Considering that a person can generally walk forty Mil in a day, how did Yisrael manage to travel from Ra'meses to Sukos - a journey of a 120 Mil (or 130, according to Targum Yonasan) - in one day?
Rashi #1 and Seforno (to Bamidbar 11:35): In fact, after they left Ra'meses, by virtue of a miracle, 1 they arrived in Sukos in a flash. 2
Rashi and Seforno: As the Torah indicates when it writes in Shemos 19:4, that Hashem carried them on eagles' wings. Seforno - In fact, this explains why the Torah writes "Va'Yis'u ... me'Ra'meses Sukosah," rather than, 'va'Yachanu b'Sukos,' as it does everywhere else.
Why does the Torah add the prefix 'Kaf,' in the word "k'Shesh [Me'os Elef Ragli]"?
Oznayim la'Torah (citing Pirkei d'R. Eliezer): Because they were one short of six hundred thousand, and Hashem completed the number. 1
Oznayim la'Torah: Just like He did on the way down to Egypt, when only sixty-nine souls went down to Egypt.
What is the significance of the word "Ragli"?
Targum Yonasan: They all traveled on foot - and not on horseback (from Ra'meses to Sukos - a journey of 130 Mil). 1
Why did the Bnei Yisrael leave Mitzrayim now, just as their number reached 600,000?
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 3, p. 26): The number six represents completion. 1 By multiplying by all units of counting - units, hundreds and thousands 2 - we get 600,000. 3 In all the countings in the Torah, the Bnei Yisrael total roughly that number; it represents the whole of Yisrael. 4
Maharal (ibid.): A complete physical object (as opposed to a point, line or plane) has three dimensions; e.g. a cube, which has six faces.
Maharal (ibid.): Although Lashon Kodesh uses an additional counting term, 'Ribo' (myriad), for units of ten-thousand; it is less-commonly used. Ribo implies Ribuy (multiplicity); whereas Bnei Yisrael were aiming for Sheleimus (perfection). Maharal (ibid. p. 27) - The number six, representing perfection, is appropriate for Yisrael. Something incomplete has Ribuy (multiplicity); it is waiting for additional units to complete it. Yisrael, the unique nation, must be whole. (We might add that in mathematical terms, 6 is the first perfect number; it is the sum of its factors other than itself (1 + 2 + 3 = 6). -- CS)
Maharal (ibid.): Bnei Yisrael were enslaved prior to their achieving completion; they were comparable to a fetus developing inside a mother animal. Refer to 1:1:2.7 and 1:1:2.9.
Also see Maharal, as to why units of ten are not factored in as well.
What does the Pasuk mean when it writes, "ha'Gevarim"?
Rashi: It means 'men over the age of twenty.'
What is the meaning of "Levad mi'Taf"?
Targum Yonasan: Every man had five children (below the age of twenty). 1
Na'ar Yonasan: Targum Yonasan learns this from the word "va'Chamushim" (13:18) - PF. If in the desert, people died only on Tish'ah b'Av (see Tosafos to Ta'anis 30b, based on Eichah Rabah, Pesichah 33), and every man fathered a son after Matan Torah (Rashi to Shabbos 89b), this accounted for almost all six hundred thousand men counted at the end of the forty years! To resolve these opinions, we must say that enormous numbers of people died after the Egel, by the Mis'onenim, or by the Selav, or in the war after Aharon died (refer to Bamidbar 26:13:2:1*); or, almost all the Taf here were girls. Surely most Taf of the Leviyim were girls, for [a year later] there were eight thousand Levi'im between thirty and fifty (and surely many others above twenty), and in all, less than fourteen thousand additional male Levi'im above one month (Bamidbar 3:22, 4:48).
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'Ha'Gevarim' - [i.e.] from age 20 years and up." But perhaps it includes all adult males, from age 13 and up?
Mizrachi: Our Pasuk puts the total at 600,000 men. Only six months later, upon construction of the Mishkan, the Torah counts 603,550 men from age 20 and up (Shemos 38:26). Had our Pasuk been counting from as young as age 13, it should have been much more here.
Gur Aryeh: The etymology of the word "Gevarim" comes from Gevurah (might). See Bamidbar 1, where men over age 20, who were counted in the census, are repeatedly referred to as "those who go out to the army." (Hence, a youth between ages 13 and 20 may be called an "Ish," but not a "Gever.")
Rashi writes: "'Ha'Gevarim' - from age 20 years and up." Mizrachi asks - But if so, why need the verse conclude, "... aside from the Taf (the children)"? Even the youths aged 13-20, who are not children, were excluded!
Gur Aryeh: The majority of those [males] not included in the count of 600,000 were children under age thirteen. The smaller group, between ages thirteen and twenty, was secondary to them, and need not be mentioned. 1
Gur Aryeh: The same is true in Bamidbar 32:16. Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven assert that they will build cities for their 'Taf;' although youths under age twenty presumably remained behind as well.
