Honoring the Kehunah
שמות כח,ז: שְׁתֵּי כְׁתֵּפֹת חֹבְׁרֹת יִהְׁיֶה־לּוֹ אֶל־שְׁנֵּי קְׁצוֹתָיו וְׁחֻבָר:
The Baal haTurim comments that the phrase אל שני appears in two other places in Tanach. They appear in Shmuel 1, 2:34, where the Navi writes (in connection with Eli haKohen) about "the sign that will come upon your two sons (el-sh'nei bonecha); and again in Melachim (2, 5:23), where the Pasuk describes how Naaman gave the money and the suits to Elisha's servant, Geichazi. The sons of Eli, despised the Kehunah, about which the Torah writes (here) el-sh'nei. Hence they were punished and killed; Naaman, on the other hand, honored the Kehunah (in that he asked for holy earth to take with him back to Syria, to build a Mizbeach for HaShem). Consequently, his descendants converted and later taught Torah in public.
Naaman, the chief general of Aram (not Jewish) was afflicted with Tzaraas. When none of the doctors of Aram could heal him, his king sent him to the Jews where the prophet Elisha cured him. In gratitude, Naaman vowed to refrain from idol worship and to worship only HaShem. He then requested two muleloads of earth from the Holy Land so he could build a Mizbeach to HaShem when he returned to his homeland of Aram.
72 Letters of the Choshen Mishpat
שמות כח, יז: ּומִּלֵּאתָ בֹו מִּלֻאַת אֶבֶן אַרְׁבָעָה טּורִים אָבֶן
The Gemara (Yoma 73b) states that each of the 12 stones (four rows of three stones) had 6 letters etched into it. Obviously, the names of the 12 tribes fall far short of containing 72 letters. The Gemara says that besides the names of the tribes, the names of our Patriarchs and the words "shivtei Yeshurun" were also etched into the stones. The Baal HaTurim explains that the names of the tribes (total of 50 letters) were first etched into their respective stones and the amount of letters short of 6, anywhere from 1 to 4, were completed by adding 13 letters from the Avos (אברהם יצחק יעקב) and adding the 9 letters from "shivtei Yeshurun" (שבטי ישורן). The one exception was Binyomin, which contains six letters and needs no supplementing.
- ראובןא
- שמעוןב
- לוירהם
- יהודהי
- יששכרצ
- זבולןח
- דןקיעק
- נפתליב
- גדשבטי
- אשרישו
- יוסףרן
- בנימין
The name Yeshurun (from the word ישר – upright) is another name for Yisrael. It is not clear why this 5-letter name is used rather than the more common 5-letter name ישראל.
Perhaps this can be explained in a homiletic manner. The "choshen mishpat" contained the names of all 12 tribes on one breastplate. This represents unity of the tribes. Our Patriarchs empowered our nation with unity. The addition of the words "shivtei Yeshurun" further stresses the concept of their all being unified in their service of HaShem. This is stressed because the sons of Yaakov hated Yosef in varying degrees and sold him as a slave. Binyomin had absolutely no part in throwing Yosef into the pit, nor in selling him. He therefore needed no addition of the Patriarchs letters, nor letters from the words "shivtei Yeshurun" to his name. Possibly, a mathematical allusion can be added. The numerical value of "sinas Yosef," hatred of Yosef, equals that of "shivtei Yeshurun" plus the 13 letters of the names of our Patriarchs.
The Urim and Tumim were used to convey HaShem’s answers. Thus, they needed all the letters of the Aleph Beis. The letters of the names of the 12 tribes did not contain the letters ח ט צ ק. These letters were contained in the names of the Avos and of “shivtei Yehurun.”