שאו את ראש, “take a census.” Our sages (Tanchuma Pinchas 4) explained the reason for this census at this time by means of a parable. A shepherd whose flock had been attacked by wolves which had killed many of his sheep counted the surviving sheep in order to assess his losses. Furthermore, seeing that Moses had counted the people shortly after the Exodus, now that he was close to the end of his career he wanted to prove that he had the same number of people at his command to hand over to his successor.

לבית אבותם, “according to their ancestral houses.” Tribal membership was based on the father and not on the mother (Rashi).

חנוך משפחת החנוכי, “Chanoch the clan of the Chanochites.” According to Rashi, the reason for such detailed emphasis on the certainty of the Israelites’ paternity was necessary to counter the sneering comments by the Gentiles who ridiculed the claim that the Egyptians during their control of the Jewish people had not been able to sleep with their wives. The Torah therefore testifies by the manner these descendants are attributed to their respective fathers that there was never a doubt about an Israelite’s paternity, i.e. his being fathered by an Israelite. By appending the two letters of the Lord’s name ה and י respectively to the front and end of the respective names of these people, G’d testified that the people mentioned were sired by Jews. David proclaims this even more clearly when he speaks about the tribes of Israel being שבטי י-ה, “the tribes of G’d” (Psalms 122,4). The extra letters are absent only in the name ימנה of the tribe of Asher as the name as it is without prefix or suffix already features the letters י and ה, respectively (verse 44).

ותבלע אותם ואת קרח במות העדה באכול האש, “it (the earth) swallowed them and Korach when the congregation died when the fire consumed them;” the verse introduces the name Korach between the words “it swallowed” and the words “when the fire consumed,” in order to teach us that Korach was both swallowed by the earth and burned by the fire. (I already mentioned this in Numbers 16,30).

ויהיו לנס, “they remained as an example.” Their fate was a warning for the Israelites not to question the institution of the hereditary priesthood (Rashi).

.ובני קרח לא מתו , “and Korach’s sons did not die.” Our sages in Megillah 14 explain these words to mean that there was a special place reserved for them in Gehinom where they remained. The site where the swallowing occurred and where judgment of these individuals occurs is known as Gehinom. Alternatively, the sages meant the real purgatory the entrance to which is close to the point where Korach and company were swallowed. (According to Eyruvin 19 there are a total of three such portals to purgatory). We find that sons (or descendants) of Korach sang hymns in the Holy Temple as we know from Psalms 47,1 and 48,1 and others.

בני שמעון למשפחותם, “the descendants of Shimon according to their families.” They are followed by the tribe of Gad, Yehudah, Issachar, Zevulun, Joseph. When the Torah comes to Ephrayim (one half of the tribe of Joseph) it adds the word אלה, “the following, these.” The same word אלה occurs before the Torah lists the descendants of the tribe of Dan. Why did the Torah add these words only with these two tribes? it is possible that the word אלה is an allusion to idolatry. The fact is that Jerobam, the first king of the Northern Kingdom who erected two golden calves to prevent the people under his rule from making the pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem was guilty of gross idolatry on many counts (compare kings I 12,29). The second of these golden calves was positioned in the territory of the tribe of Dan. The word אלה then is a reminder of the words אלה אלוהיך ישראל spoken by the Jewish people (or some of them) in Exodus 32,4. It is also interesting to note that among the families of these two tribes of the tribe of Ephrayim and Dan we find the names שותלח and שוחם, the first letters in these names are an allusion to the word שור, a simile for the golden calf. Moreover, the letter ש is reminiscent of the attribute of Justice based on what is written in the Sefer Yetzirah 6,1 according to which the letter n represents silence, whereas the letter ש symbolizes “calling out, yelling.”

