Poignant Procession
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Parshat Bamidbar begins with a census of Bnei Yisroel as they were originally meant to enter Eretz Yisroel before the sin of the spies. It continues with a description of the layout of the tribes during their travels and during their encampment, "Each on his banner according to the signs/insignias of their fathers' households." What were these "signs from their fathers' household?"
Rashi explains that the order of the Israelite camp was not new. This was the order Yaakov Avinu had himself established. Before his death, Yaakov had commanded his sons to carry his coffin from Egypt to be buried in Meorat Hamachpelah in Eretz Canaan where his father and grandfather were buried. At that time, he instructed them on the order they should maintain around his bier, which tribe should accompany him on each side. It was this pattern that would now be reinstituted as the encampment of Bnei Yisroel when they themselves left Egypt and journeyed to Eretz Canaan, surrounding the Mishkan at the center. It was because of this precedent that Moshe could now assign these tribal positions to Bnei Yisroel without fearing infighting and envy among the tribes, writes the Midrash. It was because of fulfilling this promise to their father Yaakov that Bnei Yisroel merited Hashem's presence among them, with their banners aloft, as Yaakov had promised them for fulfilling his final wishes.
Nevertheless, we must still try to understand the connection between carrying Yaakov's coffin and the encampment in the desert. One may assume that having agreed to this formation for carrying their father's coffin, they would automatically agree to that formation in this journey. But one may do something for a short, temporary term that one would not agree to for an extended time period. While the journey to bury their father was only a short period of time, their journey from Egypt to Eretz Yisroel was to be forty years. Here Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchick provides us with a general principle that explains much behavior: What one is trained to do, one will continue to do. Yaakov Avinu was training his people to use this model of Israelite camps for the future. In this context, Rabbi Soloveitchick extrapolates that in all mitzvoth we should begin training our children from an early age to set the pattern of mitzvah observance. Habituation brings later action.
Within every Jew is the flame of Hashem's divine presence in his soul. Therefore, it does not take much to ignite and stoke that flame within ourselves and within others, writes Rabbi Schrage Grossbard. But we must be equally careful not to diminish that light.
This is especially important in teaching middot/character development, writes Rabbi Mattisyahu Salomon, citing the Shel"ah Hakodosh. Parents must begin this training from the ages of two or three so that this behavior becomes second nature to them. We must train ourselves as well as our children so that proper middot and behavior become not second nature, but first nature.
But Yaakov, in assigning the places for each tribe, was doing more that giving out positions. As Shemen Hatov notes, Yaakov Avinu was pointing out the uniqueness of each tribe, and as Rabbi Mintzberg adds, what each would contribute so that together they form the nation of Bnei Yisroel.
Just as each tribe had its unique mission, so does everyone have his unique purpose in life, writes Rabbi Reiss in Meirosh Tzurim. That is why the people were counted both by their names and by the names of their fathers' houses; they were tasked with knowing their personal, unique mission and how that mission related to everyone in the tribe and in the nation.
The Sifsei Chaim cites a beautiful image that is written in the Gemorrah. In the future time, all the tzadikim will be dancing in a circle around, with Hakodosh Boruch Hu in the center of the circle. Each of these righteous people is equidistant from Hashem, yet by circling around, each can see Hakodosh Boruch Hu not only from his personal perspective, but also from the perspective of the others in the circle.
Rabbi Friedlander offers yet another proof of the importance of the individual, a point especially relevant as we approach Shavuot. In rounded out numbers, there are 600,000 letters in the Torah as well as 600,000 collective souls of Bnei Yisroel. Just as a Sefer Torah is defective and unfit [for service] if even one letter is erased or missing, so too is each individual Jew is responsible to fulfill his mission within the collective, to effectively represent his letter in the Torah. If his mission is missing, our nation is defective.
