29 May 2025 Bamidbar/Shavuos 5785: The Gift of Torah

The reading of Parshas Bamidbar always precedes Chag Ha’Shavuos. This means that there are connections between the two, and lessons we can derive from Parshas Bamidbar into the giving, and receiving, of the Torah.

The pasuk tells us: וְאֵ֛לֶּה תּוֹלְדֹ֥ת אַהֲרֹ֖ן וּמֹשֶׁ֑ה בְּי֗וֹם דִּבֶּ֧ר ה’ אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֖ה בְּהַ֥ר סִינָֽי, and these are the children of Aharon and Moshe, on the day that Hashem spoke to Moshe at Har Sinai (Bamidbar 3:1). However, the very next pasuk lists the children of Aharon alone, and not Moshe’s children: וְאֵ֛לֶּה שְׁמ֥וֹת בְּֽנֵי־אַהֲרֹ֖ן הַבְּכֹ֣ר ׀ נָדָ֑ב וַאֲבִיה֕וּא אֶלְעָזָ֖ר וְאִיתָמָֽר, and these are the names of the children of Aharon: the eldest, Nadav, and Avihu, Elazar and Itamar (3:2).

Why does the verse introduce us to the children of Aharon, who are considered to be the children of Moshe as well? Rashi, quoting Chazal, teaches:

ואלה תולדת אהרן ומשה. וְאֵינוֹ מַזְכִּיר אֶלָּא בְנֵי אַהֲרֹן וְנִקְרְאוּ תוֹלְדוֹת מֹשֶׁה, לְפִי שֶׁלִּמְּדָן תּוֹרָה, מְלַמֵּד שֶׁכָּל הַמְלַמֵּד אֶת בֶּן חֲבֵרוֹ תּוֹרָה מַעֲלֶה עָלָיו הַכָּתוּב כְּאִלּוּ יְלָדוֹ – And these are the children of Aharon and Moshe: yet the verse only lists the children of Aharon, and calls them ‘the children of Moshe’! However, because Moshe taught them Torah, it is considered as if they were his sons. This teaches you that one who teaches his friend’s son Torah, it is considered as if he birthed him (Rashi to 3:1).

Since Moshe taught the sons of Aharon Torah, he is their spiritual father and they are his spiritual children.

In a similar vein, in regard to the transmission of Torah, the pasuk tells us: וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם לְבָנֶ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ֖ בָּ֑ם, and you shall teach them (the words of Torah) to your sons, and speak of them (Devarim 6:7). Rashi teaches – who are the sons that you shall teach? אֵלּוּ הַתַּלְמִידִים, מָצִינוּ בְּכָל מָקוֹם שֶׁהַתַּלְמִידִים קְרוּייִם בָּנִים, these are one’s students, for we have found in every place that students are called sons… וּכְשֵׁם שֶׁהַתַּלְמִידִים קְרוּיִים בָּנִים … כָּךְ הָרַב קָרוּי אָב, and just as the students are called sons, so too, the teacher (rav) is called father (Rashi to Devarim 6:7).

It is this exalted and holy relationship between rebbi and talmid/teacher and student, that ensures that Torah will endure from generation to generation.

Not for naught does the very first mishnah in Pirkei Avos – whose six chapters we learn during the Shabbosos between Pesach and Shavuos – record for us that the Torah is transmitted in each generation from teacher to student: משֶׁה קִבֵּל תּוֹרָה מִסִּינַי, וּמְסָרָהּ לִיהוֹשֻׁעַ, וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ לִזְקֵנִים, וּזְקֵנִים לִנְבִיאִים, וּנְבִיאִים מְסָרוּהָ לְאַנְשֵׁי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה – Moshe received the Torah from Sinai, and transmitted it to (his talmid muvhak) Yehoshua, and Yehosha transmitted it to the elders, and the elders transmitted it to the prophets, and the prophets transmitted it to the Men of the Great Assembly (Avos 1:1).

Before we can begin our journey through Pirkei Avos, we must know that it is the achrayus and zechus – responsibility and privilege – of every generation to become teachers of Torah to the next generation.

Regarding Aharon’s sons, Rav Yaakov Bender shlita writes, “This is no mere mashal, but a powerful glimpse into what it means to teach someone Torah. Just as we comprehend how parents create a child…Chazal are teaching us that words of Torah create a human being, giving a child an essence and existence. This is because Torah is חׇכְמַתְכֶם֙ וּבִ֣ינַתְכֶ֔ם, our wisdom and our understanding (Devarim 4:6). From here we learn that the core of one’s intelligence is derived from Torah, and it is what makes a person wise…

“Chazal teach (Bava Basra 12a) that ‘chacham adif m’navi – a wise man is greater than a prophet.’ How are we to understand this? Isn’t a navi (prophet) privy to secrets of the universe, capable of receiving messages directly from the RS”O? The Ramban explains that a navi receives a mental picture, an image seen only by him; but the talmid chacham (Torah scholar) receives his ‘nevuah,’ prophecy, ‘in the way of chochmah,’ with the ruach ha’kodesh (Divine inspiration) that resides within him. A chacham has taken Torah and made it part of his essence. He has internalized the Torah to the point that he is built differently.

“This is what it means that teaching Torah to someone is like giving birth to him. You have given him the tools of building.

“When the Kotzker Rebbe (Rav Menachem Mendel m’Kotzk, 1787-1859) was already a recognized leader, he once went back to visit the town in which he had been born and raised. There were many dignitaries in town who would have expected a visit from him, but the Kotzker asked to go see his old alef-beis rebbi, the melamed who had taught him the first few pasukim in Chumash. ‘This man opened the doors of emes before me,’ the Kotzker said. The Kotzker Rebbe, a lifelong adherent of chochmah, recognized that his building (the building of himself into a Torah personality) began right there, in the cheder where so long ago, he was taught the alef-beis” (Rav Yaakov Bender on Chumash, p.225-226).

As we approach the yomtov of Shavuos once again, and prepare to re-accept the Torah upon ourselves – all the G-d has spoken we will do and we will listen (Shemos 24:7) – we must recognize that we each play a fundamental dual role in kabbalas ha’Torah.

On the one hand, each one of us must receive the emes of Torah from our own teachers and rabbonim. And we must also all recognize we are all teachers who transmit the Torah further – to our children, families, students, anyone with whom we share a halacha, Torah thought, insight, or life hadracha. The way we live, example we set, actions we undertake and words we speak, are always teaching those around us with whom we share our lives.

When we embrace this dual role incumbent upon each one of us, we will be continuing the chain that began with Moshe at Har Sinai, down to us in our day and our age.

לֹֽא־יָמ֡וּשׁ סֵ֩פֶר֩ הַתּוֹרָ֨ה הַזֶּ֜ה מִפִּ֗יךָ וְהָגִ֤יתָ בּוֹ֙ יוֹמָ֣ם וָלַ֔יְלָה לְמַ֙עַן֙ תִּשְׁמֹ֣ר לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת כְּכׇל־הַכָּת֖וּב בּ֑וֹ כִּי־אָ֛ז תַּצְלִ֥יחַ אֶת־דְּרָכֶ֖ךָ וְאָ֥ז תַּשְׂכִּֽיל – This book of Torah shall not leave your mouth; you shall meditate upon it day and night, in order that you shall guard to do all that is written in it, for then will you succeed in all your ways and then will you be discerning (Yehoshua 1:8).

בברכת שבת שלום וחג שבועות שמח,

Michal