Parshat Bamidbar; Numbers 1:1 -4:20 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

As a new book of the Torah begins, Moses is busy organizing the Israelites. First at God’s behest, he counts and enumerates the men of Israel. By taking a census they will be able to know exactly how many able-bodied men will be transformed into a new fighting force as they approach the Holy Land. Moses and the leadership will also know exactly how many will be able to participate in carrying, building and dismantling the portable Tabernacle that is now at the center of their lives. The Holy Divine Dwelling place is literally at the central core of the way the Israelites gather. They encamp around the Tabernacle and surround the Holy Place of Meeting providing protection and providing care for it. In Parshat Bamidbar which begins the book of Numbers, an accurate accounting of the tribes and clans is necessary for this.

The Torah also records the leaders of the tribes and their participation in this census. How marvelous that we still know the names of these leaders! Think about it. Our Torah records the names of the main leadership. But not only Moses and Aaron and their sister, Miriam as leaders of the Israelites but we still have for all time these chieftains and their ancestral houses recorded.
This speaks to us still today. Genealogical records are important. They help us know our families and help us reflect upon our own place in the world. As Jews our Hebrew names are often a strong clue to our family history. We have a tradition of naming children after other family members—so Hebrew names tend to repeat throughout many generations. For those from Sephardic family traditions children are sometimes given Hebrew names of those still alive. While in Ashkenazi family traditions Hebrew names are often given to maintain the memory of those who have died recently in a family circle.
Do you know your family history? Do you know who you were named for and what that person story was or is? If you do know your Hebrew name or who you were named for make sure that you record this information. Have you made sure we at temple know your Hebrew name? By preserving this information you help your family’s history stretch back for generations. If you do not know for whom you were named—is there someone in your family that you can ask?
These kinds of links and these kinds of traditions are often just oral traditions in our families. And yet they contain important information about our place in our family’s life and ultimately our own place in the world. If we can never connect our own spirit and our own souls with the hundreds and thousands of others who make up our extended families then we lose not just a piece of history but we lose a precious link in the life of the Jewish people. In an era when we are often so disconnected from others, when we often live far away from our families for extended periods like college or early work years or even later in life, knowing where we have come from and our roots help ground us in a positive way.
For many of us there are missing pieces in our stories. Perhaps when our families immigrated to the U.S. we lost precious information. For others of us the Holocaust wiped out huge swaths of our family line or for some of the survivors it was too painful a memory and so they did not share family information. But this is exactly why we must record that which we have! We build our people when we know the names. We build our families when we know our history. We create a strong rooted place for our traditions, new and old, and our spiritual lives when we can reach out to the past and know our family map.
There are many data bases and places to begin. If your family came through Ellis Island in New York, you can search the records there at www.ellisisland.org. Or you might try the Diaspora Museum database in Tel Aviv at www.bh.org.il . They have a great data base of family names and genealogy. Or try www.jewishgen.org which has databases and other amazing material on European Jewish families.
There are many books on tracing your family genealogy and whole conferences dedicated to this. So be inspired by our Torah portion, Bamidbar this week and do a little digging into your own family tree and record the names and stories in your own family!