Towards the end of the parsha we read about the sons of Ya'akov bringing his body to be buried in Israel, "And his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and they buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which field Abraham had bought for burial property from Ephron the Hittite before Mamre" (Bereishit 50, 13). Rashi, quoting the midrash, says "He designated a position for them by his coffin, so that three of them would carry on the east, and so on for all four directions. This was similar to their arrangement in the traveling of the camp in the desert of the groupings of the tribes as they were designated here."
Ya'akov decreed the location of each of the tribes in the desert and they took up these positions at his funeral, generations before they were used by Am Yisrael in their wanderings in the desert. In Bamidbar 2:2 it states "The children of Israel shall encamp each man by his division with the flags [signs] of their father's house". Rashi explains that this was according to the signs their father Ya'akov gave them when they carried him out of Egypt, as it says, “His sons did for him just as he had commanded them” (Bereishit 50:12), which was that Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun should bear his body from the east, Reuben, Simeon, and Gad from the south etc.
So why was that? Why of all things did the positions of the tribes need to come from Ya'akov Avinu, and not Moshe? Rav Kook (in his Midbar Shur) explains that the Torah is called both "Morasha Kehillat Ya'akov" (the inheritance of Ya'akov) and "Torat Moshe", indicating the two sides of Torah. The first side is the preparedness that every Jew receives as an inheritance at birth that makes them fitting and ready to learn and keep Torah. This natural inheritance comes to us through our spiritual genetic makeup, which we received from our Avot. The second facet is the actual Torah itself – learning it and keeping it. This inner content of Torah comes to us from Moshe Rabbeinu.
The preparations to receiving Torah come to us through many pathways, and in many forms. Each person has their own intrinsic way to reach Torah. These distinct methods are represented by the twelve different "flags" that each tribe had. From Ya'akov we inherited the natural desire and readiness to move towards Torah – each of us under our own flag and pathway.
But the Torah itself – the Torah of Moshe – is One, a unity that is beyond all divisions.
As such, Ya'akov needed to institute the different positions of each tribe, to instill in us the different pathways we need to take in our inheriting the Torah. But Moshe Rabbeinu's Torah itself is beyond all divisions – it is one holy Torah that belongs to all of Am Yisrael as a whole.
B'vracha Rav Sperling
שיעורים נוספים ניתן למצוא בקטגוריות הבאות: ויחי| תאריך העלאה: | י׳ בטבת ה׳תשע״ו |
| 22/12/15 |
