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Shavuos – Hashem’s Stars
By: Chaya Sora Jungreis-Gertzulin
Motzoei Shabbos, Parshas Bamidbar. Shabbos was just over. My phone rings, it was my daughter.
“Gut voch (a good week)… and in a most excited voice, “Ma, did you hear the amazing news?”
“No, what’s going on?”
“They got four of the hostages out. Among them, Noa Argamani… remember her?”
Who could forget the girl kidnapped and taken hostage on the back of a motorcycle from the Nova music festival. The haunting picture. The look of sheer terror in her eyes.
Noa, together with Almog Meir Jan, Andrei Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv, were found. Brought home. Safe and sound. A true miracle.
As my mother, the Rebbetzin a”h, would say, there are no coincidences in life. It’s all b’yad HaShem, in HaShem’s hands, and it can all be found in the weekly parsha.
The Shabbos of the miraculous rescue, we began reading the fourth book of the Torah, Bamidbar. It is also known as Sefer HaPikudim, the Book of Numbers.
“Take a count of the entire congregation of Bnei Yisroel” (Bamidbar/Numbers 1:2). HaShem commands Moshe to take a census, to count Bnei Yisroel. Does HaShem need a tally or a count to know how many people there are? Isn’t He the all-knowing?
The count was not for HaShem, but a life lesson for us. A message that HaShem is watching over us. Each individual counts. Each neshama important.
Dovid HaMelech, King David writes in Psalm 147, “He counts the number of stars, to each of them He assigns a name.” We are compared to HaShem’s stars. He gave each of us a name, a life task, a mission. To HaShem, we are all significant. A message to all of Bnei Yisroel, that every single life is precious.
The word Bamidbar literally means in the desert. As I watched the videos of the rescue mission in the midbar, the desert land of Gaza, I couldn’t help but think of this past Shabbos Parshas Bamidbar. HaShem guided our nation through the desert following the Exodus, and continues to guide us today.
Growing up, Shavuos night was always special in my parents’ home. My father would lead a Torah study learning with members of the shul seated around our dining room table.
At midnight, my mother would take us children out to the back porch. She would tell us that at that very moment, the heavens were opening up. HaShem is waiting for us to proclaim “na’aseh v’nishma” just as the Jewish nation did at Sinai.
My mother told us how our ancestors pledged their children as the guarantors of the Torah, and that now, we were the guarantors of our generation. HaShem was waiting to hear the powerful words of “na’aseh v’nishma” from us. It was up to us to continue on with the unbroken chain from Sinai.
At that moment, my mother would urge us to daven for the ill, for Eretz Yisroel, for Am Yisroel.
As I looked upward, gazing into the night sky, I was certain that I saw the heavens open.
This year, come Shavuos, I will with HaShem’s help, once again stand outside at midnight and gaze heavenward, as I did with my mother so many years ago. This time, with an added prayer. HaShem, please bring the remaining hostages home, healthy and well. Please be with each and every one of our soldiers, as they are protecting our land and its people. Please watch over all of Your stars, all of Am Yisroel, during these turbulent times. Please comfort the family of Arnon Zamora, who was fatally wounded while leading the daring hostage rescue operation, as well as all those who lost family members during this difficult war.
Please, HaShem, it’s time to bring Moshiach and peace to Eretz Yisroel, to Am Yisroel and to all of mankind.
Wishing all a most enjoyable and uplifting Shavuos!
Chaya Sora
This article was written L’zecher Nishmas /In Memory Of HaRav Meshulem ben HaRav Osher Anshil HaLevi, zt”l and Rebbetzin Esther bas HaRav Avraham HaLevi, zt”l
