“…And when the Ark halted, Moses would say: Return, Oh Lord, You who are Israel’s myriads of thousands…” (Num. 10:36)

For the Biblical scholar, the idea of a ‘mobile God’ who accompanies the people of Israel when they travel, and rests with them when they come to a halt, may be an indication that our forefathers believed in a powerful God, but not necessarily a universal God, who is everywhere at all times. Our Sages overcame this difficulty by creating a new concept: God is indeed everywhere at all times, but there may be a concentration of God’s presence in one place, which is called ‘Shekhinah’. There is almost an identity between the people of Israel and ‘Shekhinah’. Shekhinah - God’s presence - travels with us in all our wanderings. It needs rest, just like we do. “Return, Oh Lord, You who are Israel’s myriads of thousands” is a call for Divine Providence to rest not only with us but also upon us. Shekhinah* even goes to exile with our people.

What is meant by ‘Israel’s myriads of thousands’? Our Sages believed that this phrase stresses the importance of quantity. A midrash on this phrase points out that “Shekhinah (Divine presence) does not rest upon less than two myriads and two thousands (22,000) Israelites” (Talmud, Yevamot 64a). However, Israel is known to be a people of quality, not of quantity:

“It is not because you are the numerous of peoples that the Lord chose you … indeed, you are the smallest of all peoples! (Deut.7:7).

Moreover, how do we reconcile this midrash with sayings in Pirkei Avot, which claim that God’s presence rests upon ten people, five, three, or two who devote themselves to the words of God, and even a single person who carries the yoke of Torah and mitzvot will merit divine presence? Paradoxically, the aim of this midrash in stressing the critical mass needed for Shekhinah is to emphasize the individual responsibility to fulfill the mitzvah of procreation. If your Jewish community numbers only 21,999 people and you could have brought one more child to the world but did not, the blame for the absence of Divine presence from your community is entirely upon you!

I believe that our Sages spoke of two kinds of experiencing Shekhinah. One is the individual experience of the joy of performing a mitzvah. When you have caused your fellow-Jew a great relief or a great joy, when you decipher a passage of Talmud or grasp the deeper meaning of a Biblical verse, then you experience Shekhinah as an individual. The other type is a religious experience: when you stand in the midst of hundreds or thousands who are united in the same prayer, the same chant, the same song, you feel that special excitement which is best described by the words: The voice of the multitude is the voice of God!

Recent Articles by Rabbi Gil Nativ

• Vaethannan, Shabbat and Tu B'av: Celebrating Renewal, Creation and Human Rights - August 14th, 2008
• Miqqez: Recognition & Rejection - December 7th, 2007
• Pinehas: Fanaticism and peace between man and his neighbor and between the nation and God. - July 13th, 2006
• Behar: From Slavery to Freedom - April 28th, 2006
• Gil Nativ - April 28th, 2006
• Shabbat HaGadol: Peace begins at home - April 6th, 2006
• Beha'alotekha: Critical mass and individual responsibility - June 16th, 2005

Categories: Behaalotekha, Bemidbar / Numbers
Tags: human rights, palestinians, rest, settlers