Bamidbar, בְּמִדְבַּר  "In the Wilderness".  Numbers. 1:1-4:20

How You Count

Poetic Notes on the Parashat Bamidbar* 

Bamidbar / How You Count

How you count

You count by helping another person count

This is the equation commanded by God

Diamond souls in the desert,

every one counted by God with joy

The diamond souls said in unison,

“We will do everything God has said”

The eye of the Divine Father observed

the many diamond facets gathered in the desert

There on the mountain in the desert

many diamond souls were born as one

The nation planted in Egypt

was born out of a dying womb,

claimed by the Divine Midwife’s hand,

drawn out through the wilderness,

brought through the waters,

endowed with the Torah of God

The Temple is carried on the back of little children

Count, therefore, the one month old Levites

In place of the firstborn of Adam,

count the firstborn of Israel,

and with them count the future of the Temple

The future of the Temple is on their shoulders

All Israel was on the shoulders

of the Levite one month old spiritual warriors

They were carrying worlds through the wilderness

Don’t count the Levites as Israelite military

They have the Temple on their backs,

like angels carrying the throne of God

They are the guardian gates of Israel,

the inner gates and the outer gates

A diamond generation will carry Temple Israel

through new birth waters,

through the Jordan river’s mitzvot of promise

Many will irrigate the land with mitzvot,

but the harvest will be delayed for another day

Samuel will receive some

called to guard the gates of the Temple Above

There is a division of labour in the plan of God

Little children without a single arrow will enter first,

The elders with quivers full of mitzvot will enter last

All enter and sit in the choir of the Torah song

Melchizedek gave place with joy to Abraham

Consider the power of counting one

Asenath gave place with joy to Yocheved

In counting one she counted seventy

Rejoice with His people all you nations!

Draw me close behind you!

There is a way that seems right to humans,

but the end of it is death

There is a way in the Torah even beyond right

It is a tree of life

Draw me close behind you!

We run to get near to you!

The King has secreted me in his chambers,

covered me with his holy cloud

We will rejoice in the eye of the fiery storm,

because you are there 

When Adam looked for a bride, 

he looked into a place of emptiness 

She was not there 

She was concealed

Then God turned Adam around 

and he looked into the eyes of Eve 

When Mashiach looked for his bride, 

he looked into the depths of Adam and Eve 

It was where his bride remained concealed

There he saw Torah Israel, the daughter of Adam, 

kept hidden there, that she might be prepared for her Beloved 

For her sake, Adam and Eve repented of their sin

We have travelled to the end of the north,

beyond the edge of the east

We have announced the ways of HaShem

along all the ways of the west,

travelled in his chariot to the ends of the south

In the wild-land synagogues at the world’s end,

we have learned that your love is

the wine of heaven

Your love is the joy of Torah, joy everlasting

World without end, Amen

It is right that the children love you