Bamidbar, Bemidbar, BeMidbar, or B’midbar (במדבר — Hebrew for "in the wilderness,” the fifth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parshah) is the 34th weekly Torah portion (parashah Hashavua) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the book of Numbers. It constitutes Numbers 1:1–4:20. The parshah tells of the census and the priests’ duties. According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are no commandments in the parshah.

The English title of the book is “Numbers,” which is derived from the Greek Septuagint (LXX) version of the Torah. The book of Numbers tells the story of Israel’s trek through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land, their failure at the edge of the land and the subsequent forty years of wandering. It concludes with the story of the second generation’s triumphs over the first Canaanite resistance. The book ends with the Israelites poised on the edge of Canaan, ready to take their inheritance. Woven in the midst of these narratives is a significant amount of legal material.

Last week we completed the reading of the sefer Vayikra, which started just after the Mishkan was completed on the first of the month of Nissan (Aviv), one year after the Jewish people left Mitzrayim (Egypt). This book of the Torah, and this parsha, begin one month (30 days) later, on the first of the month of Iyar of that same year.

The first reading from Bamidbar and the thirty-fourth reading from the Torah begin with a census of the tribes of Israel and the Levitical families just prior to the departure from Sinai.

Note: On the Shabbat the Torah Reading is divided into 7 sections. Each section is called an Aliya [literally: Go up] since for each Aliya, one person "goes up" to make a bracha [blessing] on the Torah Reading. Here are this week`s aliyot:

1st & 2nd Aliyot: Moshe counts all males over the age of 20, and registers them according to their paternal ancestry. The total, not including Shavet Levi, was 603,550. The total number of Israelites was around 3 million.

3rd Aliya: The tribes are each assigned their position within the camp, and in the order of the traveling.

4th Aliya: In preparation for separating the tribe of Levi, the Torah establishes Aharon’s genealogy. Although the Kohanim were also from the Tribe of Levi, they were counted by themselves.

5th Aliya: Moshe counts the Levi’im according to their three basic families: Gershon, Kehat, and Merarri. Their individual responsibilities in transporting the Mishkan is stated, and their total was 22,000.

6th Aliya: Being that the Levi’im were to be in direct exchange for the first born, Moshe counts all the first born in the rest of the nation. Their total was 22,273. The extra 273 first born are instructed to redeem themselves from Aharon the Kohen for 5 silver shekels.

7th Aliya: The Parsha concludes with detailed instructions for the family of Kohat. Their primary responsibility was to transport the vessels of the Mishkan. Only Aharon and his sons were allowed to cover the vessels in preparation for transport. Once covered, the family of Kohat did the actual carrying.