• | Print |
•  Email

Parshat Bamidbar

By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו 

Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

"ובני קהת למשפחותם עמרם ויצהר חברון ועוזיאל"

"Praise Hashem, call out in His Name... Remember His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. The covenant which He had made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac. And He set it up for Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant. Saying: To you I shall give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance.".. (Chr. I, 16, Psukei Dezimra).

Every morning we begin our praises to HaShem, specifying our gratitude for the covenant with our Forefathers to give them the Holy Land. Why does this covenant on the Land of Israel take such a dominant place in our praises? If we look for a place where the concept of 'covenant with our Forefathers' and the Land of Israel join together so naturally, of course Hebron comes to mind.

Interestingly, we find the name Hebron in this week's parsha in a different context (see our title quote). The third son of Kehot, the son of Levi, is also called Hebron.  Is this some accident?

According to our Sages, there are no 'accidents' even in worldly events, not to mention our holy Torah, where every word and letter is exact from the word of God. If so, why is the name Hebron given in the Torah both to the Levite Hebron and to the city Hebron? A possible explanation to this matter lies with an understanding of the nature of the Levites, of which Hebron is a member. The Torah tells us that Leah, the mother of Levi called him this name to express her wish that her husband, Yakov, unite ('yilaveh' = Levi) with her through this mutual son. Many years later, we find that this trait of 'unity', so central to Levi and his tribe after him, serves as a conduit in bringing the tribe of Levi to being a uniting force between 'husband in wife' in a more abstract sense, uniting HaShem, described in Shir HaShirim as 'husband', and Israel, described as His 'wife'.  Thus, great spiritual leaders arose from the tribe of Levi, such as Moshe, Aharon, Miriam, Pinhas, just to mention a few, and the whole tribe is set apart, as seen in this week's parsha, to be a holy tribe designated to unite the People with God.

This said, it is no wonder why Kehot called his son 'Hebron' which means unity. It is also no wonder why the holy city of the Patriarchs, connecting Israel to HaShem, is called Hebron. In a halachic sense too Hebron (a refuge city) and the Levite cities have strong ties as both being holy cities capable of saving and giving refuge even to accidental murderers. Now we can answer our first question. Hebron is the root of Israel's connection to the Land of the Holy Presence. By acknowledging HaShem's covenant with our Fathers in regard to our Holy Land we are acknowledging  the very essential unity between God and Israel which flows through Hebron so naturally.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Real Stories from the Holy Land #71: 

"A few years ago I accidentally brought my swiss-army-knife to the Kotel, and when I was detected by the police, I was taken for a few hours to be examined for suspected criminal behavior. Then, my knife was confiscated for many months. Recently, I forgot this knife in my knapsack when I went to Maaras HaMachpela. I was stopped by the police, who checked every compartment of my knapsack. This time however, I prayed that they not see my knife. Although they opened the compartment where the knife was, they only saw my wife's jewelry and let me go."

Sources: Rambam Rotzeah 8, 1-9