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ABOUT US
The words "Torah Tavlin" are best known from a phrase in the Gemara in the tractate Kiddushin: "בראתי יצר הרע ובראתי לו תורה תבלין" - "I created the Yetzer Hara, and I've also the Torah Tavlin" - as an antidote; it is only in this passage that the context compels this translation. The word “Tavlin” has many understandings in the teachings of Chazal, but it is literally translated as “Spices.” Just as a master chef will employ a refreshing blend of spices and ingredients to make his culinary creation into a masterpiece, so too, does Hashem blend together a Divine brand of seasoning - “Tavlin” - into His Living Torah for us to absorb, each according to our individual understanding. Through the countless pages of our commentators, from thousands of years ago up to the present day, we “taste” these spices in every word and posuk in the Torah, and our intellectual senses are overloaded. It is the “Sam Hachaim” - the elixir of life, and the truest manner to experience the Torah.
THE WEEKLY MESSAGE
Parshas Bamidbar - Machar Chodesh)
"Take a census of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head."
Parshas Bamidbar begins with a record of the national census that Hashem ordered Moshe to conduct at Har Sinai a year after Yetzias Mitzrayim. There is a debate whether or not the same procedure was followed during this census as during the earlier census, requiring each member of the nation to donate a Machatzis Hashekel (half silver coin) for the construction of the Mishkan, and these half-shekels were counted to determine the population. According to Rashi and the Ramban, this second census followed the same format; Bnei Yisroel were required to donate a half-shekel which was counted for the census. The Abarbanel, however, disagrees and maintains that this was advisable, but not mandatory, given the possible effects of the ayin hara as a result of a direct census. Where this concern is not relevant, there is no reason at all to employ the medium of the half-shekel.
The Abarbanel’s position gives rise to the question of why Bnei Yisroel were severely punished for the census ordered by Dovid HaMelech towards the end of his reign. King David counted the people directly, rather than through the collection of half-shekels, and was punished for this transgression. The plague which ravaged the nation was a punishment, and not merely a natural consequence of ayin hara. It states clearly that Hashem was angry at the king and punished him through the plague. Does this not prove that using the half-shekel medium is obligatory, and not merely advisable?
The Abarbanel answers this with a unique theory, saying that the plague actually served as a punishment not for the census, but rather for the revolt against Dovid’s rule led by Sheva ben Bichhri (Shmuel II 2-20). The narrative of the census begins saying Hashem “incited” Dovid to count the people (24-1), suggesting that this event was initiated by Hashem. In order to punish them for their revolt against King David, Hashem “incited” the king to count the nation, which resulted in an ayin hara and a devastating plague. Thus, the census did not violate any prohibition, but rather naturally resulted in an ayin hara that led to a plague.
TT WEEKLY POSTS
