Page 32 - HTUNA

bamidbar-HATUNA

Am Yisrael accepted the Torah upon themselves with mesirut nefesh,
without asking what it says. Notwithstanding the beauty inherent in the
Torah, it demands toil and travail. There are many obstacles to overcome 1
in the journey on the road of Torah. Thus Bnei Yisrael merited the
accolade “Yisrael, in whom I take glory” through accepting the Torah, no
questions asked. Hashem chose them from among all of the nations to be
His. Hashem certainly had no need to count them. He commanded that
they be counted in order to demonstrate to the world how great they are
in His eyes.

Every nation takes numerous years to become unified. But Am Yisrael,
shortly after leaving Egypt, was already a nation, for they willingly
accepted the Torah. This is the reason for the detailed description of the
counting of Bnei Yisrael, including the time and location of the census.

Why were the people counted with the half-shekel coins, rather than by
an individual head count? This was in order to ward off the ayin hara.
We might add that all of the neshamot find their source in Adam
Harishon. This is why they are accountable for each other. Since they are
essentially one entity, it is not possible to count them individually. Each
half-shekel coin combines with another to make a whole unit.

The word can be divided into the two parts . The letters of
the word can be transposed to spell (the Name of Hashem).
Man was created in a most magnificent, mystical way, imbued with
tremendous levels of kedushah (Tikkunei Zohar 47; 84a). This is alluded
to in the letter , which when spelled out as is numerically equivalent
to 106. This hints to the one hundred sefirot with which man was created,
plus the sixth day of the week, the day of his creation. Am Yisrael is
rooted in a common Source, Hashem Himself. Therefore, it is impossible
to count them individually.