 As you all know, Judaism places a tremendous emphasis on the peoplehood of Israel, the nation, the community. Abraham, for example, who got the bowl rolling was told by God that he'd be the father of a great nation. And before receiving the Torah and Mount Sinai, God told us that we would become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And the Bible is basically, when you read it straight through, the story of Am Yisra'el, the nation, the people of Israel. But what is the place of the individual in this grand story? Are we each just reduced to being a cog in the community? We know that the spiritual path of Judaism is based upon following the instructions of the Torah. And this path of the Torah seems to be a uniform one for everyone. So is the goal to produce a community of clones, each person a carbon copy of everyone else? And if Judaism expects conformity to these rules, in what way can we be different from each other? Is there room for people to express their unique individuality? Early on in the book of Genesis, we're told the story of a massive project to build a huge tower. And this project was very upsetting to the Almighty. And he quickly put a stop to their plans. Although the text itself, when you read the story, doesn't really spell out what was wrong about what they were doing. Rabbi Naftali Tzfi Yehuda Berlin, who was the head of the Isheva in Valudin in Russia at the end of the 19th century, pointed out in his commentary to Genesis that the whole story of the Tower of Bovel begins by telling us the following. The whole earth was of one language and of one common purpose. And then it suggests that what they were trying to do was to establish a monolithic totalitarian society where all people were homogenized. Everyone was expected to think alike and to tow the party line. Just like the famous novel Fahrenheit 451, they didn't tolerate any expression of individuality. They wanted to all live in the same place and in lockstep uniformity. So what did God do? He confounded their languages and he scattered them all over the earth. Too much unity, too much conformity, than it seems suggests is not a good thing. Now our society has a way of imposing its will upon us as well, but in much subtler ways than the social planners of Bovel. Democracy promises equality. But if everyone is equal, then how can anyone be unique or special? Our cultural trendsetters direct us how to dress, how a hair should look, what to aspire to, what entertainment to consume. What is cool, what is in, and peer pressure drives us to conform or risk being rejected and ostracized because we're different. This dynamic also permeates our educational institutions which play to the common denominator of the group and doesn't really focus on the individual differences among the students. The Chazonish, the leading Torah sage in Israel in the early 20th century once remarked that the Ishevot in Israel, the religious schools in Israel, saved the Jewish community but have often sacrificed and stifled individuals along the way. In the Talmud, our sages taught that if you see a huge crowd of Jews together, you should recite the blessing, blessed is he who discerns secrets. It's a blessing that we recite when we see a huge crowd of people. Blessed is he, obviously referring to the Almighty, who is able to discern secrets. The Talmud goes on to explain here in Brachot 58a that just as the face of each person is different from the other, so too our minds are different from each other. When you see a huge mob of people, a huge group of people, it may look just like that. It may look like all you're seeing is a huge sea of people, just like a huge sea of fish. And you may have thought that what the blessing should emphasize is the size of the group. Look at the size of this group. Look how many people there are. But the blessing actually stresses the exact opposite. Only God is able to penetrate the mind of each person and understand the thoughts of each person and appreciate how each one in this crowd is unique and different with their own distinctive thoughts and desires and hopes and aspirations. And so we praise God. We bless God who is able to understand that even in a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people, we don't have a mob of people. We have hundreds of thousands of individuals. The Mishnah Intractate Sanhedrin, Chapter 4, discusses the procedure for what they did to brief witnesses in any case that could involve capital punishment. And to remind the witnesses of the enormous responsibility that they faced, the court would refer them to the creation narrative in Genesis. And the missionist says that in that story of Genesis, a single man was first created. God didn't create human beings at first. Adam was created, a single, solitary being. And the Mishnah there says that a single person was created to teach, that if anyone causes a single person to perish. Scripture considered as if they had caused the entire world to perish. And if anyone saves the life of a single individual, Scripture considers it as if they had saved an entire world. The Mishnah goes on to say that a single person was originally created to proclaim the greatness of the Holy One, blessed is he. For when a man stamps many coins with the same seal, each of the coins is alike. Each of the coins is exactly the same. But the Holy One, blessed is he, has stamped every human being with the seal of Adam, with the seal of the first person. Yet no two human beings are exactly alike. And therefore the Mishnah concludes, everyone is required to say, for my sake, the world was created. For my sake, the world was created. Because each individual is an entire world. The Mishnah here is teaching us that no two people are exactly alike. Not only are our fingerprints different. We each have unique personalities, talents, and capabilities. Each one of us has a special mission to fulfill in the world and something unique that only we can contribute. According to the 16th century Kabbalistic master known as the Arizal, no one has ever or will ever come into this world with the exact