A Very Short Book

As we carry the Torah to its reading place in the synagogue, the sanctuary swells with the melody of this verse from Parashas Beha’alosecha:

“Vayehi binso’a ha-Aron vayomer Moshe: Kuma Hashem v’yafutzu oyevecha, v’yanusu mesanecha mipanecha…”

׆וַיְהִ֛י בִּנְסֹ֥עַ הָאָרֹ֖ן וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֑ה קוּמָ֣ה׀ יְהֹוָ֗ה וְיָפֻ֙צוּ֙ אֹֽיְבֶ֔יךָ וְיָנֻ֥סוּ מְשַׂנְאֶ֖יךָ מִפָּנֶֽיךָ׃

What does it mean?

Most translations read, “And when the Ark would journey,” which is accurate, but may miss the contextual depth of the verse.

The Ben Ish Chai, the Baghdadi tzaddik, interprets the verse through its reading in the Gemara, showing that the oral tradition is essential to understanding the Written Torah. As the Algerian Jewish philosopher Derrida put it in another context, the supplement—the Gemara, in our case—is essential to the overall structure.

The Ben Ish Chai writes:

“The Torah [grants sanctity] to those who engage in it, and the Sabbath [grants sanctity] to those who observe it. And each of these two is included in [a framework of] seven, for the Torah is [composed of] seven books, as our Sages of blessed memory expounded (Shabbat 116a) on the verse (Proverbs 9:1): ‘She has hewn her seven pillars,’ that the verse ‘And when the Ark would journey’ (Numbers 10:35–36) is a book unto itself [dividing the Book of Numbers into three, thus making seven books in total].”

Shabbat 116a explains that Hashem placed signs around this verse to show, as Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says, that it is a separate book.

The Ben Ish Chai continues: The Sabbath, as the seventh day, encompasses all six preceding days, which draw sustenance from it. Torah and Shabbat both convey inherent sanctity to Israel, whose souls stem from the seven lower sefirot—from Chesed to Malchut—mirrored in the seven days of the week.

Just as the altar, once sanctified, imparts sanctity to what touches it—even a disqualified offering placed upon it becomes valid—so too the Torah: a Jew who makes terrible mistakes, then repents and engages in Torah, is atoned for and sanctified, for no sin is beyond rectification through Torah.

Similarly, with Shabbat: even those who commit idolatry like the generation of Enosh, if they observe Shabbat, are forgiven and sanctified, as our Sages expounded on the verse, “Happy is the man… who keeps the Sabbath from desecrating it.”

May the merit of the Ben Ish Chai protect us in our profound differences, and may it hasten the arrival of Moschiach Tzidkenu, speedily in our days.