Lift up / Count the sum of the entire Congregation of the Children of Israel

שְׂאוּ אֶת רֹאשׁ כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

B'Midbar 1.2

2.’Take and count the sum of the entire Congregation of the Children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male, by their head count- שְׂאוּ אֶת רֹאשׁ כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם בְּמִסְפַּר שֵׁמוֹת כָּל זָכָר לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָם (6060+15 words=6075=18 or 7740=18 counting final Mems as 600).

The verse can be divided so:

·         Take and count the sum of the entire Congregation of the Children of Israel-שְׂאוּ אֶת רֹאשׁ כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל (2336=14=8);

·         By their families-לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם (898+1 word=26=8);

·         By their fathers' houses- לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם(1445=14=8 counting final Mem as 600);

·         According to the number of names, every male- בְּמִסְפַּר שֵׁמוֹת כָּל זָכָר(1405=10=1);

·         By their head count- לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָם (1096+1 word=17=8 counting final Mem as 600).

Rashi comments that here Hashem counted them in order to know the number of each Tribe. Each person was to be affiliated to his “father’s house”. The count was done by way of counting a half shekel per head which were used to acquire the Communal Offerings for the Sanctuary Mizbeach. One whose mother and father were of different Tribes would be counted according to the Tribe of his father (Baba Batra 109.b).

From here we can understand the situation of the Egyptian man whose mother was from the Tribe of Dan (Shlomit bat Dibri) and whose father was Egyptian but had been brought up by Dathan the husband of Shlomit, who was from the Tribe of Reuben (see my commentary at the end of Parshat Emor).

The gematria of this verse is 6060 which adds up to 12 which represents the number of the Tribes in a balance of two halves. The gematria of the word “half” - חצי is 108. Thus the 12 Tribes (two halves) allude to the number 216 (108+108) which in turn corresponds to the 216 letters in the Explicit Name of Hashem.

The entire Congregation of Israel

כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

1077+3 words = 1080 =1+8

Father’s houses

בֵית אֲבֹתָם

855=18

The word “by their head count”- לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָם (“l'Gulg’lotam”) can also be read as “by their reincarnations”- לְגִלְגֻלֹתָם(“l'Gilgulotam”).

Thus we can conclude that these souls which had left Egypt and were now over 20 years old (see following verse) were reincarnations of previous souls. This may be a reason why these souls had to die off in the Wilderness as only “new” souls free from past sins would be fit to enter the Land of Egypt.