same mission as yours. No one else can replace you, and therefore the entire world was created for you. One of the names that's used in our literature for the human soul is called Yahida. And Yahida has the meaning of unique, special, and unique. And that's because the real difference between us and others is not primarily how we look, but our internal world, our inner world, not our external form. The Torah commands us to emulate God. In the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy verse 9, the Torah tells us, Tehalachda bedrachav, you shall walk, you shall go in His ways, you shall go in the ways of God. And according to Rabbi Yosef Dovah Levy Salavachek, since God is Yahid Umayuchad, unique and different from everything else in the world, each one of us as well must uncover and manifest what is unique and potential about our qualities. If we have an obligation to walk in the ways of God, one of the ways in which we can resemble God is by getting in touch with what makes us unique and what makes us special. The story is told of Revsholam Shachna, who was the father of the Rebbe of Rizhin, one of the most illustrious Hasidic dynasties. And Revsholam had married a granddaughter of Revnachem of Chernobyl. But even though he married into the Chernobler dynasty, he didn't really follow their practices, at least not consistently. And the fact that he wasn't following the Chernobler way got the other Hasidim very upset and so they complained to the Rebbe. Revnachem asked his grandson why he wasn't conforming. And Revsholam explained with a story. He said that the egg of a duck once got mixed up with the eggs of a hen. And after the eggs hatched, the mother took them all for a walk. They passed by a stream and the duck jumped in. The mother panicked and started screaming, get out of there, you're going to drown. But the duckling responded, don't be afraid, mother, I know how to swim. After this story of Nachem told the other Hasidim, don't worry, leave Revsholam alone, he knows what he's doing. And from Revsholam emerged the dynasty of Rizin, which was known for its originality, its uniqueness, and its individuality. Now as we said, the world that we live in and our societies have a tendency to want to impose their way upon us, they have a tendency to expect that we will blend in and conform. For how do we develop the strength to stay on our individual path? Revtsadikha Cohen of Lublin in his famous Titkasa Tzadik taught that ultimately we have not only to believe in the Almighty, we have to believe in ourselves as well, he taught. Meaning we have to appreciate the importance of our own unique qualities and self-worth. And the more we get in touch with what is unique about us, what is special about us, what no one else in the world could contribute, we'll be much less likely to relinquish that and just simply blend in with everyone else. Of course what is critical is that we recognize who we are and what makes us unique and what our special role in the world is. The previous slalom of Rebbe, Revsholam Brzovsky wrote in his Nisiva Shalom, that before anything else a person is obligated to reflect and search out what is his unique mission for the sake of which he descended into this world. You have to think about it. When a Jew wakes up in the morning, the first thing that we say is, Mode ani lefanecha, I am thankful to you, God, who returned my soul to me after being asleep all night long. We express our gratitude to God. So when we say these words, Mode ani, I am thankful, lefanecha, before you, we have to reflect on not only who are we speaking to, not only to understand who am I thanking, who is God. We have to really think about who is the ani, when we say I am thankful, who is the person that's expressing that thanks and that appreciation. You know that the first thing that God commanded Abraham to do was to leave the home of his family, the land where he was born, the land where he was raised, and to go on a journey for the purpose of discovering his true self. The Hebrew was lech lecha, lech lecha, literally go to yourself. And the biblical commentary, the Cliukar explains that this was a directive to Abraham to go for the purpose of discovering his true self, his authentic self, his true authentic self, and all of us by extension are supposed to be on this journey. The Torah teaches in Leviticus chapter 25 verse 17 that we're not supposed to cheat our friends. A person should not cheat his friend. The Cutscarebe explained that a person needs to be their own friend and not cheat themselves. And he says we have to devote time to contemplating and developing an awareness of who we are. Unless we do that, we're cheating ourselves. It's so strange that some people will spend weeks or months planning a vacation, but devote almost no time to planning a life. They don't spend serious time trying to understand who they are and what their purpose in life is. Now, in order to discover this, it's certainly important and worth praying to God to ask for his help in discernment when seeking to understand ourselves. A good place to begin if we're trying to get a grip, a handle on who we are is to make a list of all those activities that we are good at, that you have a talent for. For example, I'm a good listener. So make a list of all those things that you have some kind of talent for that you're good at. As well, it's important to compile a list of all those things that you really love to do and bring you a sense of fulfillment. That's one way of homing in on what is special about me. On the other hand, we're taught that if you are drawn strongly to something the Torah prohibits or you have significant difficulty in fulfilling a certain commandment, it might be that these are areas that you were specifically sent into this world to work on. Of course, it's always useful to have a close friend or spiritual guide to be an objective sounding board in your self-assessment. Sometimes what happens is we limit our recognition of who we are and we may need someone to help us get past these self-imposed limitations. The famous story told of Rabbi