Lots of Understanding

We currently find yourselves in the period of the calendar known as “The Three Weeks”. These are the three weeks during which we remember and mourn the loss of our Temple and the exile of our people from our homeland that occurred 2,000 years ago. Our Sages teach us that the cause for HaShem’s anger against us was due to the hatred that we harbored against each other. Let us look towards our Parsha for some guidance how to undo the past and bring the coming of Moshiach that much closer. Perhaps this message will assist us in releasing that hatred and replacing it with respect and admiration for each other.

In this week’s Parsha, Pinchos, the Torah prepares our people for the manner in which we will divide the Land of Israel. Each tribe was to receive their own region. This was to be administered by Elazar the son of Aharon in the following manner.

Twelve regions of the Land were to be identified on 12 slips of paper. On another 12 slips of paper the names of the 12 tribes were to be written. These two sets of paper were to be placed in two separate containers. Eleazar would then pronounce “The tribe of Zevulon should take the region of Acco. He would then pick a slip of paper from the names of the tribes and behold it was Zevulon! He would then take a slip from the regions and behold it was the region of Acco!  This was done for all the regions (I am not sure if it was done for the final tribe.)

The purpose of this fantastic manner was to generate the understanding between the people that everyone’s portion was designated to be theirs by the Creator Himself. There was no space to question the Divine Providence in everyone portion. It is first predicted what portion each tribe would get and then verified by the lots.

As we entered the Land of Israel every tribe had their specific purpose, their specific task to accomplish. No two tribes had the same job. Naturally, depending on what their responsibility was, their parcel of land would correspond accordingly. It was therefore absolutely critical that everyone recognized that there is no room for human error. Every tribe recognized beyond any doubt that this parcel of land was exactly the land that HaShem intended for them. They could not look at the parcel of their neighboring tribe and complain that the grass was greener on the other side because this is the most appropriate land for us to accomplish our task.

This lesson applies to every person as well. No two people have the same task to accomplish. Although we all have a common goal that we aim to achieve nevertheless each one of us has their specific task in achieving that goal. Very much like the allegorical watch where the goal of the watch is to keep time accurately but each component of that watch has its unique role. The small spring does not complain why he is so small while the second hand is so large. The spring needs to small to accomplish his role and the second needs to be large to accomplish his role.

We therefore find within our people many different backgrounds so diverse that one can argue that we are not a single unit. We have Jews with religious backgrounds and those with no religion in their background. Within our colorful nation there are Satmar Chassidim, there are Chabad Chassidim, there are those who wear black hats and those who do not. We even have those who claim to be atheists. Although HaShem’s expectation of all of us is that we should all embrace His Torah, nevertheless, He wants every person to travel along their own respective journey to get to that destination.

When every member of our people recognizes that every other member was placed in their respective position for the purpose of accomplishing their task we will quickly replace animosity with respect and resentment to understanding.

Have a wonderful Shabbos.

Paysach Diskind