In order to demonstrate that the sin of the golden calf had finally been forgiven and all the tribes are included in the שבטי י-ה, tribes of G’d,” all of these tribes deserve that the Shechinah provide a benevolent presence in their midst. On the other hand, the words: לאלה תחלק הארץ, mean that all these who had sinned and died in the desert. [Although they were originally slated to each have a share in the land, that share in various forms would now be given to their offspring, the next generation.] In verse 64 the Torah makes clear by again using the word אלה, that none of the people participating in this census had participated in the original census listed at the beginning of the Book of Numbers. Here the word אלה clearly means that these people had not had a share in the sin of the golden calf just as the Levites to whom the word אלה is applied in verse 57 had not had a part in the sin of the golden calf.

שש מאות אלף ואלף שבע מאות ושלושים, “six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty.” Remember that both this number and the number 603,550 given in Numbers 1,47 is not the total number of Israelites; their total number was beyond the ability of the enumerators to determine. On both occasions of the census only men over the age of twenty who were potentially soldiers in the army were counted. No doubt the total number of Israelites comprised many sick people, many who were physically weak and not fit to serve in the army, and many old people all of whom were not included in the count given by the Torah. As a result of all this the total number of the Jewish people was never revealed in Scripture. Ever since the family of Yaakov descended to Egypt they became the recipients of the Divine blessing which resulted in over 600,000 males leaving Egypt, not counting the children. The number reported in Exodus 12,37 remained the same throughout the revelation at Mount Sinai when a renewed blessing was bestowed on the people as per Numbers 1,1.

From all the above we learn that when the Torah was given at Mount Sinai the people already knew the precise number of males over 20. During the short ten months until the count in the desert of Sinai their number climbed to one that was beyond counting. The truth is that the number of Jews is beyond determination by means of a census. There has never been a time in Jewish history when the total number of Jews was known. G’d had already foretold Avraham that the number of his descendants would exceed the ability of people to count them (Genesis 15,5). Moses too said to the people shortly before his death (Deut. 1,10) “and here, as of this day, you are as numerous as the stars in heaven,” i.e. beyond counting. Even Bileam, our perennial opponent and sworn enemy, testified that ”the dust of Yaakov has defied the ability to be counted, neither have even a quarter of the Jewish nation been counted” (Numbers 23,10). We find that when David gave instructions (which were only partially carried out) to take a census of Israel’s fighting men that the number Yoav reported as having been counted was 1,3 million people (Samuel II 24,9). If this was the number of active, arms-bearing male Israelites at that time, the total number of Jews must have been several times that number. The verses in Scripture are even more convincing than extrapolations arrived at by our intelligence. Concerning the future, the prophet Isaiah states clearly that at that time the Jewish people will be more numerous than any (or all) the nations of the earth (as per Isaiah 54,1): “for the children of the forlorn wife shall outnumber those of the espoused, says the Lord.” Once the great ingathering of the Jews in exile will be in progress the number of Jews will be seen to be even far greater still. This is the meaning of Isaiah 49,12: “Look these are coming from afar, these from the north and the west and these from the land of Sinnim.” The prophet continues in verse 21 of that chapter: “and you will say to yourself, ‘who bore these for me when I was bereaved and barren, exiled and disdained; by whom then were these raised? I was left all alone and where have these been?’” You will note that the prophet mentioned the word “these”, אלה, three times in each of these verses! This is an allusion to the fact that the Shechinah will return with the exiles at the time of the redemption. This Shechinah which consists of the six extremities of the globe is alluded to by David who used the word שמר, “to guard, to protect” six times in connection with the G’d of Israel protecting His people (Psalm 121).

לרב תרבה נחלתו, “to the numerous you will increase his (share of the) inheritance.” A tribe which was more populous (than average) was given a larger piece of land (Rashi).

אך בגורל יחלק את הארץ, “however, only by the lot shall the land be (divided) distributed.” The reason the lot had to determine who received what was that the land was not uniformly good. He who drew a lot allocating to him good quality land did not enjoy a financial advantage as he whose lot allocated to him a less fertile piece of land was compensated financially.

