by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine

The Book of Bamidbar, or “Numbers” as it is known, begins with a mitzvah to obtain the count of the Jewish people. What is interesting is that the total is exactly the same as the count that took place just a few months earlier when the Jews built the Mishkan/ Sanctuary and each of the Jews donated a half Shekel coin to the project. In both cases the total number of men between the ages of 20 and 60 was 603,550. How was it that a few months later the numbers were exactly the same? And, if in fact the numbers didn’t change, why did G-d give the command to recount the people?

Rav Shternbuch gives a most insightful answer. He explains that one thing did change between the counts. That is, the tribe of Levi was separated to serve in the Mishkan and was no longer counted in the ranks of the regular army. One who observed this undoubtedly wondered if this would cause the army to be smaller. Observance of this mitzvah could cause someone to worry that the security of the nation was being compromised.

G-d specifically orchestrated that the when the tribe of Levi was removed from the count for their spiritual role, its numbers would be replaced with the same exact number of people who would come of age during that time and would be counted. The reason for the second count was so that the people should discover that, despite the mitzvah, the numbers hadn’t changed at all. The message of the second count was that although moving forward in observance may be scary, and it seems like we may lose out, the reality is that we will not lose by moving forward, and the numbers were exactly the same.

Often in life moving forward, or even just maintaining pace, is a bit scary. We sometimes wish that we can turn the clock back to something that we are more familiar with. However, as much as it is true that one can learn from the past, one cannot actually live in the past. Invariably, when we attempt to turn the clock back it does not produce satisfying results.

I recall from my youth a middle aged gentleman who, after 25 years of a delightful marriage, became a widower. He was quite lonely and very “available”. One weekend, at a singles Shabbaton, he met his high school sweetheart from 30 years ago. They began dating, and shortly thereafter they announced their engagement. Most of us in the community were happy for him. But I was present in the home of my Rebbe when he was told this “fantastic” news. I still recall how he gripped the table, and moaned mournfully in sadness, “No, no, no…No, no, no.” His cries were like those of someone who sees a friend headed for disaster but knows that his advice would not be heeded.

I didn’t quite understand what my Rebbe was so troubled about, until a week after the marriage, it turned into a divorce.

This is not a commentary about second marriages. Second marriages can and should work. But it is a commentary about the attempt to turn the clock back. It is common for a human being faced with an enormous problem to illusion to themselves that somehow by turning the clock back, everything will be okay. It doesn’t work. People and circumstances change over time. It is not helpful to live in yesterday.

Not only is the concept of moving forward an important one in observance and in handling life’s challenges, but it is also an important concept in world politics. Recently, a suggestion was floated that the State of Israel should perhaps consider going back to the 1967 borders, before the Six Day War. Somehow, it was suggested, doing so would solve all of the problems in the Mideast conflict.

Personally, I found it surprising that this idea was floated as a suggested solution at all. I found it so surprising because I don’t believe most people are bad. I find it hard to believe that so many of the International Community are sinister or evil.

So, how does one forget the tanks that Syria lined up on Israel’s borders so menacingly such that Israel had no choice but to decisively act with a preemptive strike? How does one create amnesia on the Arab media anticipating “another Holocaust for the Jews”, and Egypt’s threat to “push Israel into the sea.”? One look at the proposed pre-1967 borders makes it clear that such a proposal is unsafe, as it would make the territory vulnerable to a split between the North and the South.

So how could anyone knowledgeable of history, and aware of today’s terrorist threats, suggest such a proposal? Yet this is a vulnerability of mankind. When we face a vexing problem we have a vulnerability of thinking that if we could only turn the clock back then all would be good.

I don’t know if the situation before the ’67 war could be called “good and peaceful”, but it is the nature of mankind to think that the past was “Really Good”. As King Shlomo warned, “Don’t say that the days of old were ‘much better’, because that is not the way of wisdom.”

In our desperate quest for a solution we may be willing to imagine many things. We may be willing to imagine that the dismantling of Gush Katif never happened, and that it didn’t turn into a staging ground for terrorism. We may even be willing to make believe that hundreds of missiles weren’t launched at Sederot. But this is not the way of wisdom that King Shlomo urges us to follow.

The way to deal with a difficult problem is to deal with it. Yet there is a human tendency to try to turn the clock back and illusion the idyllic times that existed “once upon a time”.

I recall a certain boy in my elementary school class who was a bit distracted. He would wander in the back of the classroom “like a chicken without a head.” Today he is a well respected community leader, and I am proud to have been his classmate. But at the time, one teacher captured his nature quite well. He said, “Moishe… What are you doing? …Are you looking for yesterday?”

Looking for yesterday is very tempting. But it is a fantasy that we can ill afford. It is far better to meet the challenges of today. So let us put our best foot forward, and pray that by doing mitzvos, the numbers will always come out right.

© 2014 by TEACH613