Bamidbar Stars, Flags and a Pat of Butter

[Music] Judaism places tremendous emphasis on akos Unity we hear it preached in schools and seminaries and shows the world over when we stood at the foot of Hari the tah describes us as we were unified as a nation accepting its life's Mission every day in daving we say asking Hashem to unify our hearts and enable us to be aligned in our service to him the theme is found all throughout the Tyra Unity is so foundational that the very giving of the tah was contingent on it so that's why this paraa seems so bizarre the paraa goes into tremendous detail about the differences between the 12 tribes how they must camp in different sections how they all have different flags with different colors and different emblems on each flag the Tyra counts each member of every shavit down to the very last person it doesn't round to the nearest 100 or 10 it almost seems like the tah is reminding us which shav it we belong to lest we dare think to go to another one the t's constant categorization and compartmentalism ization of the 12 tribes seems to pull us apart rather than bring us together why does the tah seem to take such a dividing stance if Unity is so fundamental why does the Tyra enforce strict rules about the 12 tribes separate encampments each adorned with its own leader and its own logo with its own color and its own flag doesn't it seem a tad divisive not only did we have this Great Divide while we were in the desert we had this divide while we were still in Egypt apparently this divide was so important to us that instead of rapidly jumping into the Red Sea scrambling to safety from our Egyptian pursuers as one would have expected us to do we waited patiently for Hashem to make 12 organized separate tunnels in the water and then and only then did we walk through doesn't that seem a little odd being together with our shavit meant so much to us that even while running for our lives we spared Precious Moments to orient ourselves in order to go out together with our particular shaven why let's take a step back why do we even have 12 separate tribes in the first place why not just have clol we can all be one big happy family sitting around a campfire singing kak drinking arak and eating Chalin why the whole 12 shave it Arrangement doesn't it fly into the face of AAS and un doesn't it divide and fragment what exactly is it that Hashem had in mind with the 12 Perhaps it is the following when Hashem goes out of his way to painstakingly count each and every member of each tribe and recorded in the Tyra it is not meant to be mere historical facts it is to drive home the message that each and every member of our holy nation is important and integral each and every indiv individual plays a role each and every person brings something to the table that nobody else does you are not a number you are not a statistic you are a soul with a divinely instituted Mission and the entire spiritual Galaxy is incomplete without you another name for saer Bidar is saer pudum or numbers the word Pim comes from the word tkid which means Mission or purpose the counting and the recounting and the re recounting of the Jews in the desert wasn't for the sake of keeping a good record of the population it wasn't for the Heavenly bookkeepers to ensure that they claim all the proper dependence on their tax return it was to drive home the fact that yes Hashem knows your name and he needs you for the spiritual continuity of the world how empowering when we divide the Jewish people into separate tribes and separate separate camps with separate flags and separate colors with separate logos we are not highlighting the differences we are emphasizing the unique skills each and every shavit possesses what na adds to the Jewish people is different than Usher's contribution and what dun brings to the table is different than what Benyamin does both are critical both are irreplaceable we use flags and signs and logos to empower each member of CLA to remind us that we all have strengths we all have talents we all have something unique that the entire nation relies upon Hashem does not want us to all be the same he wants us to wave our unique flag with pride and follow our inner Mission when colors clash in an unorganized mess it's called graffiti when they all see their purpose and form an organized line it's called a rainbow all colors are merely the refraction of the same white light it merely bends ever so slightly to form its unique color its unique appearance we too all come from the same forefathers and for mothers those holy Patriarchs shine their light through the prism of time and it refracted into 12 different tribes each with its unique set of talents each with its role to play and we all come to together to form the rainbow which is clol each color plays its part the tajet rim benah Duran a SP a Spanish Sage from the 1300s points out something remarkable the name of the Jewish people is yel he says the word Israel is really an acronym of the first letters of each of the AOS and Theos the Patriarchs and the matriarchs each of their the first letter of each of their name yud sin Al l y is for and yov sin is for s r is for ra and Rifka Al is for Abraham and lamid is for Leia Israel we are their continuity the fire they started got divided 12 different ways and each of us is entrusted with ensuring that fire remains hence there is a custom that a sh has 12 Windows those Windows further remind us that we don't all have to be the same we don't all have to be identical in fact we can't be identical we are all unique in the eyes of Hashem and that should be celebrated not tolerated the very name we give a show is a bakes which translates to mean a house of in gathering it is a place where the lawyer sits next to the sage who sits next to the fellow who does kir of who sits next to the musician that plays keyboards at weddings all integral children of God all doing the holy work that Hashem lovingly entrusted us to do Hashem told abam One Starry Night to go out of his tent and look up at the stars see those Stars Hashem told him one day your descendants will be like those stars now what did Hashem mean by that that we will one day grow to be as astronomically incalculable as the Stars a nation so large in number it is beyond count well that hasn't really panned out the Jewish people sadly have hovered between 13 and 19 million people for most of its history relative to the 1.8 billion Muslims 2.83 billion Christians 943 million Hindus and 488 million Buddhists that number is pathetically small so what exactly did Hashem mean when he said we will one day be like the stars the beler rebba gives a beautiful explanation he says that Hashem was telling aam that the same way a star amongst the millions of stars may seem small and insignificant and yet in reality is massive and integral to the very existence of the cosmos so to each and every one of your descendants however seemingly small is massively important and is safeguarding the very existence of the spiritual gy alaly listen to the story former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley once attended a dinner in which he was the guest speaker so the waiter sat sat down a side dish of potatoes and placed a pat of butter on them the senator asked for another portion of butter I'm sorry sir the server replied one Pat per guest so with a combined expression of shock and Scorn and disbelief Senator Bradley looked up at the waiter and said excuse me do you know who I am I am New Jersey senator Bill Bradley the senator cleared his throat I am a roads scholar and a former NBA star I currently serve on the international trade and long-term growth committee the debt and deficit reduction committee and I am in charge of Taxation and IR RS oversight and I'd like another pet of butter on my potatoes the waiter looked up of the senator and do you know who I am the waiter asked I am the one in charge of the butter each and every member of CLA Isel is a soldier in hashem's Army tasked with a mission only he can carry out he is a star that the entire universe relies on every MOA every shottis Checker every Mikvah attendant every a of Checker every Suka Builder every matah Baker every every Gabi every Bala every Rabbi every congregant every Badin every fundraiser every beggar every rich man every man woman and child every single one of us combines with the rest of clol to form the rainbow that is the Jewish people every single one of us has a special place in The Starry Night Abraham saw so many years ago there were 600,000 Jews who left Egypt and received the Tah there are 600,000 letters in the tah coincidence I think not [Music]