Torah Portion of the Week

Bamidbar במדבר

Numbers 1:1–4:20

Parshat Bamidbar ('In the Wilderness') opens the fourth book of the Torah with a grand census of the Israelite nation, taken on the first day of the second month in the second year after the Exodus. God commands Moses and Aaron to count every male aged twenty and above — all who are fit for military service — tribe by tribe, assisted by a chieftain (nasi) from each tribe. The total comes to 603,550. The Levites are excluded from the military census and instead assigned to carry and guard the Tabernacle. The parsha then describes the precise camping formation: the Tabernacle at the center, the Levites encamped immediately around it, and the twelve tribes arranged in four groups of three under their banners (degalim) — Judah to the east, Reuben to the south, Ephraim to the west, Dan to the north. A separate census of Levites counts them from one month of age, and the firstborn of Israel are redeemed through a one-to-one exchange with the Levites. The parsha concludes by beginning the description of the Kohathite family's sacred duties.


Locations in the Parsha

Biblical Places

Map of the Parsha

Biblical Locations


Section by Section

Parsha Outline


Prophetic Reading

Haftarah הפטרה

Hosea 2:1–2:22

הושע

Hosea proclaims that the children of Israel shall be 'as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured' — connecting to the census in the parsha. God's covenant with Israel endures despite their unfaithfulness.




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