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Parshat Bamidbar AN AMAZING ORDER "Every man of the children of Israel shall encamp by his own
standard, with the signs of their father's house; at some distance
around the appointed tent shall they encamp." (Bamidbar 2:2)
In this week's parsha we learn that the camp of Israel has a clear
defined inner structure, where everyone knows his place, purpose
or mission. The Jewish people are enumerated and assigned their
proper place around the tabernacle, containing the Holy Ark with
the two Torah tablets. Each tribe is unified under the particular
flag, which represents it. During the forty years of wandering in
the wilderness, Israel encamped according to an amazing order around
the tabernacle. With the ark of Torah as their center, they lifted
their eyes towards the point of meeting between the infinite spiritual
and the physical limited. They had a clear understanding that the
spiritual must dominate their daily physical life, in order to sanctify
it and allow it to fulfill its purpose. As opposed to the Western linear approach, where the goal is to
become number one, the tribes of Israel in the wilderness would
encircle the Tabernacle. The consciousness and the heart of both
the nation and each individual was focused on the center of the
camp: the Tent of Testimony. The tabernacle was like a mobile Mt.
Sinai, through which the word of G-d emanated to Moshe. The Chafetz
Chaim compares the tabernacle to the heart. Since the heart generates
life, its place is in the middle of the body, from where it sends
the life force contained in the blood, to every part of the body.
Every limb shares equally in this sustenance. Israel understood
that the Torah is a tree of life, and everything derives its nourishment
from it. In the same way that the tree of life was planted in the
midst of the garden, we build the bima (pulpit) in the middle of
the synagogue. Thus, we affirm our belief that rather than competing
for importance and power, the power of the energy, which we receive
from the Divine must be circulated equally among us. There is no
question about who should be in the front or the back. All become
one, when we surround G-d. This concept can be superimposed upon
the relationship between men and women. When G-d is in our midst
gender disparities will not turn into competition and strife. We
will be able to overcome the power-struggle that breaks the circuit
and blocks Divine energy from flowing through all of us.
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