When Jacob gave his final blessing to each of the Twelve Tribes, he identified each with a symbol. The tribe of Yehudah was compared to a lion; Naftali to a deer, and so on, with a symbol attributed to each. The symbol was more than a visual decoration to place on their banners, it represented the unique quality and spiritual mission of each particular tribe.
Having left Egypt, each tribe traveled through the desert led by its own Nasi, its own spiritual tzaddik and leader, who was the head of that particular tribe. Even though all the Jewish people left Egypt together, each tribe traveled in its own separate cluster. The Midrash says that when they arrived at the sea, the sea split into twelve different lanes or paths, so that each tribe could go through its own specific lane, corresponding to the twelve different paths or approaches in their spiritual missions. A different tzaddik for each tribe would guide them in the spiritual path that was unique to them.
Nevertheless, in addition to the fact that there were Twelve Tribes and each tribe had its own unique and specific spiritual leader, there was also one person who was the leader of the entire generation, over all the Jewish people, and that was Moses.
