The Desert Parsha Parashat Bamidbar opens a new five-part Pentateuch, the Pentateuch of the Desert, also called the Pentateuch of the Commanders after the two commanders who are mentioned in it, one commander in our parasha and another commander later on. And the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were...by the number of their names according to their generations ..." (Chapter 1, Verse 20) The sons of Simeon, their generations, by their families... by their generations ..." (verse 22) The letters הל in the word "לגגלגלטם" are written in a special way in certain Torah scrolls. Although we found a special writing among both the Reubenites and the Simeonites, the author of the Torah refers to the form written among the Simeonites. An allusion to the sin of Zimri ben Salo, the leader of the tribe of Simeon, with the Midianite woman: "And behold, a man of the children of Israel came and brought the Midianite woman before Moses..." (Parashat Balak, Chapter 25, Verse 6) The second of the two is made like a drawer and is upright, and there is no cap on her head, as the president of the patriarch ordered Shimoni to prostitute herself in Israel with her head uncovered and standing upright. And this sin caused the tribe of Simeon to not have a king or a judge. (Baal Torim)
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