Brainstorming

[rhu]

I foolishly agreed to give a brief dvar Torah next Shabbat, parshat Bamidbar. I say "foolishly" because I usually work the other way around -- I encounter something in my reading that I think would make a good dvar, and when that parsha next comes around I volunteer.

So here it is, six days away, and I have not yet found a good topic. So: any ideas? Thanks!

Comments

[fauxklore]

Could you do something having to do with the census? That would both tie into parshat Bamidbar and be topical.

[autotruezone.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I have any thoughts that would make a good dvar, but I do have some spaghetti I could throw at the wall:

The amount of repetition in the parsha -- giving very similar details over and over again, sometime with slight changes (making it fun for the Torah reader).

The change of name of the father of the prince of Gad from the first chapter to the second chapter.

The interesting roles played by your own tribe of Levi, in not being in the initial census, in its special location in the encampment, its role in keeping the mishkan, the exchange for the first born (and how close the actual numbers came out).

"Now those that pitch on the east side ... shall be they of the standard of the camp of Judah ... and those that pitch next unto him shall be the tribe of Issachar... On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben ... and those that pitch next unto him shall be the tribe of Simeon ... " etc. Thus this parsha features history's first pitching rotation :-)