We've begun the book of Numbers, which opens with a census of the Israelites, discusses the layout of their campsite around the Tabernacle and how the twelve tribes are arranged, and is followed up with a discussion of the redemption of the firstborns with the Levites and the various duties of the component lineages in regards to the transportation of the Tabernacle, as well as the specific ways they should pack the components to safely move them, particularly without exposing them inadvertently to the most sacred place.
On the one hand, not too much is going on this chapter, but there was a lot to unpack about how power and politics are encoded in space. Back in the end of Genesis, there was a discussion by Jacob that we've joked about as him assigning fursonas to the twelve tribes, but in the discussion of the Israelite encampment, it's developed by the sages into a layered series of correspondences that encode cosmic values and sociopolitical stances into how they arranged themselves in space. We also discussed why G-d counts the Israelites, and how enumeration can be a form of knowing and intimacy from G-d.
The haftarah this week is also of special note, because it's the end of the story of David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel. If you're unfamiliar, the key thing to know is that David and Jonathan are a bit fruity with it.
And now for the commentaries:
Rashi, describing the particular way in which G-d is kinda autistic and likes counting things they love
Thanks Ibn Ezra
You may ask, "how did the Levites transport the copper altar of the Tabernacle, which contained in it a fire from Heaven?" Well you see, it turned into a lion and they put a lid on it.
Rashi offering some profound commentary on the story of Jonathan and David, when they discuss how Saul (who wanted David dead) would notice that he wasn't coming to dinner with him.
There was also a brief aside concerning the game El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, in which we learned that health was tracked by your clothes falling off until you were only left in your designer jeans. We then learned that the jeans were Real and Available To Purchase at the time. This all came up because we were talking about a guy whose name contained the "shaddai" element that's also one of G-d's names.
I CANNOT believe you left out the fact that—in honor of one of our chavurah needing to miss this week because [new zelda game unskippable]—we opened our discussion this evening by attempting to determine which of our three most consulted sages would hold which piece of the Triforce.
nb. our tentative conclusion was as follows:
- Rashi: Wisdom (for establishing many of our guiding principles in the Mishnah)
- Ibn Ezra: Power (the Soul of a Poster; also the only one of the sages who we think might physically throw a punch)
- Ramban: Courage (a certain inherent nobility combined with the willingness to quote retweet his fellow sages at length)
somehow my brain missed the connection to zelda at the time and thought we were just discussing which of the sages would be the most powerful in combat
which also felt like a thing we would earnestly discuss. i was tired though