The distribution of the land proceeded according to the following method. Eleazar (High Priest) wore his priestly garments including the breast plate containing the urim vetumim, and the whole people of Israel stood around him (Baba Batra 122). The pieces of wood inscribed with the names of the various tribes as well as the pieces of wood inscribed with the different sections of the land would be placed in front of Eleazar. He would be inspired with Holy Spirit and announce (example): “the tribe of Zevulun has been assigned section such and such including the town of Acco.” When later on, he would withdraw one piece of wood from the box containing the names of the sections of land and one piece of wood containing the names of the tribes, it would be found that what he withdrew matched what he had previously announced. He would repeat the same procedure with all the other tribes except the tribe of Levi for whom no pieces of wood had been prepared. The elders of the tribe would then proceed to divide up their parcel of the land between the heads of the major families of that tribe, the ראשי בית אב. Any tribe who comprised a large number of such families at the time of the Exodus would receive numerous parcels, whereas the tribe which at that time comprised only a small number of families would receive a relatively larger parcel of land. The distribution would be based on the size and number of the families of males of military age at the time of the Exodus seeing that the Torah writes: לשמות מטות אבותם ינחלו, that they “will inherit according to the names of their fathers’ tribes they shall inherit.” This includes the adults who left Egypt and excludes proselytes.

על פי הגורל תחלק נחלתו , “each portion shall be assigned by lot.” Our verse expresses what is stated in Proverbs 18,18: “the lot puts an end to strife, it separates between the mighty.” Solomon comes out in favor of determining distribution of properties, etc., with multiple claimants by lottery as it prevents strife and bad feeling. it is a cause for preventing coveting something belonging to others. If we assume that the other person has gained his property through the casting of lots no one can begrudge it claiming unfairness by human authority. Solomon illustrates this further in Proverbs 16,33: “a lot is cast into the lap, but one’s judgment depends on G’d.”

ואלה פקודי הלוי למשפחותם לגרשון, “and these are the enrollments of the Levites according to their clans. Of Gershon, etc.” The Torah first mentions the oldest of Levi’s sons followed by Livni, Levis’s grandson but omitting Shimi (Exodus 6,17) as he had no sons, or they died during his life time leaving no male offspring (Ibn Ezra).

ויהיו פקודיהם שלשה ועשרים אלף כל זכר מבן חדש ומעלה, “and the number of enrolled ones comprising all those from one month and up was 23,000.” I have explained on Numbers 4,49 why the Levites were counted from one month and up.

כי אם כלב בן יפונה, “except for Calev son of Yefuneh.” The reason the Torah (Hashem) mentioned Calev’s name first is that G’d Himself always mentions his name before that of Joshua (Numbers 13,30) seeing the Torah had reported Calev as being the first one to speak up against the other spies and had displayed more jealousy on behalf of the Lord than had his companion Joshua. Furthermore, G’d had described Calev as עבדי, “My servant,” the highest type of compliment accorded to mortals. Moses, on the other hand, always mentioned Joshua first to indicate that Joshua possessed more wisdom (Ibn Ezra). The words: “for not a one had remained except for Calev and Joshua,” which are almost impossible to understand, have been interpreted by our sages in Tanchuma Pinchas 7 as stressing the word איש; of the men of military age none survived; many women did survive. The verse teaches that the decree that the generation of the Exodus had to die in the desert applied only to men, not to women. Our sages in the above-mentioned Tanchuma state that “the men hated the land of Israel, not the women.” It was the men who had demanded to appoint a leader to take the people back to Egypt (Numbers 14,4). The women, by contrast, (the daughters of Tzelofchod) demanded to be given a share in the Holy Land. [We have pointed out already in Genesis 46,7 that there is a clear inference that Yaakov’s womenfolk did not move to Egypt of their own free volition. The women had always displayed greater fondness of the land of Israel. Ed.]. Seeing the Jewish women were fond of the land of Israel, the Torah wrote the chapter about the claim of the daughters of Tzelofchod at this juncture.