Nachman of Brestlov about a prince, the son of a great great king. And unfortunately this prince lost his mind and he began to see himself as a turkey. And he spent his days and nights underneath the king's table on all fours with no clothing, just sitting there naked and running after little scraps of food and pecking at it with his mouth. And the king was brokenhearted and the king called in every possible advisor and helper and doctor and therapist they may have had back then to try and help his son and nothing was working. No one was able to help. And finally a wise man shows up and says, I think I may have a way of helping your son. And the king says, please. So this wise man takes off all of his clothing and he gets under the table and he sits there with this prince also jumping after little pieces of food and scraps and pulling at it and eating it with his mouth. And the prince is looking at this person and saying, what in the world are you doing here? And he says, what am I doing here? I'm a turkey, just like you. The prince was stunned, another turkey here. So that's what happened. The two of them are under the table naked, running after little scraps of food and pecking at it, pulling at it. Until finally one day the wise man signaled that they should throw two shirts down under the table. And the wise man puts on one of the shirts and the prince is looking at him saying, what in the world are you doing? And the wise man says, who says a turkey can't wear a shirt? So the prince puts on a shirt and then a few weeks later the wise man says, you know what? I'm not going to be under the table anymore. I'm going to go up and sit on a chair at the table itself. That's where I'm going to eat. And the prince says, what? Turkeys can't do that. And the wise man said, why not? There's no reason why a turkey can't sit at the table. And so the wise man goes and sits at the table and the young prince follows suit. And with this kind of approach, the wise man was able to completely turn this young prince around. The truth is that to uncover our unique individuality requires that we be authentic. In a famous teaching from Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, chapter one, mission of 14, Hillel teaches, If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twersky's take on this teaching is that the only meaningful self-identity is the one we give ourselves. Any identity given to us by others or that we construct in response to others is like a chameleon who becomes all things to all people and it's not a genuine identity. The Kutsker Rebbe famously quipped, if I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you. But if I am I because I am I and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you. Understood? Okay. Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz observed that there are certain things that you have to learn for yourself. He says a tightrope walker has to balance their body perfectly. Otherwise they'll fall to the ground. They might gyrate and twist to maintain their equilibrium. If someone else tried to learn how to walk the tightrope by watching them and imitating them and says, oh, he just moved to the right. I'm going to move to the right. He just moved to the left. I'm going to move to the left. He'll definitely plunge to the ground. The same applies to serving God. You can't pray just like others pray. You can't copy them. You have to find the approach that works best for you. Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld, who was the founder of the Sharyosh of Yeshiva in Farakoe, once read about the Cloyzenberger Rebbe that he wouldn't begin praying in the morning until he had a novel insight or fresh approach to the words of the morning prayers. And so Rabbi Freifeld decided that he would implement this in his life as well. So what did he do? He sat down early in the morning. He studied the words of the prayer book. And he started waiting for inspiration to come and strike. And he sat there for quite a while, but with no success. And it grew later and later and later. And he grew hungrier and hungrier and hungrier. But still no, no ideas came to him. So in the end, he prayed much, much later than normally and with a far lower level of concentration than he normally prayed with. And he later said, what I learned that day is that I'm not the Cloyzenberger Rebbe. I tell a wonderful story about the Satma Rebbe, that he was a very, very holy person that prayed with incredible intensity. And one year on Purim, Purim, you know, people tend to joke around a bit. And in his synagogue there was a badchan, a jester, a joker, a person that entertained the group. And this badchan began imitating the way the Satma Rebbe would pray. And he probably looked very, very intense when he prayed. Maybe he was shaking, maybe he was grimacing. He might have moved in a very dramatic way. And this person imitated the Satma Rebbe. And while it was happening, the Satma Rebbe looked at him and began to shake and turn red and then cry. He was very, very upset. So the badchan felt terrible. He thought he was insulting the Rebbe. He was, maybe he was not treating the Rebbe with proper respect. And he went over to the Rebbe to apologize. And the Rebbe says, you don't have to apologize. I wasn't insulted by what you were doing. You actually were amazing. It was incredible how well you imitated me. But I was thinking to myself as I saw how well you imitated me, I was wondering, maybe I imitate myself when I'm praying. Maybe I prayed once very deeply and very powerfully. But maybe every time subsequently to that, it wasn't real. Maybe I was just imitating myself. We all know the story of Ravzisha of Anipol, that it was the greatest righteous person of his generation. And on his deathbed, his chassidim gathered around him and they saw that he was very upset. He was shaking and he was crying. And they couldn't imagine why is the Rebbe so upset? Why is he frightened? If anyone doesn't have to be frightened before they face their maker, it would be Ravzisha. So they began wondering, well, maybe he's upset and he's