Numbers 1:1–4:20
The name of the Parshah, "Bamidbar," means "In the desert" and it is found in Numbers 1:1.
In the Sinai Desert, G‑d says to conduct a census of the twelve tribes of Israel. Moses counts 603,550 men of draftable age (20 to 60 years); the tribe of Levi, numbering 22,300 males age one month and older, is counted separately. The Levites are to serve in the Sanctuary. They replace the firstborn, whose number they approximated, since they were disqualified when they participated in the worshipping of the Golden Calf. The 273 firstborn who lacked a Levite to replace them had to pay a five-shekel “ransom” to redeem themselves.
When the people broke camp, the three Levite clans dismantled and transported the Sanctuary, and reassembled it at the center of the next encampment. They then erected their own tents around it: the Kohathites, who carried the Sanctuary’s vessels (the Ark, menorah, etc.) in their specially designed coverings on their shoulders, camped to its south; the Gershonites, in charge of its tapestries and roof coverings, to its west; and the families of Merari, who transported its wall panels and pillars, to its north. Before the Sanctuary’s entranceway, to its east, were the tents of Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons.
Beyond the Levite circle, the twelve tribes camped in four groups of three tribes each. To the east were Judah (pop. 74,600), Issachar (54,400) and Zebulun (57,400); to the south, Reuben (46,500), Simeon (59,300) and Gad (45,650); to the west, Ephraim (40,500), Manasseh (32,200) and Benjamin (35,400); and to the north, Dan (62,700), Asher (41,500) and Naphtali (53,400). This formation was kept also while traveling. Each tribe had its own nassi (prince or leader), and its own flag with its tribal color and emblem.
When Shabbat falls on the day before Rosh Chodesh, the head of the Jewish new month, as is the case this week, we read a special haftorah that begins with the words "machar chodesh" — "[And Jonathan told David,] 'Tomorrow is the new moon...'".
I Samuel 20:18-42
David, King Saul's son-in-law, fears that his father-in-law views him as competition for his throne, and wishes to have him killed. David enlists his dear friend Jonathan, Saul's son, to ascertain whether indeed Saul has such evil designs. Together they devise a plan, according to which David will be absent from the monthly new moon feast hosted by Saul. At this feast, Jonathan will discover Saul's true intentions with regards to David. Jonathan and David will then rendezvous at a predetermined meeting point where Jonathan will convey to David whether he should return to the royal household or flee.
When everyone is seated at the royal feast, the king notices David's absence and asks Jonathan for his whereabouts. When told that he has gone to Bethlehem to be with his family, the king becomes furious, telling Jonathan to fetch David as he is condemned to death. "And Jonathan knew that it had been decided upon by his father to put David to death."
Jonathan leaves the royal table in anger. The next morning he travels to David's hiding place and the two separate amidst an emotional farewell, promising each other eternal devotion and friendship.
Fire, water and desert—by these we established our commitment to the Torah.
The first Jew, Abraham, was cast into a fiery furnace for his loyalty to the way of G‑d. And lest one say that this was an extraordinary act by an extraordinary individual, at the shores of the Red Sea an entire people plunged into the sea’s waters when the divine command to “move forward!” issued forth. And lest one say that this was a spur-of-the-moment heroism, for forty years the people of Israel followed G‑d through the barren, hostile desert, trusting in Him to provide for them and protect them. As the prophet Jeremiah declaims, “I remember the kindness of your youth, your bridal love, your following after Me in the desert, in an unsown land.”
(Rabbi Meir Shapira of Lublin)
https://w2.chabad.org/media/pdf/91027.pdf
