Take a census of all of the congregation of the children of Yisrael from twenty years and older, according to their father’s house (Bamidbar 26:2)

In this week’s parsha, the Jews are counted again. Why are there so many times the Jews are counted? Rashi mentions in Parshas Bamidbar that it is because Hashem has so much love for the Jews that he continuously counts them.

But does Hashem really love us? This week begins the Three Weeks – 21 days full of sad events. The Tablets that had the Aseres HaDibros on them were broken. The walls of Yerushaliyim were breached. Both of the Holy Temples were destroyed. Thousands of people died.

Parshas Pinchas is almost always read during the first Shabbos of the Three Weeks between the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha B’Av (occasionally it is read the Shabbos before the 17th of Tammuz). This was done to teach us a lesson – the Jews are being counted in Parshas Pinchas because Hashem loves us. Even though we have three weeks of tragedies, Hashem still loves us very much!

There was once a group of 120 men called the Anshei Knesses HaGadolah, the Men of the Great Assembly. Why were they called this? The commentaries explain that Moshe called Hashem, “Ha’Kel, HaGadol, HaGibor, V’HaNora”, which means He is a Merciful G-d, Great G-d, Mighty G-d, and Awesome G-d. Yermiyahu (Jeremiah) came along and said the word Awesome should be omitted. Foreigners are dancing in His Temple, so can can we still call Hashem Awesome. They have no awe of Him. Daniel said the word Mighty should be omitted as he saw so many Jews suffering. Came along the Men of the Great Assembly and said, we should still include these two words. The reason is because Hashem is showing his Awesomeness and Mightiness because the Jews still exist. The Jews should have been destroyed many, many times throughout history, but we’re still here! This is because Hashem instills fear in the non-Jews and shows His mighty power by not letting His nation be destroyed.

Hashem loves us very much. Yes… we have gone through much suffering, but all of this suffering shows us how much Hashem loves us because He has never exterminated us. A parent gets angry at his child when the child does wrong because he loves the child so much. If a stranger does the same thing, the parent would usually ignore it because he does not have the same care for the other person. Even though a parent gets angry at his child, though, he never harms the child.

The same is with Hashem. He has put us through much suffering, but we are still here. He punishes us because we sin, but He does not destroy us. This is one of the lessons of Parshas Pinchas and why it always comes during or just before the Three Weeks.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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