worried that when he goes upstairs they're going to ask him, Ravzisha, why weren't you as great as Moses? And you know what? Maybe he's upset that when he goes upstairs they're going to ask him, why weren't you as great as the Rambam, as Armanides? And he finally turned to them and he says, you don't understand. He says, when I go into the next world and if they asked me, Zisha, why weren't you as great as Moses? I'm not afraid of that question. I've got a very simple answer to that question. I'll say, God, I wasn't given the capabilities. I wasn't given the unique qualities of Moses. I'm not afraid they're going to ask me that question. And the same if they ask me, how come you weren't as great as Armanides? I've got a very simple answer. I'll say, you didn't give me the talents and the intellect and the qualities of Armanides. But there's one question that they're going to ask me that I'm terrified of because I have no good answer to that question. They're going to say, Zisha, why weren't you Zisha? That's what scares me. We know that our individuality is not something that is static. It's not something that's just there and static. Ultimately, developing our unique self is something that is meant to engage us our entire life. When Adam was created, the Torah has a very unusual expression. Everything else that was created, it said, God said, let there be trees, let there be horses, let there be stars. When it came to creating the human being, God says, let us make man. And the $64,000 question is, who is God speaking to? Let us make man. And the commentary suggests that he was speaking to the angels or possibly the Bibles using the royal we, the majestic plurality where the king speaks in the first person plural. But the Baal Shem Tov said that God here is speaking to every human being who will ever live. And God is saying to each one of us, every single person in history, God is saying, let us make man. Because God ultimately cannot make a human being. God can create a tree and God can create a cat and God can create a moon. Just by unilaterally saying, let there be. But God cannot create who you are. God can give you the raw ingredients. God can give you a body and a soul. But what you become is a function of what you do with those raw ingredients. And that's why, according to Joseph Albow, the author of the Saifari Korim, after each thing that was created in the six days of creation, the Torah says, and God saw that it was good. But after the creation of man, it doesn't say, and God saw that it was good. Why? Because the declaration and God saw that it was good is not a statement of quality. That God looked at it and said, oh, that's pretty good. No, it could be better. I could have done a better job. Obviously, that's not what God is saying. Obviously, everything God makes is good. When it says that God saw that it was good, what it means is it was created fully formed. It was perfect. It was complete. But the human being was not created complete. And that's why it doesn't say, and God saw that it was good, because we have to complete ourselves. We have to make ourselves. And that's why the Torah says we're called Adam. Adam. Because it says in the Torah, we were taken from the Adamah. The Adamah is the earth. And that's why we're called Adam. And the Maharal from Prabh explains that just like the earth, when you look at a piece of land, what you have is pure potential. You can have a field, and what's going to happen with that field? What is it going to produce? The answer is it depends. If you don't take care of it, and you don't plow it, and you don't harvest seeded properly and you water the plants and take care of it and prune and fertilize and do all the things that are needed to take care of a field, nothing's going to happen there. But if you take care of the earth properly and you work it properly, then it's going to produce. And so just like the earth is pure potential, the Adam, the human being, is pure potential. All God gives us is potential. But what happens with that potential is up to us. And that's why it's very interesting that in the famous book that was written either 2,000 or 3,000 years ago called the Perakshira, which lists 84 different things that God created. Basically everything that's in the world, practically speaking, you can have books today that show you pictures of all these creatures and all these things, the creations that God put out. Perakshira gives you the song for each creature, each creation in the world. There's a song of the scorpion. There's a song of the sun. There's a song of the dog, etc. But there's conspicuously absent from this book, Perakshira, the chapters of song, the human being. There's no man in the Perakshira. And the reason is because there cannot be a song for humanity. There can't be a one-sized fits-all song for human beings. Each one of us is in this world to write our own song. And that's why the Talmud tells us in Tractate Brachot, 17A, that when the sages departed from each other, when they said goodbye, they would say, olamecha, tirer becha yecha. May you see your world during your lifetime. May you see your world during your lifetime. What does this mean? So Rabbi Shimon Schwab explained that the word olamecha, your world, is related to the word grammatically and homologically he'elamecha, what is hidden in you. We know the world is called olam. The world we're living in is called olam because in Hebrew, olam means concealed or hidden because the Almighty is concealed in the world that He created. So the sages would say to each other, may your world be seen in your days, according to Rabbi Schwab, what they're saying is, may that which is concealed of you, in you, be seen during your lifetime. What is concealed within you? It's your potential. So their blessing to each other when they departed was, may you realize your potential during your lifetime. That was the blessing of the sages. Now the book of B'amidbar, numbers which are going to be reading this coming Shabbat, we're going to begin the fourth book of the five books of Moses, this Shabbat. According to our