The struggle for unity is found in all areas of our lives

Written by Rabbi Avraham Moshe Kiper - Founder of Neve Ziviya

This year we read Parshat Bamidbar on the day preceding Rosh Chodesh Sivan. Let’s look for the connection between this Parsha and the giving of the Torah. In chapter 1 verse 19 it is written, “ According to G-d’s command to Moshe he counted them in the desert”.
The Kedushat Levi asks why this verse is written as it is. We might think that it should have been written the other way, that is, “He counted them in the desert according to G-d’s command to Moshe.” Why is the verse seemingly reversed?
He then explains that our sages teach that there are six hundred thousand letters in the Torah, corresponding to the six hundred thousand souls of the Jewish people. Moshe Rabeinu knew which letter each and every person corresponded to. Therefore when he was counting the Jewish people, he was also learning all of the letters of the Torah. That is why the verse hints to us, “According to G-d’s command to Moshe.”
It is telling us that in the process of counting, Moshe was reviewing the whole Torah- ‘G-d’s command to Moshe’ from within the souls of the Jewish people.
Before we received the Torah it is written, “And he encamped there before the mountain.” (Shmot 19:2)
The sages teach that ‘he’ is written instead of ‘they’ even though we think of the Jewish people as plural, because we were as “One man with one heart”. Once the Torah existed through the united souls of Israel it was able to come into the world in it’s actualized form.
Just as in those days we were able to reach our potential by uniting as a nation, also today it is through uniting together that will reach our goals, The coming of Moshiach and bringing the world to it’s fruition.
The struggle for unity is found in all areas of our lives; between friends, within the Jewish people, between man and his wife, unity within the home with one’s children and family.