#bamidbar

[eretzyisrael]

Parashat Bamidbar

(In the Desert)

In this Torah portion, God tells Moses to conduct a census of all the Israelite men over the age of 20. Moses takes up a second census to count all of the Levite men. God gives specific instructions to the Levites about their roles in the Tent of Meeting.

FULL SUMMARY HAFTARAH SUMMARY

TORAH READING

Numbers 1:1-4:20

[girlactionfigure]

[aprettyjewishyear]

וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יי אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃

כֵּ֗ן בְּנ֣וֹת צְלׇפְחָד֮ דֹּבְרֹת֒ נָתֹ֨ן תִּתֵּ֤ן לָהֶם֙ אֲחֻזַּ֣ת נַחֲלָ֔ה בְּת֖וֹךְ אֲחֵ֣י אֲבִיהֶ֑ם וְהַֽעֲבַרְתָּ֛ אֶת־נַחֲלַ֥ת אֲבִיהֶ֖ן לָהֶֽן׃

And THE ETERNAL said to Moshe, saying,

Rightfully speak the daughters of Tzelofhad!

You are to give, yes, give them a hereditary holding in the midst of their father’s brothers;

you are to transfer the inheritance of their father to them.

translation courtesy of Sefaria, Everett Fox. Bamidbar 27:6-7.

In my previous post, I included a quotation from the Talmud regarding one of the several reasons that Jewish people celebrate on Tu b'Av. One of these reasons is that, on Tu b'Av, intermarriage became permitted. Why, and for whom, was it banned in the first place?

Bamidbar 27:1-11 tells the story of the daughters of Tzelopehead - Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirtzah - approaching Moshe to demand that they receive the right to inherit their father's property, because he had no sons before he died. G-d affirms this right in no uncertain terms and takes advantage of the opportunity to enumerate to Moshe the laws of inheritance.

However, the story is not over. In Bamidbar 36, a group of men from Tzelopehead's tribe approach Moshe, concerned that the five women will marry out of the tribe and thus cause their lands to be lost to the tribe:

וַיְצַ֤ו מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל עַל־פִּ֥י יי לֵאמֹ֑ר כֵּ֛ן מַטֵּ֥ה בְנֵֽי־יוֹסֵ֖ף דֹּבְרִֽים׃

זֶ֣ה הַדָּבָ֞ר אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֣ה יי לִבְנ֤וֹת צְלׇפְחָד֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר לַטּ֥וֹב בְּעֵינֵיהֶ֖ם תִּהְיֶ֣ינָה לְנָשִׁ֑ים אַ֗ךְ לְמִשְׁפַּ֛חַת מַטֵּ֥ה אֲבִיהֶ֖ם תִּהְיֶ֥ינָה לְנָשִֽׁים׃

So Moshe commanded the Children of Israel by order of THE ETERNAL, saying:

Rightfully has the tribe of the Sons of Yosef spoken!

This is the word that THE ETERNAL commands concerning the daughters of Tzelofhad, saying:

For those good in their eyes, they may become wives;

however, [only] for a clan from the tribe of their father, may they become wives.

translation courtesy of Sefaria, Everett Fox. Bamidbar 36:5-6.

It is this prohibition that the rabbis of the Talmud say was lifted on Tu b'Av. To hear their reasoning for the lifting of this prohibition, keep an ear out for my next post!

photo credit to Dikla Laor.

[judaismandsuch]

A Brilliant Biblical Commentary that I can't Believe

Now, as many of you may know Humanity/ Man is Created twice in Breishit (Genisis) the First time in Breishit 1:27: "And G-d created man in His image....male and female He Created them."

The Second time in Breishit 2:7, and finished in 2:22: "...[G-d] formed man from the dust of the earth.....and Man became a living being." "[HaShem] fashioned the rib He took from man into a woman." (obv a bunch of stuff happens between verse 7 and 22).

Now important notes: 1)There is a lot of established commentary on all of this, but that means there is too much to succinctly summaries other views, so if you are curious about the established interpretations for all this look it up yourself. 2) All the garden of Eden stuff is a cohesive story in chapter 2-3, not mentioned at all in relation to the first creation.

