Pesach Prerequisite

The haggadah begins with the passage "Ha lachma anyah". It starts out with a one line description of the matzah that we eat. "This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt". Immediately following this, we proceed to extend an invitation to the poor to come join us at our seder. The question has been asked, what is this invitation doing at the start of the haggadah?

I would like to suggest the following explanation:

The Maharal asks, why does kabalas ol malchus shomayim begin with the words Shema yisroel? The point of kabalas ol malchus shomayim is really to proclaim Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad, why do we preface it with the words "Shema yisroel"?

The Maharal explains, the kingdom of any king is only as strong as his nation is. If the people don't accept the monarchy, there is no monarchy. Ain melech b'lo am. The strength of the malchus is proportionate to how unified the nation is in accepting the king. So before we are mekabel the malchus shomayim on ourselves, we proclaim "Shema Yisroel", listen all fellow Jews, as if to say “We are one group, one am yisroel, totally united in accepting You as our King”.

One of the main themes of Pesach in general, and of the haggadah in particular, is the idea of וְלָקַחְתִּי אֶתְכֶם לִי לְעָם, וְהָיִיתִי לָכֶם לֵאלֹהִים . Through the exodus from Egypt we became God's nation. The point of sippur yitziyas mitzrayim is to lead to the realization that we are Am Hashem. But a prerequisite of being an Am Hashem is that we first have to be an Am. A consortium of various splinter groups cannot rightly refer to themselves as an Am.

So before we begin to expound on the various aspects of yetziyas mitzrayim we first invite everyone to our table, thereby proclaiming, now that we are a unified Am, we can begin to discuss being an Am Hashem.

I heard the following vort from my Rosh Yeshiva regarding the above mentioned Maharal:

At the end of the tachnun we say the tefillah of shomer yisrael. In it we ask for Hashem's protection based on three things. 1. ha'omrim shema yisrael 2. hamiyachadim shimcha heshem elokeinu hashem echad 3. hamishalishim b'shalosh kedushas. Now if we examine this list we will see that items 1 and 2 seem to refer to the same thing, namely, kabalas ol malchus shomayim. However, according to the Maharal that we mentioned above it makes a lot of sense. Ha’omrim shema yisroel is not referring to Kabalos ol malchus shomayim. It is referring to the fact that we are a united people.

Making Sense of the Census

Everyone knows that the total number of adult men in the midbar was 600,000. In fact, there are a few specific halachos that are learned from that number. An example would be, the number of people needed [according to most Rishonim] in an area to qualify as a biblical reshus harabbim (See Rashi Eruvin 6b).

However, the results of the census taken in the midbar and recorded in the Torah, indicates that there were more than 600,000 people. The exact number given is 603,550. Why the discrepancy? Why do we not require 603,550 people to create a rishus harabbim?

I heard the following brilliant explanation from Rabbi Yisroel Reissman in his motzai shabbos nach shiur:

In parshas ki setzei the posuk relates regarding Amalek:

אֲשֶׁר קָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ, וַיְזַנֵּב בְּךָ כָּל-הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִים אַחֲרֶיךָ
how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all that were enfeebled in thy rear

Who were these "enfeebled" people that Amalek smote? Rashi quotes the medrash that these were the members of the erev rav who were outside the protective cover of the ananey hakavod.

Now if it can somehow be demonstrated that these people numbered 3,550, we would understand why the gemorah refers to 600,000. That would be the total number of people that were actually inside the machaneh.

In this weeks parsha, parshas vayakhel, we read how most of the silver that was collected through the machatzis hashekel, the 1/2 shekel per person donation, was utilized for the construction of the adonim, the bases for the kerashim. There was however a small amount of silver that was left over after all the adonim were completed. This silver was used to make the hooks that held the curtains that surrounded the perimeter of the mishkan.

How did Moshe determine who's donations would go for the adonim and who's donations would be used for the hooks? The hooks were on the outside of the mishkan in an area where there was no kedusha (min ha-klayos v'lachutz). It would be a safe assumption that Moshe would use the donations of the erev rav for these hooks. (The donation of those that were outside ot the machaneh would be used on the outside of the mishkan.)

How much silver was left over and used to fabricate the hooks? The pasuk says:

וְאֶת-הָאֶלֶף וּשְׁבַע הַמֵּאוֹת, וַחֲמִשָּׁה וְשִׁבְעִים, עָשָׂה וָוִים, לָעַמּוּדִים
One thousand, seven hundred and seventy five shekalom worth of silver.

If our assumption is correct, that the erev rav were the ones that donated the silver for the hooks, we can now determine the exact census of the members of the erev rav. Bearing in mind that each person donated a 1/2 shekel, it would follow that this silver was received from 3,550 people. 3,550 individuals. 3,550 people who were outside of the machaneh. Which leaves us with exactly 600,000 people inside of the machaneh.

גַּל-עֵינַי וְאַבִּיטָה נִפְלָאוֹת, מִתּוֹרָתֶךָ.