Bamidbar

By Dan Cohen

(May 6, 2024) Parshat Bamidbar 2024 - Where everyone knows your name 

Cheers was the most popular TV show of the 80s. Its theme song captured the alchemy that happened when its ensemble cast gathered each Thursday night. 

“Sometimes you want to go, Where everybody knows your name,

And they're always glad you came; You want to be where you can see,

Our troubles are all the same; You want to be where everybody knows your name.”

In that bar, in those moments as a group of individuals, there was a place where you could find your people, your presence was essential, and your appreciation of the importance of others was required. 

The fourth book of the bible, Bamidbar, begins with a census. In Chapter 1, Verses 1 and 2, it says: 

“The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert, in the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month, in the second year after the exodus from the land of Egypt, saying.

Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by families following their fathers' houses; a head count of every male according to the number of their names.”

Rav Hirsch says this census, two years into the exodus, was to reflect the new national reality. We were a community joined by a common calling, yet all members were to be counted independently. This combination made clear to our national leaders, then and now, that our community isn’t just an idea; it’s made up of actual individuals. 

At the same time, individuals were made aware that each counts as an essential member of the whole community.  The task of the individual and the larger whole is a shared commitment to serve and have Emunah in Hashem. 

In verse 2 above, the Torah describes THAT each individual is counted. Hirsch clarifies that the people's unity emerges from HOW we are counted. First, we are individuals. Then we form families, the families form tribes, and the tribes form the House of Israel. 

He adds that this is what makes us unique among the nations. We are all called Bnai Israel, the children of one man, Jacob, who was renamed Israel by Hashem. Our national identity is rooted in the journey from being individuals to being a part of something much more significant, echoed in the census. This ensures that we stand not as an abstract notion but as a unified entity of individuals connected across the millennia. 

Despite our national size, we are rooted in one house, with our hearts and souls aligned and facing one destiny. We also remain particular in the specialties of each tribe, like fishing, commerce, learning, or farming. Together, we share a common goal to educate our children and serve Hashem. 

Seth Godin wrote a book called Tribes. As a marketing genius and educator, he was focused on how people form new tribes today that echo their passions.

Godin wrote, “A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.” 

This description represents our fundamental human need to connect to each other and something larger. 

In the TV show Cheers, whose theme song we quote above, the idea was that the bar housed a tribe of individuals brought together in search of friendship. The leader was a charismatic retired baseball player. Together, the cast of actors shared their lives and a common language of insults laced with love. 

The idea goes one step further at the annual Burning Man festival in the Utah desert. Each time I see the aerial image of the Burning Man camp, it is possibly the closest I can imagine to Bnai Israel camping in the desert.  

At the festival, the massive multitude gathered in the desert to form their own tribes, called camps. For the duration of the celebration, one can camp with individuals who are joined together by common interests, hobbies, or preferred methods of intoxication. Each camp must also deliver something of social value to the entire community. The spirit of service is embedded in their means of celebration.

Yet the Burning Man tribes are ephemeral.  At the end of the festival, folks return home to their lives, and many wait all year to be resettled with their tribe. 

Here is why you are so lucky as you enter the world. 

You already have a tribe. You are part of something larger, the Jewish people, and your unique role and contributions are essential to its survival. In this Parsha, Hashem restates the duality of the nation's reliance on each of you and your dependence on the nation. 

Yet, as Godin says, you live in a world where it is easier than ever to “find your tribe.” Your tribes may consist of video game players, youth ambassadors, army pals, Swifties, whiskey lovers, or just a group of friends that gather to talk and insult each other with love. As you seek out the tribes to fit your passions, you are blessed to already be a member of one with a rich history and divine destiny.