Repeat Performance
G-d does not create anything that does not have a purpose. The fact that He created us with different personalities and potentials is an indication that our differences are important.
Twelve Tribes; Twelve Offerings
Twelve are the number of tribes that comprise the entire Jewish nation. This week’s Torah portion features the special role each of the leaders of these twelve tribes played in the dedication of one of the most important structures ever built – the Mishkan, the portable Sanctuary.
From the first day the Sanctuary was built, the leaders of each and every tribe brought an offering on behalf of his tribe.
One would have imagined that if each tribe had its own individual character, that each of these dedicatory offerings would have been different. In fact, all of the twelve offerings were identical!
This raises two obvious questions:
Firstly, if the twelve offerings were to represent the diverse roles of the twelve tribes, why did they not bring varied offerings?
Secondly, and conversely, if these twelve offerings were all the same, why does the Torah divide them into twelve narratives? Couldn’t the Torah have just written that the leaders of the twelve tribes each brought the following offering? Why the need for repetition of the same details of their offerings?
The Paradox of the Jewish PEople
The answer to these two questions will shed light on the dynamics of the Jewish people. The Jewish people are paradoxically a unified people and a multi-dimensional people. On the one hand, the Torah teaches us that no matter how different one Jew looks to be from his/her fellow Jew, there is a profound, intrinsic and inexplicable connection between them. In times of crises, Jews would risk their lives for one another despite their inability to agree on anything in times of peace.
A story is told of a zookeeper who lost his lion. He found a poor Jew who volunteered to wear a lion’s skin and play the role of lion for a tidy sum. Everything went well until, the Jew/lion saw a ferocious bear approaching him with a menacing look. Thinking this would be his last moments on this earth, he declared the Shema, “Hear o Israel, the L-rd is our G-d, the L-rd is one!” Without missing a beat, the bear stopped in his tracks and responded with the second verse of the Shema, “Baruch shem k’vod malchusto l’olam va’ed-Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever!”
No matter what is our outer appearance, or our language differences, cultural diversity, intellectual shades, personality clashes and even religious divisions, a Jew is a Jew is a Jew.
Vive la Difference
On the other hand, G-d does not create anything that does not have a purpose. The fact that He created us with different personalities and potentials is an indication that our differences are important. As long as we recognize that despite our differences there is an underlying unity that makes us all one, it is a positive thing that we are different. To not utilize our individual talents and capabilities because we don’t want to be different is a waste of one’s G-dly potential.
This is the reason why the twelve leaders of the tribes each brought the identical offering, but the Torah nevertheless records them as twelve separate offerings. Because they appreciated the inherent unity of the Jewish people, their differences possessed a unifying character. Yes there were twelve different offerings — because each leader had a different approach to the same sacrifice — but they did not affect the essential unity.
Galus: Loss of unity and Individuality
Because we live in time known as Galus or exile, which can also be translated as “alienation,” we do not live up to either side of the equation. We often do not recognize or appreciate our oneness, with all forms of discord and strife being the order of the day. Conversely, we frequently ignore our individual roles under the guise of universalism. Both unity and individuality suffer as a result of our state of alienation from G-d Whose unity He has instilled within us and Whose multi-dimension (read: infinite) nature he endowed us with.
It is for this reason, among many others, that the Jewish people have yearned for the coming of Moshiach. He will usher in an age that will allow both our unity and individuality to flourish simultaneously.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Naso by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
