Parashat Bamidbar 5769--the roots of existence

This week we begin a new Book of Torah, the book of Bamidbar or Numbers. Bamidbar begins with a census taking. All of the Israelites are counted and the number comes to 600,000. There are many famous commentaries on this counting. One of my favorites comes from the Sefat Emet, a collection of hasidic teachings written on the weekly Torah portions. The Sefat Emet was written by Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter, and was published in Poland in the first years of the twentieth century.

The Sefat Emet explains:

The midrash refers to this counting of the children of Israel as being ‘like the scribe’s count.’ Just as the Torah has words and letters that are subject to counting but its root is high above, beyond all count, so, too, are the souls of Israel countable in this world, while in their root they are beyond number. Thus the holy books say that the 600,000 Jews [who came out of Egypt] are parallel to the 600,000 letters in the Torah.

The Sefat Emet cites here a well known mystical teaching, one which equates the number of souls that came out of Egypt with the number of letters in the Torah. While the Torah actually has just over 300,000 letters in it, the spiritual lesson here is worth reflecting upon.

Two questions to consider:

1. Why would Jewish mystics make this link between people and letters?
2. Why would Jewish mystics assert that the roots of both letters and people were beyond their counting?

The answers to both questions lie within the Sefat Emet itself:

The Torah that lies before us is in the garb of Torah. It is by means of study that we arouse the force that lies within it. That is the real power of Israel: to awaken the root of Torah. For the same is true of the human soul; the nefesh is but the garb of the neshamah that lies within it. And that neshamah, or deeper soul, is part of God above.

Mystical Jewish teachers believe that the Torah as we know it (the Torah of letters and words) is actually only a garb, a cloak covering the real essence (the roots) of Torah. It is by study and deeper reflection that we are able to unlock the true Torah from its shell. The same is true of human beings. The true essence of who we are (our roots) is covered by our shell. Underneath that shell is our truest form, our neshamah, our deeper soul, the divine spark within us. That divine spark is only unleashed when we attend to our own spiritual work and contemplation.

According to the mystics, what we see around us, including Torah and ourselves, is only the outer layer of true existence. If we take the time to peel back that which is apparent, we will uncover the true deeper unity that defines existence.

Our spiritual work this Shabbat is clear: Let us take moments to search beyond the obvious, to peer into the core of what we know, and open ourselves up to the deeper reality that pulsates all around us.