A great Rabbi came to visit in his student’s home. All the family members were full of excitement having the merit to host their special guest.
The wife prepared a beautiful breakfast in honor of their guest.
The Rabbi sat down to a laid table in his honor. There was butter, cheese, jelly (jam), scrambled eggs, and fresh salad – cut tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, onion and pickles with fresh rolls laid out beautifully.
The Rabbi looked impressively at all the foods. He then asked his host if they possessed a milky blender – food processor. The host answered that they do possess one. It was used for blending the food for their baby.
The Rabbi asked if he could bring it to the table.
The host went to the kitchen and brought in the food processor to his distinguished guest.
The Rabbi turned to his host and said, “Please understand. Your wife has taken the effort to prepare me a beautiful breakfast. I would like to give her the pleasure of tasting a bit of every different food she prepared.”
The Rabbi then proceeded to place some cheese, butter, jelly, egg, tomato, cucumber, pickles, olives and onion in to the blender and pressed the button. In a few moments he had some gooey pinky mixture. The Rabbi poured it on to his plate, took a spoon and tasted some. He had eaten a bit of everything.
Although we don’t really know what the Rabbi’s real reason was, but one thing is quite clear. The Rabbi didn’t want to be carried away by all the ‘worldly pleasures’ on his standards. The egg goes well with the pickles and the cheese with the olives and the butter with the jelly, but for sure his new mixture had ruined any pleasure he may have derived from his fresh breakfast.
This is a true story but it has an important message behind it too.
When Hashem created the world, on every day’s creation it says that Hashem saw that it was good (besides for the second day, and on the third day it is written twice). When it came to Friday the Passuk writes that Hashem saw all He created and it was very good.
There are many things that for themselves they are good but when put together they aren’t good. The beauty of Hashem’s creation is that everything for itself was good and then when everything was finished, everything together was very good. Everything also had its place and purpose it wasn’t a jungle.
In this week’s Parsha we learn about how the Klal Yisrael camped around the Mishkan when they travelled through the desert. Furthermore, each tribe had their own flag, with their own color and symbol. Chazal tell us that at Har Sinai when Klal Yisrael received the Torah they saw the regiments of the Malaachim coming down in an order with flags and the Jews wished to be the same.
What is the idea of flags by Malaachim and what is so special about them, that Klal Yisrael at Matan Torah desired to be the same. Furthermore, at such a great moment when Klal Yisrael saw such Divine presence, heard the sounds of the Shofar and saw the great fire, hearing the first two commandments from Hashem Himself, what did Klal Yisrael notice? What made such an impression that they wished to implement it by them also? The flags! Something so minor played such an important role at the greatest moment in Jewish History?!
The answer is that it must be that the flags weren’t something marginal and just an extra point that the Jews saw at Matan Torah. It must be that the flags have an important part in Matan Torah and give an important meaning and significance to Matan Torah.
A flag means uniqueness. In an army it means there isn’t just a big crowd and mob gathered together. It means that every regiment has its assignment, each brigade has its role and each soldier has his assignment. But every soldier is part of the whole army but has his place and purpose. So the whole army together is made up of infantry, navy officers, air force pilots and parachutes and soldiers in the tanks. That is the message of the flags.
The same is with the Malaachim. They all are Heavenly servants but each has their purpose, their regiment, their uniqueness, all part of the Heavenly Angels.
This is what Klal Yisrael wanted.
They understood that not every Jew is the same. Each tribe is unique, each community with its Minhagim, Halachos, their version and style of prayers, following their Rabbis and their tradition. From all the different groups together we can build a ‘Klal Yisrael’ a whole Jewish Nation.
From mixing everything together and shredding each communities tradition we won’t have a tasty meal, we will end up with some gooey tasteless mixture.
And let us take it one step further.
In every community itself one person can’t be the Rabbi, Shochet, Mohel, Gabbai, Rosh Yeshiva, Cheder Rebbi, Doctor, Lawyer, teacher, brain surgeon, engineer, cook, waiter, baker, bus driver, tailor, shoemaker and everything else. That would be a disaster!
Our Communities are built where everyone has their place and purpose and together we have a beautiful community. The Rabbi isn’t expected to be the shoemaker and the shoemaker doesn’t need to also be the Rosh Yeshiva, but we need them all to have a successful community!
This is the lesson of the flags in this week’s Parsha and it is so appropriate that we read just before Shevous where we saw that amazing beautiful Heavenly army at Matan Torah, understood its significance and we merited to receive it too. And every year before Shevuos we need a refresh and reminder of this important message so vital for our success in Torah both as an individual and as part of our community and Klal Yisrael.
This message is also so important and we must remember it even when we go to Shul, that even when davening with tens, hundreds or even thousands of other fellow Jews, we aren’t just trying to be part of their prayers, we have a very important role and responsibility, to concentrate on that special prayer that only we can daven to Hashem, that special gift of the flags that we learnt from the Malaachim, that we each have our unique part in the special army of Am Yisrael. Let us use these special moments of Tefilah to find ourselves, our place, our purpose, appreciate it and utilize it.
