פָּרָשַׁת בְּמִדְבַּר

Parshat Bamidbar opens the fourth book of the Torah in the wilderness of Sinai, on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Exodus from Mitzrayim (Egypt). Hashem tells Moshe and Aharon to count Bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel), every man from twenty years old and up who can go out to the army, name by name, with the Nasi (prince) of each tribe standing with them. The tribes range from Yehudah's 74,600 to Menashe's 32,200, and all together they are 603,550.

The tribe of Levi is not counted with them. The Leviim (Levites) are set apart to carry, guard and serve the Mishkan (the Tabernacle), and they camp around it. The twelve tribes camp around the Ohel Moed (the Tent of Meeting) in four camps of three tribes, each under its degel (banner): Yehudah on the east, which travels first, Reuven on the south, Efrayim on the west and Dan on the north, with the Leviim and the Mishkan in the middle.

The Leviim are given to serve Aharon and his sons, the kohanim (priests), and Hashem takes them in place of every bechor (firstborn) of Bnei Yisrael, who have been His since the plague of the firstborn in Mitzrayim. The Leviim, counted from one month old, number 22,000, and the firstborn 22,273; the 273 extra firstborn are redeemed with five shekels each. The parsha ends with the family of Kehat, who carry the Aron (the Ark), the Shulchan (the Table), the Menorah and the altars. Aharon and his sons first cover each holy vessel, and only then may the sons of Kehat carry it, without touching or seeing the holy things, so that they do not die.

The parsha shows the forming of a nation arranged around Hashem's dwelling, every person counted by name and every tribe in its place.