Parshas Bamidbar - All for One and One for All

~ Thoughts on the Parsha ~

Parshas Bamidbar 

 All for One and One for All

By: Daniel Listhaus

אִישׁ עַל דִּגְלוֹ בְאֹתֹת לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם יַחֲנוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִנֶּגֶד סָבִיב לְאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד יַחֲנוּ

“The Children of Israel shall encamp, each man at his own division (by his flag) according to the signs of their fathers' house...”

-Bamidbar 2:2

The Medrash states that when Hashem came to Har Sinai to give the Torah to the B'nei Yisroel, twenty-two thousand chariots of malachim (angels) came down with Him - each with their own flag. When the Jews saw this they also had the desire to have their own flags. Hashem agreed that each shevet (tribe) should in fact each make for itself a flag.

What does this mean? What did the Jews see in the flags of the malachim which caused them to want to have their own? Also, what is the significance of each shevet having its own flag?

In order to answer these questions, we must first realize what a flag is. Webster translates a flag as, “any of various monocotyledonous plants with long ensiform leaves”. However, in reality, a flag is something which brings people together. It symbolizes a unit. The navy, army, and air-force each have a different flag representing their own unique missions and goals. A flag is supposed to be something with which everyone in that group could identify. It is a sign to forget differences in order to achieve common goals as a unit.

At the end of Yaakov avinu's life, he called to his sons and gave each of them a b'racha (blessing). While doing so, he pointed out the unique qualities of each son, simultaneously charging each of them with a different mission in life based on their qualities. Immediately after this event, was the death and funeral of Yaakov. Rashi explains that the way the Jews surrounded the coffin of their father, Yaakov, was an allusion to the exact way that their descendents would later encamp in the desert around the Mishkan (Tabernacle), after yetzias Mitzrayim (the exodus from Egypt). Each of the twelve sons of Yaakov represents a different goal to achieve. Only when each of their individual goals is achieved, could the ultimate umbrella goal of true avodas Hashem be reached. Yaakov, as the “wholesome man, abiding in tents” represents this idea of what the real purpose of man is; while his twelve sons surrounding him, and later surrounding the Mishkan, represent the different entities which must form a circle to complete their overall purpose and goal.

On the third and must painful day after Avraham's circumcision, three angels disguised as men showed up at his tent. Rashi comments that each angel came to complete a different task. One to tell Sarah that she would give birth to a son in a year's time, one to destroy Sodom, and the third to heal Avraham. Rashi explains that the reason why three separate angels were needed was because one angel cannot perform two missions. Each angel represents a different and specific aspect of Hashem's ratzon, which is why each has their own unique flag – a symbol of what their sole purpose is.

Just as each angel has its own mission and unique will of Hashem, each of the twelve shevatim represents a slightly different area of man serving Hashem. When the Jews in the desert saw the different flags of the angels they desired to each have their own flag so that all the members of each tribe could see and remember what the responsibilities of their tribe were. It is no coincidence that the colors of each tribe's flag were the same as their respective stones represented on the choshen (breast plate) of the Kohen Gadol. Ruach Hakodesh assigned each of the shevatim a color, representing each shevet's unique qualities and responsibilities; and the Jews wanted each tribe to make a flag in order not to forget this

With a flag, though, comes a bigger responsibility. People united under one flag are responsible for each other. Just as soldiers in the same unit division must supplement what the other does not complete, and the whole camp is punished if the groups' tasks as a whole are not completed, so too each member of B'nei Yisroel has the responsibility to look out for a fellow Jew - “kol yisroel areivim zeh lazeh” (every Jew is a guarantor for one another). On the smaller scale, this requires each tribe to be responsible for its members. On the larger scale, this demands each individual to be responsible for his or her fellow members of K'lal Yisroel as a whole.

As aforementioned, however, each tribe's flag is really only one-twelfth of the puzzle. The choshen is only completed when all the colors are present, Yaakov could only be buried – with passing his responsibilities of the wholesome man to his sons – once each shevet was in its rightful place alongside the coffin, and the Shechinas Hashem only travels when each shevet is surrounding it along-side its flag. Only when all twelve individual units are complete could the true ultimate big-picture be realized – that the ultimate purpose of man is to be surrounding the Mishkan, serving and coming close to Hashem. The Mishkan is the flag of flags uniting the individual units together.

When every Jews stays true to his shevet's flag, nothing evil could break the force which is created. If each shevet works to become one with its responsibilities, then a full Shechina is present - for all twelve pieces of the puzzle are in place. This was in fact the case when Bilam tried to curse the Jews. Balak had hired Billam to curse the Jews but when Bilam lifted his eyes to do so, he saw that the each tribe was by its respective flag. At that moment Bilam understood that his attempts to curse the Jews would be futile because he realized that the Jews had achieved the level of being by their flags – uniting each tribe within itself, and the flag of the shechina bringing the twelve parts into one whole.

We must realize that everything is really one. Hashem is one, His name is one, and His nation is one. These factors are not meant to be added together, for they are in reality all one and the same. Hashem's name is one and Jews are called “goy echad b'aretz” (one nation in the land). When these two echads intersect at the right point then the ultimate oneness is present. This is alluded to through the gematriya (numerical values of the Hebrew letters) one calculates when adding together these two “echads”. The gematriya of echad is thirteen plus another echad equals twenty-six which is the gematriya of the explicit name of Hashem.

This idea of connecting the achdus (unity) of the Jews with Hashem is further displayed by the Tefillin we wear. Tefillin is the wireless network, so to speak, connecting us directly with Hashem. When we wear Tefillin, we show that we are tied, literally, with Hashem. For this reason, our Tefillin has the Shema written in it, declaring, “Hashem echad” - that G-d is One. On Hashem's side of the connection, the Gemara tells us that Hashem also wears a pair of Tefillin and on it its written: “Who is like your nation Israel, one nation in the land”. This is why the Gemara states that whoever recites shema without tefillin is as if he bears false testimony on himself.

Judaism is not merely a religion, it is a way of life. Each of us has the duty to balance our individual responsibilities while remembering that we also belong to a bigger picture. It is true that each shevet has its own responsibility it must work towards, however, there is yet a bigger picture. Each shevet's flag shares a common denominator, that all of their flags have a collective flag - the shechina - located exactly in the center of all four camps.

Every individual must look up at one's tribe's flag and recall one's mission. Then, each tribe as a unit must produce its complete gem, as represented on the choshen, in order to conjointly achieve the ultimate goal: true service of Hashem through building the relationship of oneness between He, who is One, and His nation, who is one – two sides of the same coin.

Being in galus (exile), we have lost touch with the small picture responsibilities of each tribe. However, let us not forget the bigger picture, the ultimate goal of the entire Jewish people to be close with the shechina. This is what we hope for in the future by the times of Mashiach; the day we describe three times daily at the end of Aleinu L'shabeach as, “On that day shall Hashem be One and His name be One”.