sages, we read this chapter every year before the holiday of Shavuot. So the book of numbers begins with a description of the setup of the Israelite camp in the desert, including a mention of the various tribal banners or flags that each tribe and each group of tribes had as they encamped around the tabernacle in the center. And there's a fascinating passage in the Midrash relating to these flags. Rabbi Yohanan said, at the time that God revealed himself to Israel at Mount Sinai, 22,000 chariots of ministering angels descended with God and each of them had a banner, a flag. When Israel saw them, they immediately yearned to have flags like them. As it is written in the book Song of Songs, chapter 2 verse 4, he brought me to the house of wine and his banner of love was over me. And God responded to them and said, you can be certain that I will make flags for you as you have desired. Now Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohan Cook, the first chief rabbi of the modern state of Israel, explained the meaning of this Midrashic teaching. He said a flag is a statement of identity and purpose. To identify with a flag, to put yourself under a flag means that you are part of a group with a specific goal. The Hebrew word for angel, malach means messenger as well. And the only identity that an angel has is the purpose or the task that it was assigned by God to do. This is the flag, this is the banner of the angel. What is its purpose, its goal, its mission? We say in our prayers, in our prayers, in our prayer book, we say kulam ahuvim, they, the angels are all beloved. The angels are all beloved. Why? Because we say right after that kulam berurim, because each of them are clear. What are they clear about? They're clear about their mission and their purpose. And so when Israel received the Torah at Mount Sinai where Cook explains, they understood that the purpose of the Torah was for the perfection of the world through the fulfillment of it. While each individual Jew received the same Torah at Mount Sinai, they realized that in order to actualize the ultimate purpose of the Torah, they would each have to use their own unique particular strengths and talents to fulfill their unique role in the unfolding of the goals of the Torah. So by seeking to have their own flag, each Jew was expressing their desire to know, what is my particular role or purpose in the Torah? And Rev Cook explained that the Mijras uses the verse from the Song of Songs to compare Mount Sinai to a house of wine. Because wine brings out the true essence of people. As it says in the Talmud in Erevin, nichnas yayin yotsesod that when wine enters, the secrets come out. If you want to know how someone really feels about any particular issue, go to a bar and listen to people when they've drunk a little bit. They'll tell you exactly how they feel. Nothing is concealed. And so each Jew wanted the revelation of the Torah. They wanted the revelation of Torah at Sinai to reveal their inner essence and personal role in the fulfillment of the goals of the Torah. The revelation at Sinai emphasized the importance of both the group and the individual. Torah does not emphasize only one and not the other. They're both important. And our sages teach us that in order to receive the Torah we had to be united as a nation. The text says when we arrived at Mount Sinai the people encamped at the foot of the mountain. It says in the Hebrew verb here for encamped is in the singular. Literally he encamped. Here you had 3 million people and the Torah says he encamped. It should say they encamped. And Rashi notes that they came as one person with one heart. They were totally unified. The 1st of the Ten Commandments says Anohi Hashem Elokecha Anohi I Am Hashem the Lord Elokecha your God. And that's the singular form like I'm speaking to one person. It doesn't say Elokechem plural your God is speaking to a group of people. The 1st of the Ten Commandments is in the singular. So this might be expressing the total unity of the Jewish nation. It's as if God was speaking to a single unit. However on the other hand it could be that what the Torah here is indicating is that God was speaking to each person individually. And this is what the Midrash teaches. The Midrash in Exodus Rabbah quotes the verse in Psalm 29.4 which says the voice of the Lord is with power. Then when it describes in the Midrash how God spoke at Mount Sinai the Midrash quotes the verse in Psalm saying that the voice of the Lord was with power. And the Midrash teaches it was according to the power and capacity of each person to receive it. Not just that God spoke with power but that God speaking with power was according to the power and capacity of each person to receive it. And Rabbi Yossi Ben Hanina says if you are doubtful about this think of the manna that descended with tastes varying according to the taste of each individual Israelite. We're told that when that miraculous food fell in the desert every day it tasted like whatever you were thinking. It didn't have a one taste to it. Now Rabbi Yossi says if the manna which was all of one kind became converted into so many different tastes to suit the capacity of each individual was it not even more possible for the voice of God which had power to vary according to the capacity of each individual. Now the content the words that came down at Monsignai were the same for each person. Everyone heard the same words but the flavor of that experience the impact the nature of that experience was different for each person. In the beginning of the book of Numbers doesn't only tell about how the Israelites encamped around the tabernacle in the desert according to their tribal formations to break their tribal banners we're also told that Moses was commanded to take a census of the people to count the people. Now normally what is a census for normally a census is to know how many people there are in each tribe and how many people there are in the nation as a whole but the language that's used here in the beginning of the book of Numbers is significant. There are two things I want to point out. Number