The Torah’s narration of the above referenced story with the twelve tribal staffs concludes with the following pasuk: “Moshe brought out all the staffs from before Hashem to all the Children of Israel; they saw and they took each man his staff.” [Bamidbar 17:24]
Rav Zalman Sortzkin asks an interesting question: Why did everyone come back and take their staff? There was a “competition” between 12 tribal leaders. Aharon “won”. The rest “lost”. What further need did they have for their staffs? To what can we compare this? A person buys a Power Ball lottery ticket. The grand prize is $350,000,000. The winning numbers are announced. Everyone looks at their tickets. “Did I win?” The person who wins is ecstatic. However, the other millions of “losers” take their lottery ticket, rip it up, and throw it away. That is what happened here. Aharon won; they lost. Their staffs were now worthless pieces of wood. Nevertheless, the pasuk makes the point that each man took back his staff. Why?
Rav Sorotzkin offers a beautiful idea. Everyone wanted to become “The Chosen Tribe”. Consider, is it really such a great thing to be a Kohen or a Levi? It was the poorest life amongst all the tribes. They do not own property. They work a couple of weeks a year in the Basi HaMkidash [Temple] and are supported by the good graces of people’s Terumos and Maasros, the first shearing of the sheep, and the priestly portions of the slaughtered animals (Zeroa, Lechayayim, and Keivah). Essentially, they were given the scraps. It was a poor life. The Leviim had it hard. The Kohanim had it hard.
However, everyone wanted to become the “Chosen Tribe”. They want poverty! They want this hard life!
Why did everybody want it? They wanted it because of the concept that this is the “Chosen Tribe”. This is the Tribe chosen by Gd. They are the “Chosen of the Chosen”. This status had special merit and it was worth more than all the property and all the real estate in the world. When the other tribes “lost”, they did not toss away their staffs. They came home and they mounted them over the fireplace. They told their children and grandchildren “My sweet children, you see this staff? I was willing to become a Levi! I was willing to give up everything to become the Chosen Tribe! Do you see this beautiful house? Do you see all the beautiful furniture? I was willing to give this all up for the chance to work in the Beis HaMikdash. My proudest possession is this staff, the staff that lost. It is because that staff says everything. The staff says that I know what is important and what is trivial. I know that all the real estate in the world is not worth anything compared to the merit of participating in the Divine Service in the Holy Beis HaMikdash.”
The staff was not a worthless lottery ticket that one rips up, throws to the ground, and lets the wind scatter. This was something to be proud of. It shows who the owner was. It shows his values. It is something to show off, to treasure, and to show one’s grandchildren and great grandchildren: “I was willing to give up everything to become the Chosen Tribe.”
