Welcome back to another episode of NachDaily with the 7th perek of Nechemiah.

[May this segment be a merit for the aliyas neshamos of Raizel bas Moshe, Avraham Aharon ben Yisroel Yitzchok, and Refael ben Yehoshua Falek.]

There are two themes in this chapter: the additional safety precautions Nechemiah took to protect the residents of Yerushalayim and another census of the Jews there at that time. It should be noted that most of this perek contains names from the census.

As soon at the wall of Yerushalayim were finished and the doors were now installed, Nechemiah assigned roles to the gate keepers, singers and Leviim. He put his good friends Chanani and Chananyah, who was the head of the fortress, in charge of the city.

Rav Schwab is quick to point out that the passuk notes that it appeared to Nechemiah that Chananyah was God-fearing. Only Hashem can truly know who has yiras Shamayim and who doesn’t. We have no way to truly determine what’s in a person’s heart. With this in mind Nechemiah said that it “seemed” to him that he was a God-fearing man.

Nechemiah instructed them to only open the gates of Yerushalayim at noon. Once the gates were open, the entrance way and all the residents’ houses needed to be carefully guarded. They were to set up a watch on front of each resident’s house. Although the city was large, the houses were not built well and were distant from one another.

It’s interesting to note that this refers to biblical Yerushalayim, which was essentially just what we now call the old city. When we think of Yerushalayim, we think of it in its entirety, but in those days it was basically just the old city. B’H the boundaries of Yerushalayim have spread wider and wider as we prepare and get closer to the final redemption.

From verses 5 until 73, the end of the chapter is a genealogical registry taken by Nechemiah. Hashem had put it in his mind to take a census of all the Jews living in Eretz Yisrael at that time.

The Ibn Ezra explains that Nechemah wanted to compile an up-to- date genealogical registry of Yerushalayim’s citizens in an effort to prevent intermarriage.

The original record that Ezra had taken 36 years earlier was no longer relevant because births and deaths had not been recorded during the interim time.

Additionally, after all the upheaval of dealing with the wall, a lot of information got lost about who was Jewish, who was a Kohen and who was a Levi. Not only did Nechemiah want to restore order, but he had deeper intentions of wanting the city to be repopulated and filled with Jews. He needed to clarify the lineage of the city’s residents as clearly as possible.

In all, the census in this chapter records 42,360 residents, not including 7,337 servants.

It’s important to mention that the Ramad Walli highlights that this was the express desire of Hashem. Nechemiah wasn’t acting independently. Hashem had placed in his heart and mind the desire to rebuild the city, protect it, and take a census of the nation to put things in order.

This is not just for historical purposes. Every book of Nach is meant for us to learn from and is relevant to our everyday lives. Although it may seem mundane and ordinary, the practical and logistical building of the walls of Yerushalyim have no less of an important role in our lives as any other area of Torah.

The centrality of Eretz Yisrael is not just a branch of Torah but the roots of Torah itself, which is why in many places in Nach, and more notably here, every last detail is recounted and recorded. The stirrings of Eretz Yisrael is something we need to be connected to as

everything that happens in the land has deep spiritual and far reaching ramifications.

Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.