one there seems to be a bit of redundancy in the language of the Torah where Moses is told first to take a census and then he's told to count the people duh if he's taking a census of course he's going to count the people so why the redundancy? Secondly we know that in Hebrew there are many different words that can be used to describe counting or numbering. One expression that's used in this chapter is an unusual one for counting the Torah says Se'u et Roche for counting Se'u et Roche literally means lift up the head lift up the head now counting usually devalues people you're just a number and we know that's what happened too when the Nazis wanted to destroy people's individual identities they took away their names they gave them Numbers but Moses is called upon not just to count but to lift up each head Moses was told to call upon each person each person is special Ritsutaka Koin of Lubin explains that's why it refers to as a head each person is a head is special has unique powers and potentials another expression used here in this chapter for counting is tifgedu otam count them or number them but again the word lift code in Hebrew in the Tanakh has many other meanings it can mean to visit to remember to take note or to inquire after someone else's welfare and so Moses is told not just to count the people but to ask their name to ask how they're doing to demonstrate that they count to see that they matter to see that he cares they're not just another brick in the wall now as unique individuals we're each called upon to seek out and develop our own spiritual path within the Torah for example in our prayers three times a day we begin by talking about the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but we don't say it that way we don't address our prayers to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob we say the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob take their red pen and cross that out and say that's not how you write it you just say the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but we're being told here that each one of our patriarchs our forefathers had their own personal different special relationship with God the relationship that Abraham had with God is not just inherited by Isaac and Isaac has the same relationship to develop their own personal unique relationship with God based upon their own unique personalities now when the construction of the Tabernacle was completed about a year after they left Egypt the leaders of each tribe brought special offerings for the dedication of the Tabernacle and each of the 12 tribal leaders brought exactly the same offering each of the 12 tribal leaders brought one silver bowl of 130 shekels in weight a silver basin of 70 shekels in weight both were filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering they brought a golden ladle of 10 shekels filled with incense they brought a young bull a ram, a sheep in its first year for an elevation offering one he goat for a sin offering and for a feast offering they brought two cattle, five rams five he goats and five sheep in their first year it's a lot of things that were brought by each of the princes of each of the tribes but rather than just say that each of the tribal leaders brought these gifts the Torah spends 62 verses even though the Torah is normally very terse and very economical in the way it writes things the Torah has a huge chapter where it repeats every single one of the princes by name and then lists all the things that were brought although it was the exact same thing that was brought by every single other prince and Nachmanides explains that even though their offerings were identical each leader had their own special and personal intention and reason behind each of the things that were offered so the sacrifices look the same but the intention that went into each one was very different Rashi explains something interesting if you look at Rashi's commentary here he explains the meaning and symbolism of the tribal leader Nisanal Ben Suwar from the tribe of Yisachar who was the second of the princes in skips Nachshon Ben Aminadov the prince of the tribe of Judah doesn't explain the meaning of his gifts and then when it gets to the second prince Rashi explains the meaning of his gifts and the first Gararebi said that this was the way Rashi expressed it to teach us that Nisanal wasn't just imitating Nachshon he did offer the same gifts but he had his own Kavanot his own intention for what he was bringing so each leader put their own soul an individual approach an individual approach of spirituality into their gifts Maimonides in his Mishnatora at the end of the laws of Meila insists that each one of us has to try to discover our own understanding of the reasons behind the commandments that we do the Torah doesn't give us the reasons for the commandments Maimonides says that what each of us has to do is not just do the commandments mechanically we have to think about and reflect on and maybe study and contemplate what is this midst for me at least what does it mean to me Maimonides says it's an obligation we know that in the Tfilon that are worn the black leather bakkas on the head and on the arm the Tfilon that are on the arm have one compartment there's one compartment that has four chapters from the Bible but on the head Tfilon up here there isn't one compartment it's not one solid box it's four compartments you can actually spread them apart and it's explained to me in the following that when it comes to what we do our actions Judaism is more or less monolithic there's one set of laws of Kashrut there's one set of laws of the Sabbath in terms of how we do things there's one box one compartment but in terms of how we understand the Torah our mind there are different compartments different boxes because each one of us will understand the Torah differently now listen carefully when the Torah was about to be given we're told that the people twice said all together they said God everything that you're going to tell us Na'aseh we will do it they gave their consent to observing the Torah and