Segregating the Jewish people into distinct tribes, each living apart from the other and unique in its lifestyle, seems to run counter to our ideal of “Achdus”, unity amongst Jews. Yet the Torah takes great pride in this setup, and mandated a flag system, whereby each tribe camped alone. Is division that beautiful?
A car engine is a wonderful machine, made up of so many components, each interrelating with the other. But for it to function, each part needs to be at a set distance from the others. Pushing the parts together would not improve it; rather it would ruin all functionability. So too, lumping all Jews together would not promote the unity of the nation, rather it would dysfunction it. We are indeed disparate in function and nature. Our creativity depends on our ability to operate at a distance where we do not smother one another nor weaken another’s energies. Segregation is the sign of purposefulness. We work as one when we are separate.
There is yet another issue here. Giving things their rightful due includes recognizing something’s exact importance and place, and treating it in its proper way. That too was a function of the D’galim; each Shevet had a place, a specific function and order, resulting that together they camped in a specific formation. It’s amazing to think of how exact and clear things were, and how these things could even be reckoned and calculated, probably a feat out of the purview of human expertise. That the Jewish people lived by such a unique order was therefore a great source of pride for the Jews.
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