are like Israel; as it is said (Zechariah 9:17) 'grain [for] the
young men [of Israel]'. 'They shall blossom as vine', as [just like] Israel, as it says
(Psalms 80:9) 'You plucked a vine from Egypt.' And so you find that, just as a portion
of the Torah was written regarding one Israel and another - that if he misappropriated
something of him, that he is obligated to a sacrifice, as it is written (Leviticus 5:21) 'If
any one sin, and commit a trespass etc.' - so too you find that the Holy One of Blessing
wrote a portion of the Torah regarding what goes on between Israel and gerim, that if a
man from Israel steals from a ger, the judgement is as if he stole from another man from
Israel. You find that regarding this it is written 'a sin that he sinned' and regarding
stealing from a ger it is written 'from any sins of a man.' Regarding this one it is written
'and trespassed a trespass against the Lord' and regarding this one it is written 'to
trespass a trespass against the Lord.' Regarding this one it is written: 'And it will be,
when he sins and is guilty' and regarding the ger it is written 'and that soul will be
guilty'. Regarding this one it is written: 'And he will pay with his head' and regarding
the ger it is written 'and he will return his guilt with his head'. Regarding this one it is
written: 'and he will add his fifth' and regarding the ger it is written 'and he will add a
fifth'. Regarding this one it is written: 'and he will bring his guilt-offering to the Lord'
and regarding stealing a ger it is written 'besides the ram for the kipurim'. Behold we
have learned: that the essence of the gerim is like Israel's. Therefore, they will be as
grain and blossom.

Chapter 12

The tabernacle (Mishkan). This is like that which is written "How goodly are your tents,
Jacob" (Numbers 24:5). "How goodly are your tents, Jacob" this is the tent of meeting
(ohel moed) that is in the wilderness and in Shiloh and Nov and Gibon. "Your dwelling
places, Israel" (ibid). Don't read "your dwelling" (mishkenotecha) but your forfeits
Israel (machknotecha) since the tabernacle and Temple were forfeited by Israel because
of their sin. How do we know this is true of the sanctuary? As it is said "the Temple at
Shiloh was abandoned , the tent which man dwelt in" (Psalm 88:60) since it was
abandoned by Israel which are called "man," i.e. The sheep of my shepherding, are men
(Ezekiel 34:31). How do we know it is true of the Temple? Since it says "he poured out
his wrath; he lit a fire in Zion" (Lamentations 4:11)and is further says "we have dealt
injured you (havul)"(Nechemiah 1:7) . This is the first temple as it is said, "If you take
your neighbors garment in a pledge (havul) ( (Exodus 22:25). So it is called tabernalce
(Mishkan) since God said to Moses: Say to Israel that I will make you a tabernacle (or
pledge) but if you sin I will take it back from their hands.

Chapter 13

One silver basin represents the Torah which has been likened to wine, as it is stated,
"And drink of the wine which I have mingled" (Mishlei 9:5). Now because it is
customary to drink wine in a basin – as you may gather from the text, "They who drink
wine in basins" (Amos 6:6) – therefore, he brought a basin. Why "of seventy shekels,
after the shekel of the sanctuary"? As the numerical value of yayin (wine) is seventy, so
there are shivim panim la’Torah (seventy facets/sides of Torah).

Chapter 16

These are the names of the men (Numbers 13:16): What were their names? Sethur the
son of Michael; Nahbi the son of Vophsi; Geuel the son of Machi. There are people
whose names are nice and whose actions are ugly, people whose names are ugly and
actions are nice, people whose names and actions are nice, and people whose names and
actions are ugly. Whose names are nice and whose actions are ugly - this is Ishmael and
Esau: Ishmael means "listens to God" ("<i>Shomea El</i>"). Esau means "does the will
of his Maker" ("<i>Oseh Retzon Osav</i>"). But their actions are bad. Whose names
are ugly and whose actions are nice - these are those who ascended from exile: the
children of Barak, the children of Sisera, and the children of Tamach. Whose names and
actions are ugly - these are the spies. What is written about them? Sethur - that he closed
him off ("<i>setharo</i>") from the world.

Chapter 17

(1) "When you come to the land of your dwellings": What is the halacha of how many
things a person is obligated to do for his son? Our rabbis taught: A person is obligated
to do five things for his son. G-d can be compared to a father and the Jewish people to
His son. Just like a father is obligated to circumcise his son, G-d did so for the Jews by
circumcising them by the hand of Yehoshua as it says (Joshua 5:2) "Make for yourself
stone knives." A father is obligated to redeem his son [if he is a firstborn] and G-d
redeemed the Jews, as it says [II Samuel 7:23) "to redeem it as a nation." [A father is
obligated] to teach [his son] Torah, [and] G-d taught the Jews Torah as it says
(Deuteronomy 11:19) "Teach them to your children" and it is written "I am G-d your
teacher." [A father is obligated] to teach [his son] mitsvot, [and] G-d taught the mitsvot
to the Jews. [A father is obligated] to marry [his son] to a woman, [and] G-d told
mankind: "Be fruitful and multiply." A father is obligated to his son [in the following
ways]: to give him food and drink, to bathe him, to give him ointments, and to clothe
him, and thus did G-d for the Jews, as it is written (Ezekiel 16: 9) "And I washed you in
water, and I washed away your blood...and I clothed you with embroidered
clothing...and My bread which I gave you..." [and in Numbers 21:17] "Arise, o well,
sing to it." What does a father give to a son? Possessions. Thus G-d did for the Jews, as
it says in Jeremiah 3:18, "And I gave you a beloved land." And what must a son give to
his father? A gift. Thus G-d said to the Jews, "When you come to the land...and bring an
olah-offering to G-d."

