כאיש אחד בלב אחד

Shavuos

by Rabbi Avi Billet

The Israelites arrive at Sinai, and the Torah describes their encampment there in the singular. ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר. Israel (in the singular) encamped opposite the mountain.

Rashi famously writes: 

and Israel encamped there. Heb. וַיִחַן, [the singular form, denoting that they encamped there] as one man with one heart, but all the other encampments were [divided] with complaints and with strife. — [from Mechilta]

וַיִּֽחַן־שָׁם יִשְׂרָאֵל.  כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד בְּלֵב אֶחָד, אֲבָל שְׁאָר כָּל הַחֲנִיּוֹת בְּתַרְעוֹמוֹת וּבְמַחֲלֹקֶת:

In the book Chesed L’Avraham, the author notes that the people Israel were like an איש אחד – a man who is known as אחד, with לב אחד – one unique heart. 

 Which man is described as אחד? The prophet Yechezkel gives the answer: יחזקאל פרק לג - (כד) בֶּן אָדָם יֹשְׁבֵי הֶחֳרָבוֹת הָאֵלֶּה עַל אַדְמַת יִשְׂרָאֵל אֹמְרִים לֵאמֹר אֶחָד הָיָה אַבְרָהָם וַיִּירַשׁ אֶת הָאָרֶץ וַאֲנַחְנוּ רַבִּים לָנוּ נִתְּנָה הָאָרֶץ לְמוֹרָשָׁה: 23. Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying: כג. 24. "Son of man, the dwellers of these ruins on the soil of Israel speak, saying: Abraham was one, and he inherited the land, and we are many-the land has [surely] been given to us for an inheritance."

 Avraham is desribed as אחד! He had one heart devoted and dedicated to God. 

 It’s an amazing thing to aspire to – to be like Avraham. And in the days before receiving the Torah, Israel was reminded of what level Jew they could aspire to become. 

Consider the following questions (you might disagree with my answers, but you'd have to bring a very convincing argument to say otherwise):

• Who was the greatest leader of the Jewish people? The answer is Moshe. 
• Who was the greatest prophet of the Jewish people? The answer is again Moshe. 
• But who was the greatest Jew? The answer is Avraham. 

 As the first of the Avot, Avraham Avinu is the first to be described as being totally committed to God in Sanhedrin 111a. He discovered God. He believed in God. He taught others about God. And he is the one who is called “God’s Beloved” in Yeshayahu 41:8:  ישעיהו פרק מא - (ח) וְאַתָּה יִשְׂרָאֵל עַבְדִּי יַעֲקֹב אֲשֶׁר בְּחַרְתִּיךָ זֶרַע אַבְרָהָם אֹהֲבִי: 

 The gemara in Pesachim 118a tells us that God, who is alone and unique in His world, was the one who personally saved Avraham, who was alone and unique in his world, from the fiery furnace of Nimrod. אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא: אני יחיד בעולמי והוא יחיד בעולמו, נאה ליחיד להציל את היחיד 

 It was most likely Avraham’s inspiration that ingrained the genetic code into his descendants that caused everyone to say “We will do as God has said” – Kol Asher dibber Hashem Naaseh, the response we hear from the people when God calls to them.

 Avraham did everything God asked of him, without questions, even when it was hard, even when it didn’t seem to make sense, even when it seemed to go against everything he wanted or believed in. 

 Compare him to Moshe who challenged God at every turn, and you see who is the greater Jew – if we need to compare them. 

 And perhaps this is why Rashi says what he says. 

 At the mountain, the people experienced a unity they had not experienced before. They were all descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, and save for their bond of slavery and salvation, they did not necessarily have anything to unify them as one.

Until they got to Sinai. And were ready to receive the Torah. 

 Now, finally, they are like THE איש אחד. 

Now, finally, united, they are living the exact moment that had been promised to that same איש אחד. That after 400 years, they would leave the strange land, and march towards the promised land.

While most encampments will not be rosy and wonderful and perfect, it is our challenge to re-enact that utopian Sinai experience as often as we can, so we can truly feel and live what it means to be בני אברהם – the children of THE man, the one man who loved God unconditionally, who continues to love his descendants unconditionally, and whose model serves as our model of how to be the best Jews we can be.

Perhaps more relatable to the Bnei Yisrael at that time, however, is a figure they can look to for similar inspiration. Chazal tell us that Aharon HaKohen was a lover and pursuer of peace, who loved people and brought them close to Torah and close to the Divine. 

 And it’s not a hard sell to make this argument. 

 There are two items in the vestments of the Kohanim in the Parsha which are referred to as Zikaron. They are the stones that sat atop the Kohen Gadol’s shoulders, as part of the Ephod, and the stones on the breastplate. Shemos Chapter 28, verse 12 and 29, respectively. Both of them are listed as a burden that Aharon has to carry, one on his shoulders, and one on his heart. Both sets of stones had the names of the tribes of Israel engraved or embossed in them in some form. So Aharon is carrying the nation of Israel on his shoulders and on his heart as the ultimate Zikaron. 

 Aharon, the man, not the general position of Kohen Gadol, is the one who is tasked with carrying this burden. Aharon, a lover and pursuer of peace between spouses, between neighbors, between former friends,(to be a little more specific than noted above) is the one tasked with carrying the Zikaron – these stones that have the names of Bnei Yisrael on them – on his shoulders and on his heart. He carries the memory of what it takes for them to be united. Even in the face of people who can’t seem to get along, his love for all rises above the Machlokes. 

Even without the textual “proof,” we can just as easily point to Aharon as the one man, who has the one heart, who has the capacity to love all of Am Yisrael. 

Who was with Miriam in her conversation and went unscathed? Aharon, indicating he was not guilty in that tale. 

Who may have been with Miriam when she watched baby Moshe? Chizkuni and Baal Haturim say that when the daughter of Pharaoh opened the basket והנה נער בוכה, that the נער, not the ילד, which is how the baby had been described, but a נער was crying. And that נער was Aharon, who also wanted to see what would happen with his baby brother. 

 Aharon is the carrier of memory. He is the ultimate uniter. 

 A message of Kabbalas HaTorah is that absent Avraham and Aharon, every one of us needs to carry a portion of what it means to be the Ish Echad that unites others or that can inspire unity. Each of us has to carry the burden on our shoulders and on our hearts of being the peacemaker. Each of us has to represent the most important memory. Each of us has to look to the model of these great men, and find a uniqueness in ourselves that makes us stand apart. Just as the Bnei Yisrael are united on the stones of the shoulder straps and on the stones of the Choshen, the bnei Yisrael – indeed Bnei Avraham – must have unity through our commitment to the Torah.

In this way, we can truly see ourselves as encamped at Sinai, united as one through seeing a promise to Avraham fulfilled, and a guardian of Jewish unity standing alongside his brother in conveying the Torah to all of us, while inspiring us to be better at looking out for one another.