«Сглазки 👀» Бемидбар. 5784

(1) On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, יהוה spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying: (2) Take a census of the whole Israelite company [of fighters]*company [of fighters] NJPS “community,” trad. “congregation.” See the Dictionary under ‘edah. by the clans of its ancestral houses,*its ancestral houses I.e., its tribes. listing the names, every male, head by head. (3) You and Aaron shall record them by their groups, from the age of twenty years up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms.

לגלגלתם BY THEIR POLLS — i. e. by means of shekels — “a beka a head (לגלגלת)”, as was prescribed on a previous occasion (Exodus 38:26).

(26) a half-shekel*half-shekel Heb. beqa‘. a head, half a shekel by the sanctuary weight, for each one who was entered in the records, from the age of twenty years up, 603,550 men.

When you take a census of the Israelite men according to their army enrollment, each shall pay יהוה a ransom for himself on being enrolled, that no plague may come upon them through their being enrolled.

כי תשא This has the meaning of obtaining: WHEN THOU TAKEST [THE SUM], (not of “lifting up” as in Genesis 40:13); as the Targum has it, תקבל. The sense is: when you wish to obtain the sum total of their number — to know how many they are — do not take their census by their polls but each of them shall give half a shekel, and you shall count these, and so ascertain their number.

ולא יהיה בהם נגף THAT THERE BE NO CALAMITY AMONG THEM — for numbers (i. e. things that have been numbered) are subject to the influence of the “evil eye”, and therefore if you count them by their polls pestilence may befall them, as we find happened, in the days of David (II Samuel 24:10 and 15).

(1) aThis chapter is also found, with some variations, in 1 Chron. 21.1–7.The anger of the LORD againbCf. above 21.1–14. flared up against Israel; and He incited David against them, saying, “Go and number Israel and Judah.” (2) The king said to Joab, c1 Chron. 21.2 reads “and to the officers of the army”; cf. below v. 4.his army commander,c1 Chron. 21.2 reads “and to the officers of the army”; cf. below v. 4. “Make the rounds of all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and take a census of the people, so that I may know the size of the population.” (3) Joab answered the king, “May the LORD your God increase the number of the people a hundredfold, while your own eyes see it! But why should my lord king want this?” (4) However, the king’s command to Joab and to the officers of the army remained firm; and Joab and the officers of the army set out, at the instance of the king, to take a census of the people of Israel. (5) They crossed the Jordan and dSome Septuagint mss. read “began at Aroer, and from the town, which is…Gad, they.”encamped at Aroer, on the right side of the town, which is in the middle of the wadi of Gad, and-d [went on] to Jazer. (6) They continued to Gilead and to the region of eMeaning of Heb. uncertain.Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to-e Sidon. (7) They went onto the fortress of Tyre and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites, and finished at Beer-sheba in southern Judah. (8) They traversed the whole country, and then they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. (9) Joab reported to the king the number of the people that had been recorded: in Israel there were 800,000 soldiers ready to draw the sword, and the men of Judah numbered 500,000. (10) But afterward David fSee note at 1 Sam. 24.6.reproached himself-f for having numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, “I have sinned grievously in what I have done. Please, O LORD, remit the guilt of Your servant, for I have acted foolishly.” (11) When David rose in the morning, the word of the LORD had come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer: (12) “Go and tell David, ‘Thus said the LORD: I hold three things over you; choose one of them, and I will bring it upon you.’” (13) Gad came to David and told him; he asked, “Shall a seven-year famine come upon you in the land, or shall you be in flight from your adversaries for three months while they pursue you, or shall there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now consider carefully what reply I shall take back to Him who sent me.”

Another began and said: One who enters a city and fears the evil eye should hold the thumb [zekafa] of his right hand in his left hand and the thumb of his left hand in his right hand and recite the following: I, so-and-so son of so-and-so, come from the descendants of Joseph, over whom the evil eye has no dominion, as it is stated: “Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a fountain [alei ayin]; its branches run over the wall” (Genesis 49:22). Do not read it as alei ayin; but rather, read it as olei ayin, who rise above the eye and the evil eye has no dominion over him. Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: Derive it from here, from what is stated in Jacob’s blessing of Joseph’s sons: “And let them grow like fish into a multitude in the midst of the earth” (Genesis 48:16): Just as fish in the sea are covered by water and the evil eye has no dominion over them as they cannot be seen, so too the offspring of Joseph, the evil eye has no dominion over them. And if he is concerned about his own evil eye, lest it damage others, he should look at the side of his left nostril.

The Gemara relates that in the West, Eretz Yisrael, they were not particular with regard to pairs. Rav Dimi from Neharde’a was particular about pairs even with regard to the signs on a barrel; he would not write pairs of symbols on a barrel. There was an incident in which there were pairs of symbols on a barrel and the barrel burst. The Gemara concludes: The rule of the matter is that all who are particular about pairs, the demons are particular with him; and if one is not particular, they are not particular with him. However, one is required to be concerned about the harm that might result from purposely performing actions in pairs.

Rabbi Joshua said: an evil eye, the evil inclination, and hatred for humankind put a person out of the world.

Rabbi Yehoshua says: The evil eye: Its explanation is one who is not happy with his lot and places his eye on his fellow who is wealthier than he, [thinking] when will I be as wealthy as the great wealth of this man? And this causes evil to himself and to his fellow. [It is] like the wise men of science say about everything that is his neighbors: vapor comes up from that thought and burns the things that he put his eye towards with an evil eye. He also burns [himself] inside. Since he desires things, the thought of which he does not have the ability in his hand to materialize his, he destroys his body - as he shortens his spirit and removes it from the world. And this is the evil eye about which Rabbi Yehoshua spoke.

Ben Zoma said: ... Who is rich? He who rejoices in his lot, as it is said: “You shall enjoy the fruit of your labors, you shall be happy and you shall prosper” (Psalms 128:2)

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox or ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

THOU SHALT NOT COVET. Many people are amazed at this commandment. They ask, how is it possible for a person not to covet in his heart all beautiful things that appear desirable to him?

Care should be taken not to take a head-count of people to verify whether there is a minyan, because it is forbidden to take a head-count of Jews even for the purpose of a mitzvah, for it is written: "And Saul gathered the nation and counted them by means of lambs." It is customary to count them by reciting the verse: Hoshiah es amecha etc which contains ten words.