Sefer Hoshea; Perakim 1-6 Remember that Hoshea was a prophet during the times of the first Beis Hamikdash; he prophesised for 90 years and was a contemporary of Yeshayahu. Perek Summaries
Perek 1: Hoshea is told to have children with a promiscuous woman as a parable for Bnei Yisrael’s unfaithfulness towards HaShem. (Many explain that this was not a real command; it was merely a parable stated in a vision).
Perek 2: Further comparisons between Bnei Yisrael and an unfaithful wife. This, time the prophecy depicts the wife finally returning to her husband; albeit too late to avoid total (cleansing) punishment for the unfaithfulness. (For why this comparison of adultery to convey idolatry is so apt, see the dvar Torah we sent on Yeshaya 55-60.)
Perek 3: A short perek, which seems to mirror the first perek: Hoshea is told to take a ‘dodgy’ woman, but this time he is to wait before completing the marriage during which she is to be faithful. This is to reflect Bnei Yisrael’s eventual faithfulness and loyalty to HaShem.
Perek 4: Forecasts of punishments of destruction for the bad deeds committed by the people. Perek 5: The Kohannim are told off for failing to fulfil their role in the Mikdash and failing to bring the people back on to the straight and narrow. Perek 6: Waning thoughts of repentance. DVAR TORAH: Counting Jews; Learnt from perek 2 of Hoshea! The beginning of our sedra speaks about the counting of the Bnei Yisrael. We are not allowed to count Jews directly (‘one, two, three, four…’). Indeed, David Hamelech had to endure punishment for falling foul in this area
.[2] Instead, we use some other way of counting (‘hoshiya es amecha…’) or count via objects; for example, by counting the half-shekel donations given to the Mishkan. From where do we learn that we may not directly count Jews? The gemarra
[3] tells us that it is learnt from a pasuk in Hoshea,
[4] which reads ‘the [population] number of the Bnei Yisrael will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured nor counted.’ How exactly is the gemarra using this pasuk as a source for the prohibition to count Jews; the pasuk is a forecast of the Bnei Yisrael’s numerous population numbers – the pasuk does not seem to say that it is forbidden to count Jews; just that it is impossible to count Jews? The answer is that the underlying concept behind not counting Jews is that the Jewish People are a supernatural people, and have no limits as to what they can achieve. Putting a number on someone/something is the ultimate form of limiting them; one is saying that this person/object is limited to a certain number or measurement, and cannot currently stretch to more than this figure. But the Jewish People are naturally supernatural, and expand beyond any limits, and so counting us (putting a number on us directly) would be defying our entire existence as a supernatural people. Therefore, the gemarra is learning from the pasuk in Hoshea that since we are a people without limitations, and this is reflected by the fact that our population numbers will increase exponentially, it is forbidden to count us, because counting us denies this supernatural character in attempting to bring us down to the finite expression of numbers and figures. In fact, Hamman attempted in the Purim story; to make the Jews a ‘natural commodity.’ This is what was ‘achieved’ in giving a sum of money
[5] to Achashveirosh in exchange for the ‘privilege’ of exterminating the Jewish People. Hamman was trying to declare the Jewish People a ‘saleable item’ which could be expressed in terms of a finite monetary value; thus denying their supernatural limitless nature whereby they cannot be confined to any specific sum of money. In fact, Hamman’s wife tries to convince her husband that this plan will not work. When Hamman returns home despondent at the fact that he has had to lead Mordechai through the city on horseback, Mrs. Hamman tells her husband that ‘if Mordechai is a Jew…you will not be able to conquer him.’
[6] And as Rashi reveals,
[7] the longer version of what she said was ‘this nation are compared to stars and dust. When they descend they become as low as the dust, but when they are on the ascendancy they rise up to the Heavens and to the stars.’ What Mrs. Hamman was telling her husband was that it is impossible to confine the Jewish People to a natural plain, because they are ‘naturally’ a supernatural people.
[8] Finally, this explanation of counting Bnei Yisrael explains the word ‘se’uh’ used when the Torah speaks about the taking of the census.
[9] This word se’uh means ‘to raise up,’ and as the Kli Yakar notes,
[10] it is referring to the fact that the Bnei Yisrael have been elevated above the other nations of the world in terms of their relationship with HaShem. This mirrors the point that the fact that we are to be counted indirectly is demonstrative of our supernatural nature on the whole.
[2] See Shmuel Beis 24
[3] Gemarra Yoma 22b
[4] Hoshea 2:1
[5] Megillas Esther 3:9
[6] Megillas Esther 6:13
[7] Rashi Megillas Esther 6:13
[8] According to our explanation, we can resolve a pressing question on the episode with David Hamelech. David Hamelech caused punishment when he counted the Jewish People. Yet in truth, as the psukim tell us, David commanded Yoav to count the people; David himself did not do the counting. And we have a rule (see gemarra bava metzia 10b) that ‘there is no principle of agency when it comes to sins.’ So why is David accredited with the sin if technically he did not commit it? One avenue of answer is based on our principle. Perhaps since the problem of counting Jews is the lack of recognition that we are a supernatural people, then even commanding someone else to count Jews would see one fall foul of this precept; for even putting a serious plan of counting Jews into effect goes against our supernatural plain. It must be pointed out that any fault in a great leader of the Jews such as David Hamelech was at his ‘supernal’ level, not ours. See the Radak on the David Hamelech episode for a different approach to the entire event of the counting of the people.
[9] Bamidbar 1:2
[10] Kli Yakar Bamidbar 1:2.
He says that the word se’uh is telling us that Bnei Yisrael have a special hashgacha pratis for each one of us, and not just a hashgacha klalis for the nation as a whole.
