Parashat Bamidbar
„The multiplicity of peace is that all the sides and all the approaches be seen, and it be clarified how they all have a place, each according to its value, its place, and its matter.”From Olat Re'iyah, p. 330
Parashat Bamidbar opens with the counting of Israel and the arrangement of the camp according to tribes and banners. Ostensibly, precisely on the way to the Land it would have been fitting to blur the differences and build one people – uniform and simple. But the Torah teaches the opposite: each tribe stands in its place, with its name, its banner, its role, and its character, and precisely thus they all together surround the Tabernacle. Rav Kook teaches that this is the depth of peace. Peace is not a state in which everyone thinks the same, feels the same, and loses their distinct voice. True peace is built when every side and every approach is revealed in its proper place, without dominating and without being erased. The great unity of Israel is not the erasure of the shades, but the revelation that all the shades can illuminate and strengthen, in their uniqueness, the entire nation on its way to the Promised Land.
From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.