Parshas Bamidbar and Shavuos

פרשת במדבר

Parsha Stumpers and Something to Think About

1. Rashi (1:2) writes that the way Moshe counted B'nei Yisroel was through
   
   
    collecting a half-shekel per person. Why did he have count them like this?
   
   
   
   
2. What is the significance of a flag?
   
   
   
   
3. Rashi (3:1) notes that the passuk refers to Elazar and Isamar as the children 
   
   
   of Aharon and Moshe – Aharon because he was their biological father, and 
   
   
   
   
   Moshe because he was their rebbe. However, in the following passuk (3:2) it 
   
   
   
   
   repeats and only calls them the sons of Aharon.

• Why should being someone's rebbe make one considered his father?
  
  
• Why is the passuk switching in the next passuk to just call them the sons of 
  
  
  Aharon?

3. When it came to counting shevet Levi, Rashi (2:16) comments that Moshe did
   
   
   not know what to do. He said, “How can I enter the tents to know the 
   
   
   number of their nursing infants?” Hasem replied, “You go outside the tent 
   
   
   and I will let you know the number of who is in which tent.”

• If Hashem was going to tell him through a bas-kol how many were in each
  
  
  tent, why did Moshe have to go up to the tents to begin with?
  
  
  
  
• Why did this only first become an issue when it came to counting shevet
  
  
   Levi?

4. Why do we eat dairy on Shavuos?

I will hopefully start posting my archive of Parsha Stumpers - Something to Think About on this blog.
Make sure to visit thoughtsonparsha.blogspot.com.