In pursuing one's mission, it is important to aspire to realistic greatness, but it is also important to accept one's limitations so as not to fall into a depression based on perceived failure, writes Rabbi Zaidel Epstein. While one must ask himself, "When will my deeds yagiu/reach, touch those of my forefathers, one must understand that while your deeds can touch those of our forefathers [forming a link - CKS], your mission is different from theirs.
This was the failing of Korach, continues Rabbi Epstein. Korach wanted to be Aharon. He sinned by failing to appreciate his own unique mission in carrying the holy vessels of the Mishkan, and aspired to be that which he was not. Nevertheless, there was sanctity within the incense offering Korach brought, and the incense pans were preserved in the Aron Kodesh. Korach's intention was to be closer to Hashem, but because he overshot, by pushing beyond his place, he sinned and destroyed his world.
All of Bnei Yisroel aspired to the closest of relationships with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. When they were at Sinai and accepted the Torah, they saw myriads of angels descending, each with its personal banner depicting his personal mission and relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Witnessing this phenomenon, Bnei Yisroel also wanted banners like these angels. Although Moshe was afraid Bnei Yisroel were overstepping their place, Hashem Himself declared their yearning to be pure, and rewarded the tribes by sanctioning a banner for each. The symbols and colors of these flags represented the innate character and mission of each tribe with the symbols Yaakov Avinu had attributed to each in his final blessing and message before his death. Yaakov Avinu’s brachot enabled each tribe to have the correct parameters with which to serve Hashem properly.
Hashem sits on His Throne of Glory in heaven, surrounded by four groups of angels, one on each side. Before his death, Yaakov Avinu coronated Hashem on earth as he recited the Shema, "...Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad." The tribes then represented these sets of angels in their own formation, as Yaakov had commanded. And the Nation that then coronated Hashem again by accepting the Torah at Sinai would now surround the Aron Kodesh. They would represent the four groups of angels that surrounded Hashem's Throne in heaven, writes the Shvilei Pinchas. When we accepted the Torah below, Hashem left His abode in heaven to dwell among Bnei Yisroel and maintain a special closeness with us. But the image of Yaakov Avinu remains on Hashem's heavenly throne as the symbol of that first coronation. These angels in heaven, each having a distinct and separate mission, all served together in peace and unity to do Hashem's will. We pray that Hashem helps us work together within our separate missions to bring peace and shleymus/wholeness in the world below, as He brought shalom/peace in heaven, just as He made peace between fire and ice on earth in the plague of hail. Yaakov Avinu’s funeral procession created a poel dimuni, for the tribes future role of accompanying the Shechinah to Eretz Yisrael.
When Bnei Yisroel came to receive the Torah, the angels acted as a chariot carrying Hashem down in the Throne of Glory. Bnei Yisroel wanted to merit being that same chariot that would carry the Shechinah/God's presence on earth, writes Beer Chaim. But the real "chariot" is not the angels, but our forefathers who always kept the image of Hakodosh Boruch Hu with them, coronating Him with every one of their actions, bringing His presence down to earth. By living our lives in this manner, we will be like our forefathers. We can be greater than the angels.
Here Rabbi Druck gives us a little morality lesson. He reminds us that the Gemorrah tells us to stand for a Sefer Torah, yet we do not stand for a talmid chacham who is a living embodiment of Torah. When the Tribes carried the coffin of Yaakov Avinu, they were acting as the chariot of the one who had been the living embodiment of the Shechinah. They resolved to live their own lives to be worthy of carrying God's presence within themselves. This is our work, to merit being vessels for Hashem's holy presence within ourselves.
Se'u/count, but within that counting also raise up, the alternate translation of se'u. Raise up Bnei Yisroel to their fathers' house. Inculcate within them where they come from, what greatness they carry within themselves. Each of us has his within his soul the ability to be a vessel for the Divine presence. Yaakov Avinu had our ancestral tribes practice this the first time, and we practiced it again at Sinai. Let us recognize the power within ourselves, and joyously celebrate the connection with Hakodosh Boruch Hu our forefathers created and modeled for us.