(2) Thus opened Rabbi Tanchuma bar Abba, in the name of Rabbi Chanina brother of
Rabbi Acha ben Rabbi Chanina:

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

This is the ordinance - As it is said verse (Job:14): Who gave (brought forth) purity to
one who is impure? , such as Abraham from Terah, Hezekiah from Achaz, etc , Israel
from the nations of the world, the world to come from this world. Who did so, who
commanded so, who decreed it so, if not The One! (the world's only!) ....! There we
learned (Parah 4:4): those who occupy themselves with the Parah from beginning to
end, impurify their clothes, but it makes clothes Pure. God said: I carved a law (into the
fabric of creation), a decree i made, you have no ability to transgress (override) My
law!

This is the ordinance of the Torah - (Psalms 12:6) The sayings of G-d are pure (purify).
R. Hanan Ben Pazzi elucidated this verse [of psalms with the parsha of Parah] Parah-
which has seven seven sevens; seven cows, seven fires, seven sprinkling, seven washes,
seven unclean, seven pure, seven priests. And if someone tells you they are five, tell
him: Moses and Aaron are included, as it is said: And the Lord spoke to Moses and
Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the Torah:

...And they will take for you a red cow - Rabbi Yose son of Rabbi Hanina says, The
Holy One blessed be he said to Moses: "to you I will reveal the reason for the red cow,
but for others it will be a decree (without reason)", as Rav Huna says, "it is written
(Psalms 75:3) "At the time I choose, I will give judgment righteously/equitably", and it
is written (Zechariah 14:6), "And it will come to pass on that day there will not be light,
yeqarot and qippa'on. The written [tradition of orthography in scrolls] version is
"yiqpa'un" {future tense = they will float}, [meaning] things which are hidden/covered
from you in this world, in the future will float up [to the surface] in the world to come."

...R. Acha in the name of R. Chanina said: At the time when Moses ascended to the
heavenly heights, he heard the voice of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, who was sitting
and studying the [Torah portion of] the Red Heifer, and uttering a halakhah in the name
of the one who spoke it. "R. Eliezer said: a calf [when written in the Torah] is one year
old, and a cow is two [years old]." [Moses] said before Him: "Master of All the Worlds!
May it be Your will that he [R. Eliezer] would be from my loins [i.e. would be my
descendant]." [God] said to him: "By your life [i.e. assuredly] he is from your loins! For
so it says in Scripture (Exodus 18:4): "...and the name of the other [son of Moses] was
'Eliezer'...", the same particular name.

A gentile asked Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, "These rituals you do, they seem like
witchcraft! You bring a heifer, burn it, crush it up, and take its ashes. [If] one of you is
impure by the dead [the highest type impurity], 2 or 3 drops are sprinkled on him, and
you declare him pure?!" He said to him, "Has a restless spirit ever entered you?" He
said to him, "No!" "Have you ever seen a man where a restless spirit entered him?" He
said to him, "Yes!" [Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai] said to him, "And what did you do
for him?" He sad to him, "We brought roots and made them smoke beneath him, and
pour water and it flees." He said to him, "Your ears should hear what leaves from your
mouth! The same thing is true for this spirit, the spirit of impurity, as it is written,
(Zachariah 13:2) "Even the prophets and the spirit of impurity will I remove from the
land." They sprinkle upon him purifying waters, and it [the spirit of impurity] flees."
After he left, our rabbi's students said, "You pushed him off with a reed. What will you
say to us?" He said to them, "By your lives, a dead person doesn't make things impure,
and the water doesn't make things pure. Rather, God said, 'I have engraved a rule, I have
decreed a decree (chukah chakakti, gezeira gazarti), and you have no permission to
transgress what I decreed, as it says "This is a chok (rule) of the Torah."
"Take the rod ... give the congregation and their cattle drink" -- From here [we learn]
that the Holy One takes pity on Israel's money. "And Moses and Aaron gathered the
assembly together before the rock" -- similarly it says "And all of the congregation he
gathers to the door of the tent of meeting." This teaches that each one saw himself
standing on the face of the rock. Likewise, when they crossed the Jordan, all of the
Children of Israel entered between the staves of the ark, as it says (Joshua 3): "Joshua
said to the Children of Israel, come near and listen to the words of Hashem." [Similarly]
here all of Israel were standing and seeing all of the miracles of the rock. They began to
say "Moses knows the rule of the rock. If he asks, it will bring forth water." So Moses
was uncertain -- "If I listen to them I nullify the words of the Allpresent, and the Holy
One (Job 5:13) 'takes the wise in the‫ן‬r craftiness.'" But Moses had been careful for 40
years not to get angry at them, because he was terrified of the oath the Holy One swore:
"Not one of these men will see [the land]..." They said to him: "Here is a rock; just as
you want to bring forth water from another rock, bring it forth from this one." He
shouted at them "Hear now, you rebels!" "Rebels (morim)" has many meanings: 1)
"stubborn ones" 2) "fools" -- in the sea villages they call fools "morim". 3) "those who
teach their teachers" 4) "archers" (In I Sam 30:3 the word "morim" is used to mean
"archers".) ... Even so, Moses only used the rock that the Holy One told him [to use].