Anyways there is a lot of explanation and reconciiation of these verses, as it is troubling the HaShem would describe the creation of humanity twice, and the stories be very different. There are answers, brilliant ones, bad ones, etc. But I believe I am the first to have this response.

So... it is indeed troubling, until you look a few chapters later, specifically chapter 6.

Now between chapter 2 and 6 a bunch of stuff happens: The garden of Eden, Cain and Abel. Cain taking a wife. The First city builder, the first smiths, the first tent dwellers (more accuaretly the specific ancestor of those, but w/e). The descendents of Cain and Seth, the subtle decrease in life span, etc.

Now aside from the general "Wow this is bullshit, it human civilization didn't progress in that manner." or "Humanity never had a lifespan that long!" Bad faith arguments, you run into an issue.

Who the fuck are they marrying? Hell, it's implied that there are other humans around when Cain kills Abel, where did those guys come from?

Again, loads of commentary but here we are going to my tying all this together:

Chapter 6: The Children of G-d and the Nephilim. 6:2: "The children of G-d saw how beautiful the daughters of Man (or humanity) were, and took wives from among those that pleased them." 6:4:"It was then that the Nephilim (lit. the fallen) appeared on earth when the children of G-d cohabited with the daughters of Man who bore them offspring, they were the Heroes of Old, Men of Great renown."

Now, this has it's own issues, mainly: What the fuck? Who are the children of G-d? Who are the fallen (Nephilim)? And who the hell are the Heroes of Old?

Again, loads of answers for all that already. (BTW, in Numbers/Bamidbar 13:33 Nephilim are mentioned again. by the spies, who use the word to mean 'giant', since that is a quotation of a human speaking, whereas this is not, I can safely ignore "Nephilim means giant" in my exegesis).

Now my commentary (though clever you, you may have already put it together!)

We already have fallen children of G-d mentioned: Adam and Eve. Them getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden can definitely be considered 'Falling'.

And if we consider that there were two separate 'Humans' those in the Garden (Adam and Eve), and those outside from chapter one, we get the answer to who Cain and Seth are marrying.

And then, from Adam's line we get a list of Great Humans: The City Builder, The Smith, The Musician. They could definitely be considered the heroes of old.

Are there issues with this explanation? A couple, none (scripturally) too challenging. Is this explanation original? As far as I know: Yes. But that may just mean my research is garbage.

But the biggest problem with this explanation?

It DEMANDS a fully literal acceptance of that portion of Breishit. If HaShem intended for it to be metaphorical, or a pat explanation b/c creation wasn't important, why would there be an interlock of the two stories?

There wouldn't be.

And I am NOT a (full) biblical literalist. (I do believe that one has to be within a small margin of error a biblical literalist from Avraham to the end of the Torah for Judaism to have validity).

So I have this beautiful, pat, explanation that I can't believe.

Terribly Annoying.

[rickpoet]

Do We Still Count - a Poem for Bamidbar by Rick Lupert

Read along at https://jewishpoetry.net/everybody-counts-bamidbar-aliyah-2/

[nonstandardrepertoire]

Parashat Bəmidbar: כְּבַלַּע | kəvala

It’s time to get a move on.

For the whole book of Vayiqra — and, indeed, for the better part of the book of Shəmot, too — the recently freed Israelites have been camped out at the base of Mt Sinai. Now, in the book of Bəmidbar, they’re going to pull up their stakes and start trudging around the wilderness in earnest.

But first, of course, they have to learn how to pack up the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary where the very Presence of G-d resides.

Between all the lists of census results, this parsha explains the procedure, explaining how things are to be broken down and deputizing the Levites to do the actual schlepping once the Holy accoutrements are all packed up.

This job is not without risk. At various points, the Levites are instructed to take great care with their duties lest they inadvertently transgress and die. Indeed, that’s the note the whole parashah ends on: Bəmidbar 4:20 warns: וְלֹא־יָבֹ֧אוּ לִרְא֛וֹת כְּבַלַּ֥ע אֶת־הַקֹּ֖דֶשׁ וָמֵֽתוּ׃ | Vəlo yavó’u lir’ot kəvala et haqódesh vaméitu. | “Don’t enter to see, when the Holy is being swallowed up, and die.”

