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Friday, March 29, 2024

Parshat Bamidbar- (Numbers 1:1-4:20)

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Whether one is at an embassy or in a national monument or even at a baseball game, one often encounters displays of the national colors. What is so significant about a flag?Each Under His Own Flag

One of the most striking features of this week’s Parsha is the perek-long description of the flags of every shevet (tribe) and group of shvatim. At first reading, this perek seems redundant. After having learned chapter one, the student already knows how many men of military age (between 20 and 60) are in each shevet, as well as the names of the leaders, or the nasi’im. The only seemingly new details are the descriptions of each cluster of shvatim, as well as the additional detail of the flags. What is so significant about a flag?

Whether one is at an embassy or in a national monument or even at a baseball game, one often encounters displays of the national colors. A nation’s flag is a symbol of the country, and when one salutes the flag, it represents one’s pledging of loyalty to the country which it represents. Therefore, when one refuses to salute a flag or turns one’s back to the flag, by extension, he or she is saying that he or she is disrespecting the larger country, which is represented by the flag. A refusal to salute the flag demonstrates that the country does not represent him or her, and thereby is disconnecting him or herself from the flag and what it represents to the nation.

According to military protocol, a flag also represents divisions within a larger unit. Within an army, there are many different divisions and units. If a soldier would be separated from his unit during combat, he could find his flag, which would direct him back. Every unit’s flag would tell its soldiers that “you belong here.” The flag would also be decorated with honors, to represent the achievements of that particular unit. Therefore, a flag serves as a symbol of national unity, as well as a celebration of each unit’s individual accomplishments.

According to the Rashbam on Bamidbar 1:1, the primary reason for this national census is to prepare for the upcoming wars upon entering Eretz Yisrael. Every soldier would be needed at this time, as the B’nei Yisrael would have entered Eretz Yisrael shortly after this date, had they not committed the sins of Parshiyot Beha’alotcha and Shelach.  Therefore, every flag was decorated with images representing that shevet, with a lion for Yehuda, an ox for Ephraim, the duda’im flowers for Reuven. Rashi adds that the flags also were colored with the colors of every shevet, according to its stone on the choshen (the breastplate of the high priest). He also states that these four directions were also the positions that the shvatim took around the coffin of Yaakov Avinu when they took his body up to Eretz Yisrael for burial.
However, the Ibn Ezra and the Ramban add that these flags were not just sources of identity and pride for each individual shevet. These flags were also representative of the unity of Klal Yisrael and Hashem as one. They add that the four primary unit flags of Yehuda, Yosef, Reuven, and Dan represented the four elements of Hashem’s Merkava, or vehicle of Divine Providence. The four elements of the Merkava, as described in the first day of Shavuot’s Haftarah reading from Yechezkel, are the Man, the Lion, the Ox, and the Eagle.  Therefore, Yehuda’s lion and Ephraim’s ox were more than just personal shevet symbols, but also representing Hashem’s Merkava. The Duda’im of Reuven represented the power of Man, and the Eagle of Dan drew the four elements together. These four flags, camped around the Mishkan (Tabernacle), represented Divine Providence flowing from the Mishkan outward to the entire Jewish nation.  Therefore, when one would look at the flags, one would not only be identifying as a member of such-and-such a tribe. He would also be saying, “I am on Hashem’s team, and we are displaying our affiliation to Him via our flags.”

Finally, Rav Yaakov Kaminetzsky, in his work Emes L’Yaakov, explains why the descriptions of the flags come after the details of the Mishkan. According to the Ramban, one of the purposes of the Mishkan was to unite Klal Yisrael daily around the Mishkan, which represented the receiving of the Torah on a daily basis. Once they were united around the portable “Har Sinai,” only then could they celebrate their individual tribe’s differences and strengths. If they were only connecting to their individual differences, the Jewish People would have been no different than the 13 independent states under the Articles of Confederation, which allocated excessive power to each state, and left the central government weak. However, had there been no room for individual differences, the results would be disastrous, with every shevet being forced into the same mold, regardless of personal and tribal inclinations. Therefore, once the Bnei Yisrael were united by their national and spiritual “Constitution,” they could celebrate their individual differences and units, each according to its needs and strengths. If one flag or stone would be missing, the entire unit of Klal Yisrael would be incomplete.

Therefore, when one looks at the flag, he or she should be reminded of these conflicting elements of unity and division which are contained by the flag’s image. Just as the flags of Bnei Yisrael represented their being part of Hashem’s “team,” they also celebrated their individual strengths and unique histories. Therefore, as we approach Shavuot, the time where all of Klal Yisrael received the Torah as one, let us look at those flags in the Midbar as reflection of the nation of Israel as a cohesive whole, of which each of us is a vital, indispensible part.

Adina C. Brizel is from Kew Gardens Hills, New York. She recently completed a MS degree from the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration.  She can be contacted at [email protected].

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