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146

NUMBERS | 24:16 spirits — NUM300 The Midrash... asks why God initiated the ...

NUM300 The Midrash... asks why God initiated the human species by creating only one man. One reason, the Mishnah suggests, is to impress upon us the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, for when human beings mint coins, they all come out the same, but God made one mold (Adam) and no one of us is exactly like another. This physical pluralism is matched by an intellectual pluralism for which, the Rabbis say, God is to be blessed: “When one sees a crowd of people, he is to say, ‘Blessed is the Master of mysteries,’ for just as their faces are not alike, so are their thoughts not alike.” The Midrash supports this further when it says that when Moses was about to die, he said to the Lord: “Master of the universe, You know the opinions of everyone, and that there are no two among Your children who think alike. I beg of You that after I die, when You appoint a leader for them, appoint one who will bear with [accept, sovel] each one of them as he thinks [on his own terms, lefi da’ato].” We know that Moses said this, the Rabbi said, because Moses describes God as “God of the ruhot (“spirits” [in the plural])” of all flesh.” (Numbers 24:16) It is even the case that righteous non-Jews have a portion in the world to come, for it is only “the nations who ignored God” and who will be denied that -- again, a theological consideration. [M. Sanhedrin 4:5; B. Berachot 58a; Midrash Tanhuma on Numbers 24:16; T. Sanhedrin 13:2 based on Psalms 9:18] Thus God wants pluralism so that people will constantly be reminded of His grandeur. (Continued at [[LEV727]] Leviticus 19:18 yourself DORFFRAG 53).

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Source KeyDORFFRAG
Verse24:16
Keyword(s)spirits
Source Page(s)53 ft. 60

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