Your nearest Tanakh might not translate it exactly like that. This week’s word, כְּבַלַּע | kəvala, is subject to at least two interpretations that I know of. The root בלע | BL‘ has a core meaning of swallowing up or devouring, and thence destroying (chewing up). The little כְּ | kə on the front is a prefix that flags similarity. Sometimes this is very direct: After crossing the Reed Sea, the Israelites rhetorically ask G-d מִי כָמֹֽכָה | mi khamókhah | “Who is like You?” (Shəmot 15:11). But this sense can be extended: When Yəshayáhu reassures his people that כְּשׇׁמְעָתוֹ עָנָךְ | kəshom’ato anakh | “when [G-d] hears [your cry], G-d will answer you” (30:19), it’s the same little prefix that means “when” — you might catch the more literal force in translation with something like “the moment G-d answers you will be just like the moment when G-d hears your cry”, a similarity of time, not kind.

So our verse in Bəmidbar 4:20 warns the Levites against seeing “like swallowing”. One interpretation takes that “like” in the temporal sense: Don’t look when the swallowing of the Holy accoutrements is going on. Another interpretation understands the looking and the swallowing as being compared actions: Don’t let your looking at the Holy accoutrements be like swallowing — which is to say don’t look at them even for a moment.

I prefer the first of these, tho I freely confess it’s a preference based more on poetic sensibility than scholarship. In my experience, swallowing can take quite a while, actually, and there’s something beguiling about keeping the literalism of the root: We’ve just read about various pieces of sacred furniture being wrapped up in protective cloths, and there’s something deeply resonant about imagining them being literally swallowed by their swaddling, like a sock disappearing into a fitted sheet in the laundry.

But the destructive side of this root also helps answer a question: Why shouldn’t this process be observed? It’s one thing to eat in public; it’s another to be chewed up in public, to fall to pieces in the public square.

You may have seen, over the years, a number of campaigns aimed at ending the stigma against talking openly about mental illness. It’s OK to not be OK. Let’s talk about it. That sort of thing.

Generally, I support these efforts and their ends. It is OK to not be OK, and society is better when we make room for the full range of human experiences instead of forcing everyone into a constant display of flat, suffocating positivity. Sometimes your brain decides to eat itself, and being able to talk about that openly and without shame can, if nothing else, often help alleviate the crushing isolation of feeling like you have to hide your suffering to keep up appearances.

And yet, when it comes to myself, I absolutely do not want to talk about it, especially publicly. For all the time I spend on social media, I’m an acutely private person, and I guard that privacy fiercely. If I must go thru periodic mental agonies, at least spare me the additional tsuris of having the whole world watch. Grant me, if nothing else, the dignity of keeping my inner life to myself. You can help carry me when I’m being chewed up, I guess, but please, don’t stare.

What it amounts to, I think, is the presumption of intimacy. There are people in the world that I am close with, where I share the intimacy of of full accountings. But I am not intimate with everyone who follows me; I am not close to every person that reads my words. And I flinch from the idea of performing the intimacy of sharing all my struggles outside the context of that long-built closeness. If we’re not confidants, don’t ask me to confide in you.

(And there is textual support here, too. Kəvala is a very minor anagram of כְּבַֽעַל | kəvá’al | “like a husband”. He can see my everything; it would be presumptuous for a stranger to expect the equivalent access.)

Is G-d so different? The Mishkan is an elaborate structure built for a complicated purpose: bridging the gap between the earthly and the Divine. It’s a delicate act, fraught with peril. If things go wrong, the results can be catastrophic. G-d is not like the Israelites. G-d is strange, reserved, reluctant to be approached. G-d commands things without giving all the reasons in the background; G-d forbids anyone but Mosheh, the trusted prophet, from climbing Mt Sinai for the fullness of Revelation; G-d demands a chamber within a chamber blocked from the outer world by fabrics and skins and ritual demarcations — a chamber that only one person is authorized to enter, and only once a year at that. Don’t look when G-d’s room — the one place on earth that is G-d’s alone, a private domain without the pressures of public performance — is coming apart. It’s a parasocial intimacy that Heaven cannot bear.

[This has been an installment of one-word Torah. You can read the full series here.]

