The Wisdom of the Camp - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

you know I remember when I was young in grade school when we'd get to these portions you know we're not only starting a new portion out but a new book the book of about meat bar and we'd get to this book and this portion and and I'd often just sort of zone out you know what I mean like it was just like a lot of repetition a lot of numbers a lot of counting but as the years go on I've really come to see that the seemingly detailed nuanced portions contain some of the deepest and most beautiful truths and sometimes you know when we have big days that just happen or that are coming up like yomir shalim and you're going to prepare us for right now sometimes we run the risk of missing the Torah portion of that week and I so I don't want that to happen and this Torah portion is uh it starts with the Jews in the desert pamid bar right in the wilderness that place of confusion and desolation and that really we all know too well that place which um I think on a symbolic level we live most of our lives in that place place in the desert of confusion and not seeing things super clearly trying to make order out of the disorder and sense out of that which uh so often can just seem senseless but within this chaos and confusion of the of the Trek of the children of Israel through the Wilderness we see this beautiful divine order beginning to take shape within the Israelite camp in order which I believe hence to an even deeper truth regarding the dynamic that all of humanity will take as we enter the days of the Final Redemption which I think is starting to happen right now or has started to happen already we're in the thick of it right now so as you can see on this aerial diagram of the Israelite camp in the desert Tabitha if you could put that up this is an aerial it's it's from a book I was reading to devash actually called the little midrash says which sounds very childish but is actually really deep and really good and I've started reading it just on my own without vosh involved and you know some of the scholars in the nearby settlement are looking at me reading this child's book and I'm like well this is where I'm holding right now this is what it is about but this is a a diagram of the Israelite camp and it's all around the mishkan the Tabernacle right in the middle which is surrounded by you know on one side we see there it says Moshe our own and their sons on the East and Gershon kahat and murari the Three Sons of Levy and their families on the North and the South and the west of the inner periphery you know immediately surrounding the Tabernacle and the next concentric borders around that are the 12 tribes three of them on each side each tribe having its own flag with its own colors and its own symbol and then in a really cool way a unique flag and symbol for each of the Triad of tribes like Yehuda USA each had their own tribe there was a lion and it had its own verse under it it said Kuma Hashem God you shall rise up and Scatter our enemies because they were the first ones to push forth when they traveled they weren't sort of the tip of the spear so they were the lion and the and so each one of them had their own each three had their own flag also which was really cool but um well each of these flags for each of the individual tribes did help each Israelite know where to return when it was time to mobilize and to travel where they are all sort of geographically belonged and by the way if you go to many synagogues particularly particularly in America they have these stained glass windows and most synagogues that have stained glass windows have the flags of each of the tribes on those windows and so these each flag showed the Israelites where to go and where to travel but on a a deeper level it wasn't just Geographic each flag reminded the members of the tribes with their deepest strengths and talents and spiritual predispositions were you know they helped each Israelite remember what their individual contribution was to the greater good of the nation you know some excelled in in war and battle and being soldiers and others in spiritual Pursuits and others at Commerce and so on and so each member of each tribe had a pretty good idea of who they were and what they were in the in the world you know what what they were here to do because of their tribes and their Flags it gave them Direction and uh and you know right now in Israel in the wake of this whole Supreme Court reform conflict uh you know as much of the passions are starting to fade a little bit and the leftist media in Israel is trying to Fan the Flames of division sound familiar to your local Medias so they're flat fending the Flames of division between the different sectors of the country particularly between the haredi ultra-orthodox who are dedicated to Torah learning and the more uh spiritual Pursuits while the uh against the more secular business-minded uh who sometimes serve more in the Army and perceive themselves as more productive in a practical sense and the media is trying to exacerbate and multiply and amplify this resentment between these two demographics but these differences that the media is focusing on they're far from new you know in biblical times there were two tribes that I think most starkly represented this difference in the most extreme way and they were Yi Sahar and zvulu um one was the spiritual Pursuit and one was the um what's the word Jeremy the uh you know the the economy working on on the Commerce but rather than you know resent each other they saw each other uh as completing one another and they shared in both the spiritual Merit and in the physical abundance and they really loved each other so according to ravichi the reason that it worked in biblical times the reason this type of Cooperative mutual