they all said it together in unison but later the Torah says that they said to God everything that you're going to teach us we will do and we will understand Na'aseh vnishma they scream out Na'aseh vnishma the Torah doesn't say they said it together in unison why? because again when they give their consent to observing the commandments Na'aseh will do it they say it all together because they're all going to be doing the same things but when it comes to their understanding and the way they relate to the commandments each person is different and that's why the Torah doesn't tell us when it came to saying nishma we'll understand they said it all together in unison the na'aseh who we quoted earlier tonight teaches that each one of us will ultimately focus our service of God and spiritual path based upon our own personal strengths and proclivities one of us might focus on Torah study another might focus on prayer another might focus their main effort in Judaism on acts of loving kindness helping other people the truth is we're supposed to be a jack of all trades every one of us is supposed to observe the entire Torah and yet we're supposed to be a master of one we should at least specialize in one at least one commandment and we know that in the history of the Jewish people many of our sages actually did that they would specialize in a certain area and even within a particular area there are ways of specializing so among people who focus their lives on Torah study there are many ways of approaching Torah study some people will focus on halacha on studying Torah law others on philosophy of the Torah others on the mysticism of the Torah others on the agadata the allegorical teachings of the Torah some on the musar of the Torah the ethical lessons of the Torah etc in the book of Proverbs chapter 3 verse 9 honor God with your wealth with ho-necha in the book of Kings chapter 21 says don't read this as wealth ho-necha but read it as ho-necha which means with what God graced to you and the Midrash Der tells a story who told his nephew who had a beautiful voice that he must use this gift to serve God because he said na-vot in the Torah who had a special voice was punished because he once didn't pray with his voice during the festivals in Jerusalem in Judaism the law is regimented and uniform there is one Torah but the Torah encourages personal creativity personal initiative and expression for example there is a set service in the prayer book we have a liturgy that is set for the morning afternoon and evening prayers however that's just a minimum and we're encouraged to pray in our own language all day long if you're going to a doctor for an appointment you should pray that the appointment should go well if you see a car broken down you can pray that they get help very quickly Rav Nachman of Brestlov encouraged people to spend at least a half hour a day just speaking to God in their own words we're told in the Talmud above Messiah page 30 that Jerusalem was destroyed because the Jewish people observed the Torah and that seems strange we would think that observing Torah was a good thing why was Jerusalem destroyed because they just observed the Torah and the Talmud says they did observe the Torah they kept the law but they didn't go beyond the letter of the law they kept the law but they didn't go beyond the letter of the law and what does the Talmud say when you think about it if a person gets married and says to their spouse look dear I love you very much I want to drop more that's not a great recipe for a successful marriage and if a person gets a new job and shows up the first day of work and says to their boss look sir I'm willing to do everything in my job description I'm willing to come here at nine o'clock in the morning but don't expect me to get here a minute earlier and I'm willing to stay until five o'clock don't even think about asking me to stay a minute later don't even dream about asking me to do anything I'm not exactly spelled out in my job description that's not a recipe for a good employee-employer relationship and so when the Jewish people just observed the Torah they were simply fulfilling the rules they were playing by the rules God whatever you say I'll do but I'm not interested in going beyond the minimum I'm not interested in taking any initiative I'm not interested in going beyond the letter of the law and for that reason Jerusalem was destroyed Rabbi Uri of Strzelesk taught that every single Jew is represented by a letter in the Torah we know that in the Torah if any letter is missing or damaged the Torah cannot be used it has to be put away and has to be repaired the nation as well is not complete if one person is missing and their unique song is missing and the law as well tells us that in a Torah scroll if two letters are touching each other they must be separated you cannot read that Torah if two letters happen to be touching you need to take a razor blade and scrape away where the contact is they cannot be touching each letter has to have its distinct identity so even though togetherness is important among Jews we speak about the important of national unity and being together and being on the same page and being close to each other it cannot be at the expense of losing our individuality each person needs to both find and maintain their own distinct identity I want to wrap up by sharing with you two stories one is a famous story about Rabbi Isaac from Krakow he was someone that was not very well off he struggled to support his family and he began having a strange dream and his dream he saw in Vienna a large bridge and he was told in his dream that under this bridge in Vienna there was buried a huge treasure and he woke up from the dream and he thought it was nonsense I'm just going to disregard the dream he told his wife about it she said forget about the dream and he had the same dream the next night and he told his wife you know I had the same dream again she says okay maybe it was something that you ate but then he has a dream a third night and he says to himself I can't disregard this dream something is going on