[wandydilan]

Parasha "In the Dessert"

Parashat Bamidbar, the opening portion of the Book of Numbers, sets the stage for the Israelites' journey through the wilderness. The name Bamidbar means "in the desert," symbolizing a place of transition, purification, and preparation. The parasha primarily focuses on the census of the Israelites, the arrangement of the tribes around the Tabernacle, and the unique role of the Levites in serving the sanctuary.

Kabbalistic Meaning

From a Kabbalistic perspective, the desert represents a spiritual void, a place where one must rely entirely on divine sustenance. The Israelites' journey through the wilderness mirrors the soul’s journey—a process of refinement and elevation. The census, where each individual is counted, highlights the unique spiritual role of every person. In Kabbalah, this reflects the idea that each soul has a specific mission in the grand cosmic plan.

The arrangement of the tribes around the Tabernacle is also deeply symbolic. The four directions correspond to the four spiritual worlds—Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah. The Levites, who serve in the Tabernacle, represent the channel of divine energy, ensuring that holiness permeates the physical realm.

Additionally, the desert is associated with bitul (self-nullification)—a state where one lets go of ego and embraces divine wisdom. The Israelites' dependence on manna teaches the lesson of trust in G-d, a core principle in Kabbalistic thought.

Practical Advice for Today

Embrace Transitions – Life often feels like a desert—uncertain, challenging, and full of unknowns. Bamidbar teaches us that growth happens in the wilderness. Instead of fearing change, we should see it as an opportunity for spiritual refinement.

Recognize Your Unique Role – The census reminds us that every individual counts. No matter how small or insignificant one may feel, each person has a divine purpose. This is a call to embrace our strengths and contribute meaningfully to the world.

Cultivate Humility – The desert is a place of self-nullification, where ego dissolves and one becomes receptive to higher wisdom. Practicing humility allows us to connect more deeply with others and with G-d.

Trust in Divine Providence – Just as the Israelites relied on manna, we must cultivate faith that our needs will be met. This means letting go of excessive worry and embracing a mindset of gratitude and trust.

Build a Sacred Space – The arrangement of the tribes around the Tabernacle teaches the importance of creating a center of holiness in our lives. Whether through prayer, study, or acts of kindness, we should strive to make our surroundings spiritually uplifting.

Parashat Bamidbar is a powerful reminder that life's wilderness moments are not obstacles but opportunities. It urges us to embrace change, recognize our worth, cultivate humility, trust in G-d, and create sacred spaces. By internalizing these lessons, we can navigate life’s uncertainties with strength and purpose.

[conscienciacoletiva]

Histórias Espirituais - Os Espiões

[midnightrabbiinspired]

United Souls - Finding a Home in Israel, Journey with Soul to the soon-to-be Unified Holy Land!

United Souls – Extracts from New Book Section 2 – by Eli Goldsmith – Part 45 – Finding a Home in Israel, Journey with Soul to the soon-to-be Unified Holy Land! United Souls – Section 2 by Eli Goldsmith – A Journey towards Real Unification in Everyway… Continued – Check out Part 43-45 for the Intro & Flow… https://eligoldsmith.substack.com/p/united-souls-extracts-from-new-book-8f6 Finding a Home…

[midnightrabbi]

United Souls - Extracts from New Book Section 2 - by Eli Goldsmith - Part 45 - Finding a Home in Israel, Journey with Soul to the soon-to-be Unified Holy Land!

United Souls – Extracts from New Book Section 2 – by Eli Goldsmith – Part 45 – Finding a Home in Israel, Journey with Soul to the soon-to-be Unified Holy Land! United Souls – Section 2 by Eli Goldsmith – A Journey towards Real Unification in Everyway… Continued – Check out Part 43-45 for the Intro & Flow… https://eligoldsmith.substack.com/p/united-souls-extracts-from-new-book-8f6Finding a Home…

[kfirbenyehudah]

PARASHÁT JUQÁT

Bemidbár 19:1 - 22:1

Parashát Juqát es la sexta porción semanal de la Toráh, que se encuentra en el Séfer Bemidbár (Libro de Números). En esta Parasháh, se enseñan las leyes relacionadas con la purificación ritual y se relatan los fallecimientos de Miriám y Aharón, los hermanos de Moshéh. Además, se castiga a Moshéh por el incidente de las aguas de Meriváh, lo que le impide entrar en la Tierra Prometida1.