appreciation and respective differences worked in the desert was because it was all revolving around the mishkan because God was at the center of it when everybody's deepest why is serving God when everybody's deepest motivation is to contribute in their own special way to the greater good of sanctifying hashem's name in the world then everybody's individual unique talents could fully manifest you know I actually experienced this on a very micro level firsthand around my father's passing because I've always had a loving relationship with my sisters but there was also some tension there you know like with a lot of siblings uh Miriam my older sister was you know I always felt like we me and my younger sister felt that she was too confrontational too combative too rough around the edges a little scary and yeah oh my younger sister she was too sensitive and too delicate and I was too you'll have to ask them what I was too much maybe two in your face I guess they would have seen imagine like the Three Bears there's like the two soft and it's too hot and it's too cold you guys are like the Goldilocks and the Three Bears okay okay one could say that um but I think if you ask my sisters they would say that I was maybe a little bit too you know in your face or about spirituality or religiousness maybe they would would say that even though over the years I think that chained but either way um you know but during the chaotic painful and very demanding months leading up to my father's death I think we all came to to deeply appreciate our differences even more even more than appreciate we were thanking God for our differences because there were Wars that needed to be fought and Miriam was the only one that could do she was the commander-in-chief she was the Warrior on the front lines the minute one battle ended she was I was like catching my breath she would dive in attacking the entire Cardiology unit or the entire you know just to whatever needed to happen she was there leading and fighting each battle and knowing Miriam was on all of that allowed Yael to bring the Serenity and the affection and the warmth to my father that only she could which allowed me to be there for him spiritually uh walking the journey with him from this world to the next hand in hand every single day and so you know we all had some of the some business in each other's world but overall we were each able to fully manifest our strengths and gifts to contribute to our father's overall well-being because we completed each other in such a beautiful perfect way that we never appreciated before that um but why don't we see those differences growing up why all the fights and the waste of energy trying to criticize and to change and and to fix each other what what was the difference between all those years and the last few months and I believe the difference is that over the last few years well over the last few months I'm sorry we had a very clear shared goal that we had a shared why and what was our why our why was about how we could best serve and show love to our Abba to Our Father who we loved more than words can say and that was the reason why the tribes were able to co-exist with such blessing and mutual appreciation during their time in the desert because they had a shared why because it all revolved around the Mishka the mishkan was in the center because they were positioned around God's dwelling place on Earth because they were each contributing their unique talents and strengths to serving their father in Heaven and over the last number of years at the farm I think we've started seeing moments of this truth on an international level manifesting at the farm you know looking back at a lot of the darkest moments in history um you know they were in Germany during the Holocaust and people would Marvel at the efficiency and meticulousness of the German war machine the way they were able to set up these and build these complex massive concentration camps in just a few days was really like a feat but for those of you who've been with us over the past few years you've seen the that exact meticulous Germanic Perfection being used in chuva in Repentance on behalf of many of them were children and grandchildren of Nazis who were using these skills to build our our farm to build the pergolas and our breathtaking Hoppa marriage canopy deck behind our house of prayer that that Jewish families will be established upon to happen to show that that picture there real quick you know so to see those very skills and and gifts from God being used not to destroy each other but to sanctify his name it's like a little glimpse into Redemption and our friends another example there's so many examples but one of the wallers you know Christians from Tennessee with decades and generations of aggregation agricultural experience that have been helping us and other Farmers with our planting and are pruning and the Farms that we're building that's I think part of what Redemption really is about at the core instead of the nations of the world trying to destroy each other with war and hate each will appreciate the other and love each other not despite our differences but because of them because when our knowledge of God is like water that covers the sea our hearts will be filled with such love for our father in Heaven who loves all of us and will feel that and will know that and then we'll be so grateful that Hashem has each of his children there to serve him in the way that only they can I know it's hard to imagine but I truly believe that day is just around the corner so my friends May that day come soon for the entire world to love and appreciate each other's unique talents and differences as we've already started seeing happen in this fellowship and out here in these mountains in Judea amen Shalom my friends back to you Jerm