here so he resolves in his mind he's going to schlep all the way from Krakow to Vienna he can't afford a train ticket he can only afford to hitchhike and maybe once in a while get a ride on someone's wagon and just the rest of the way go on foot so he's schlepping for many many many weeks until he finally gets to Vienna he doesn't know where the bridge is he doesn't even know if there is a bridge in Vienna but he has to find it and he finally finds a bridge in Vienna and he figures this must be it because it looks exactly like the bridge in my dream he's got one problem in his dream the bridge was in a very abandoned area no one was nearby here the bridge was right next to a huge army camp it's full of soldiers walking all over the place and now he says to himself what am I going to do I can't start digging under the bridge they're going to catch me so he just stands there watching the bridge hoping that maybe the soldiers will go away someday and it's one day and two day and three days he's standing there and they notice him and finally someone comes over and says we see that you're standing here watching the bridge what's going on and he's a very simple person you know he can't tell a lie so he says look I'll tell you what happened I had a dream several times that under this bridge there's a huge treasure and this guard is laughing his head off says what are you crazy you came all the way here because you had this crazy dream you believe in dreams then not sense the dreams he says you know what I'll tell you something I've myself had a dream many many times about some old Jewish guy in Krakow that under the stove in his house is a huge treasure so if Isaac goes back to his own home and he digs up under his own stove and there's where he finds the treasure the truth is that the treasure that we're seeking in life the understanding of who we really are is very close to home the last story I'm going to read to you because I probably can never tell it as well as it was written in a great oak forest where the trees grew tall and majestic there was a little apple tree it was the only apple tree in the forest and so it stood very much alone wintertime came and as the snow fell to the forest floor it covered the branches of the little apple tree the forest became quiet and very peaceful one night the little apple tree looked up at the sky and saw a wonderful sight between the branches of all the trees don't forget this is a very little apple tree and the other trees are these huge trees so between the branches of the other trees the little apple tree saw the stars in the sky which appeared to be hanging on the branches of the huge oak trees oh god oh god whispered the little apple tree how lucky those oak trees are to have such beautiful stars hanging on their branches I want more than anything else in the world to have stars on my branches just like the oak trees have then I would feel really and truly special so god looked down at the little apple tree and said gently have patience have patience little apple tree time passed the snows melted and spring came to the land tiny white and pink apple blossoms appeared on the branches of the little apple tree birds came to rest on its branches people walked by the little apple tree and admired its beautiful blossoms all summer long the apple tree continued to grow the branches of the trees formed a canopy overhead as they filled with leaves and blossoms but night after night the little apple tree looked up at the sky with the millions and millions and millions and millions of stars and cried out oh god I want more than anything in the world to have stars in my tree and on my branches and in my leaves just like those big oak trees and god looked down at the little apple tree and said you already have gifts isn't it enough to have shade to offer people and fragrant blossoms and branches for birds to nest on so they can sing your song so they can sing you their song the apple tree sighed and answered simply dear god I don't mean to sound ungrateful but that's not special enough I do appreciate how much pleasure I give to others but what I really want more than anything in the world is to have stars not blossoms on my branches then I would feel truly special god smiled and answered be patient be patient little apple tree the seasons changed again and soon the apple tree was filled with many beautiful apples people walked in the forest and whoever saw the apple tree would reach up to pick an apple and eat it and still when night came to the forest the apple tree looked at the stars and the oak trees and cried out oh god I want more than anything in the world to have stars on my branches then I would feel truly special and god asked but apple tree isn't it enough that you now have such wonderful apples to offer people doesn't that satisfy you doesn't that give you enough pleasure to make you feel special without saying a word the apple tree answered by shaking its branches from side to side at that moment god caused a wind to blow the great oak trees began to sway and the apple tree began to shake from the top of the apple tree an apple fell when it hit the ground it split open look commanded god look inside what do you see what do you see in that apple the little apple tree looked down and saw that right in the middle of the apple was a star the little seeds formed the shape of a star and the apple tree answered a star I have a star and god laughed a gentle laugh and added so you do have stars on your branches they've been there all along you just didn't know it and so each of us as the Torah compares us to stars the Midrash often says that the Jewish people are compared to stars when god first told Abraham about his having descendants god said they'll be like the stars each one of us is compared to a star that god counts lovingly and the task of each of us is to come to understand the star that we are the greatness that we have buried inside of us and to develop that potential during the course of our lives so that ultimately we'll fulfill the mission and the purpose for which we have put into this world