Una de las ceremonias especiales de purificación mencionadas en esta Parasháh involucra la vaca roja (paráh adumáh). Esta vaca sin defectos se sacrificaba fuera del campamento y se quemaba junto con madera de cedro, hisopo y un hilo escarlata. Las cenizas de la vaca roja se utilizaban para purificar a las personas que habían estado en contacto con un cadáver2.

En resumen, Parashát Juqát aborda temas de pureza e impureza, así como la importancia de cumplir con las leyes Divinas, incluso cuando no siempre comprendemos su propósito o significado1.

Reflexiones

Parashát Juqát nos presenta una serie de lecciones y desafíos que siguen siendo relevantes en la vida actual. Aquí hay algunas reflexiones sobre esta porción semanal:

La paradoja de la purificación: La ceremonia de la vaca roja es un ejemplo de cómo a veces las soluciones Divinas pueden parecer paradójicas o incluso ilógicas. La purificación a través de las cenizas de la vaca roja es un recordatorio de que no siempre entendemos completamente los caminos de Dios, pero debemos confiar en Su sabiduría.

La importancia de la obediencia: Moshéh es castigado por golpear la roca en lugar de hablarle, lo que le impide entrar en la Tierra Prometida. Esto nos enseña que incluso los líderes espirituales deben obedecer las instrucciones Divinas con precisión. La obediencia es crucial para nuestra relación con lo sagrado.

La fragilidad de la vida: La muerte de Miriám y Aharón nos recuerda que incluso aquellos que desempeñan un papel importante en la historia pueden partir en cualquier momento. Valorar a nuestros seres queridos y vivir con propósito es fundamental.

La búsqueda de significado: A veces, como Moshéh, enfrentamos situaciones difíciles sin comprender completamente su propósito. La fe implica confiar en que incluso en momentos de confusión, hay un propósito más grande en juego.

En ��ltima instancia, Parashát Juqát nos invita a reflexionar sobre nuestra relación con lo Divino, nuestra obediencia y nuestra búsqueda de significado en medio de la incertidumbre.

Lehitra’ót! 🙋🏻‍♂️

[eretzyisrael]

Counting Babies

In this week's Torah portion, Bamidbar, God says to conduct a census of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Moses counts 603,550 men of draftable age, between 20 and 60 years old. However, the tribe of Levi is counted separately, and with different criteria. All males of the tribe of Levi one month and older are counted, a total of 22,300 Levites.

Why are one-month-old males of the tribe of Levi counted, while men of the other tribes aren’t counted until they are twenty? Recall that the tribe of Levi has a different mission from all the other tribes of Israel. They were not given their own land but instead entrusted with serving the Kohanim (priests) in the Holy Temple, and teaching Torah to the other tribes. Because of this special role, Levites raise their children with complete devotion to Judaism. Members of the other tribes are not counted as part of the community until they have achieved the age of maturity, when they can choose for themselves to follow Jewish law. Levites don’t need to wait that long because it is understood that they will take the right path, having been raised from birth to do so.

Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag teaches that there is a lesson here for all Jews. At a time of rampant assimilation, intermarriage, and societal trends that value physical pleasure and materialism over service to God, many Jewish parents worry that their children won’t choose the path of Torah. The tribe of Levi shows us the way to ensure the next generation’s loyalty to Judaism: it’s never too early to start teaching them to love God and His Holy Book.

Image: "The Numbering of the Israelites," engraving by Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux, c. 1890

Accidental Talmudist

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Facing the Wilderness

I wrote this d’var Torah for last Friday night’s Shabbat services.

This week, in the Torah, we read parshat Behaalotecha, which includes a line that has always made me raise my eyebrows, but today, I find it resonates with me in a new way.

We find it in Numbers Chapter 11 verses 4 through 6: “…the children of Israel once again began to cry, and they said, “Who will feed us meat? We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free of charge, the cucumbers, the watermelons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now, our bodies are dried out, for there is nothing at all; we have nothing but manna to look at.”

We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free of charge…

It sounds like the Children of Israel are being nostalgic for their time in Egypt. But let’s review for a moment. Answer me this: when the Children of Israel were in Egypt, what status did they have?