Chapter 20

"And Balak son of Zippor saw": The Torah says (Deuteronomy 32) "The Rock--perfect
is His work for all of His ways are justice." Hashem did not give the non-Jews an
opening to say in the future "You have distanced us." What did Hashem do? Just like
He set up kings and sages and prophets for the Jews, He set these up for the non-Jews.
He set up Shlomo as a king over the Jews and the entire earth, and He did the same for
Nebuchadnezzar. This one built the Beit Hamikdash and said "How many praises and
supplications there are!" and this one destroyed it and scoffed and said (Isaiah 14): "I
will ascend to the heights of the clouds." He gave David riches, and he took his house
for His Name. And he gave Haman riches, and he took an entire nation to be
slaughtered. All the greatness that the Jews took, you find that the nations took. Another
example: He set up Moshe for the Jews and Bilaam for the nations. Understand what the
difference is between Jewish prophets and non-Jewish prophets? Jewish prophets exhort
the people about their sins, as it says (Ezekiel 3): "And you, son of man, I have
appointed you as a watchman etc." And the prophet from among the nations caused a
breach to drive the creations from the world. Not only this, but all the prophets were
[given prophecy] from the attribute of mercy on the Jews and the non-Jews, as
Yirmiyah said (Jeremiah 48): "My heart to Moav is as pipes moan." And as Yechezkel
said (Ezekiel 27): "Son of man, lament for Tyre." And this cruel one stood to uproot an
entire nation for no reason. Therefore the passage of Bilaam was written, to make it
known why Hashem took away the holy spirit from non-Jews, for this one was from
them and see what he did.

"And Balak the son of Zippor saw"

Chapter 21

<b>And the daughters of Tzelophad approached:</b> In that generation, the women

would seal what the men would puncture. As so do you find that Aharon said to them
(Exodus 32:2), "Remove the earrings of gold that are in the ears of your wives" - and
the women did not want and they protested against their husbands, as it is stated
(Exodus 32:3), "And the entire people removed the earrings of gold, etc." And the
women did not participate with them in the [building of the] golden calf. And so [too]
with the scouts that put out calumny: "And they came back and they brought the entire
congregation to complain" (Numbers 14:36), and upon them was the decree decreed, as
they [were the ones that] said, "we cannot go up" (Numbers 13:31). But the women
were not with them in the counsel, as it it written beyond this section (Numbers 26:65),
"As God said to them, 'You shall surely die in the desert,' and not a man remained from
them except for Calev the son of Yefuneh" - [it is written] "a man," but not a woman;
because of [the men] not wanting to enter the land, but the women approached to
request an inheritance in the land. Therefore, this section is written adjacent to the death
of the generation of the wilderness (that came out of Egypt) - as from there did the men
puncture and the women seal.

Chapter 23

A Halakha: <u>Is one who is pursued by non-Jews or bandits allowed to transgress the
laws of Sabbath?</u> Our Rabbis taught: One who is pursued by non-Jews or bandits is
permitted to transgress the laws of Sabbath, in order to save his life. Thus we also find
with David: When Saul attempted to kill him, he fled and escaped. Our Rabbis said: It
once happened that they came to the [Jewish] leadership in Sepphoris with harsh orders
from the [Roman] government. They went and said to R. Elazar b. Parta: O Rabbi! We
have received harsh orders from the government. What do you say we should do, should
we flee? He feared telling them to flee explicitly, so he hinted to them: "Why are you
asking me? Go and ask Yaakov, Moshe, and David". What does it say about Yaakov?
(Hosea 12): "And Jacob fled." Also about Moshe, (Exodus 2): "Moshe fled." And also
about David, (I Samuel 19): "David fled and escaped." It also says (Isaiah 26): "Go my
people, enter your rooms." The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: Such great ones
were fearful and fled from those who hated them, yet for those forty years that you were
in the desert, I did not let them flee. Instead I felled all their haters before them, in that I
myself that was with them. Not only that, but there were all kinds of snakes, serafim,
and scorpions there: (Deuteronomy 8): "Snakes, sefarim, and scorpions", yet I did not
allow them to hurt you. Therefore The Holy One Blessed Be He said to Moshe: Record
the journeys that Israel undertook in the desert, it order that they should know what kind
of miracles I performed from them. How [will they know]? From all that they read
regarding "These are the journeys".