They were slaves! Their meals were free of charge BECAUSE THEY WERE SLAVES. They paid for that fish and cucumbers and garlic with back-breaking labor and suffering, with the murder of their infants, with a complete lack of freedom or opportunity for the future.

And now, they are free – but the children of Israel have realized that freedom comes with its own challenges. Freedom means not always knowing when you’re going to eat, or what you’re going to eat. More broadly, freedom means that you can’t always predict what’s going to happen. We call this book of Torah the book of Numbers, but in Hebrew, this is Bamidbar, which means, “in the wilderness.” And when you’re in the wilderness, when you venture into the unknown (like Elsa in Frozen 2), things are new, and strange, and uncertain.

When I was a kid, I couldn’t understand this behavior from the children of Israel. How could they be so ungrateful for their freedom? How could they look at manna, this food that came directly from G-d, and long for the food that had come from their oppressors?

But now I think I understand. Because when we face new challenges, when we feel uncertain about the future, it becomes very easy to look back on old, familiar situations with nostalgia. It becomes easy to put on the rose-colored glasses and think, “Things were so much better when I knew what was coming.”

People do this all the time. We all know someone, we all have that friend, who is in a really bad relationship. And they KNOW that it’s bad. They tell you all the time about the ways that their partner is making their life miserable. But every time your friend starts to think, “I should break up with this person!” – they freeze! Because if they break up with their partner, they’ll have to face the challenges of the modern-day dating scene. The dating apps. The pressure from friends and family. The fear of rejection, and the uncertainty that they’ll even find someone to connect with at all. So instead, your friend starts to justify their old relationship. They say things like, “Maybe I should give him another chance! Sure, he’s not the BEST guy, but at least I know he wants me! At least I know what to expect!”

The Children of Israel, to put it very mildly, were in a VERY bad relationship with Egypt. But faced with the uncertainty of the wilderness, they find themselves longing for the certainty of that bad situation.

A month from now – in fact, exactly thirty days from now, yes I’m keeping a countdown – I will be starting a new job. The thing is, I already have a job. I’ve worked at the same attraction at Walt Disney World for a year now, and I just reached my five-year anniversary as an attractions Cast Member overall. Five years is plenty of time to get comfortable. I know what to expect from working in attractions.

But I don’t want to be an attractions Cast Member forever. I don’t talk about this much, because I don’t enjoy being negative, but there are a lot of things about working at theme park attractions that make it not a good fit for me. And as most of you know, I’m a creative writer. That’s where I flourish. That’s where I find a sense of purpose. I’m about to become a seasonal show writer with Disney Live Entertainment. And while I am beyond excited for this opportunity, the term “seasonal” means that I don’t know how often they will have work for me to do. So in thirty days, I will leap into the unknown. Into the wilderness of being a freelance professional writer.

And I have already panicked about this. I panicked when I first saw the job posting, and again after I submitted my application, and again both before and after I interviewed for the job. And I expect that I will panic about it again, or at least be anxious about it, more than once in the next thirty days. I now find myself thinking very happily about my attractions job. Now that I’m about to leave, it’s a lot easier to think about how nice and stable this work is. How good it is that I know what to expect.

The Children of Israel knew in Egypt that they would be fed fish. The fish was familiar and certain, and so was slavery. Manna, and freedom, are new and strange. But manna is also a sign that their life is better now. Their life now is different, and challenging, and sometimes frightening, but it is full of new opportunities.

So when we find ourselves facing the wilderness that lies on the other side of a change, the answer is not to look longingly back on the familiar ground behind us. It’s to look forward, and to step forward, into the wilderness, to confront its challenges and seize its opportunities, and to build a life that will be better than the one we left behind.

Shabbat shalom!

[girlactionfigure]

[slyandthefamilybook]

I went to an Orthodox school and it was a thing to memorize every single parasha. It's one of those things that never leaves you

Question to English-speaking diaspora Jews: How do you typically refer to books of the Tanach? Is it by their Hebrew name (e.g. Bereshit) or by their English-given name (e.g. Genesis)?

[rickpoet]

The records only let me go so far back...a boat ticket...Bialystok. I want to know so much more about what happened in the east. (Read along at https://jewishpoetry.net/bamidbar/ )