by Rabbi Avi Billet
Chapter 7 contains the offerings and gifts of the Nesiim, which are presented as being mostly the same as one another, both in words and even in their cantillation. Why all the repetition? Why not just say ONCE what each Nasi brought as a korban, and then say “Each Nasi brought this same offering”?
Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch explained that when the Torah describes each Korban, introducing it with the word קרבנו, the Torah is telling us that each one brought HIS OWN Korban, irrespective of knowledge of what each Nasi brought before him. After the fact, as it turned out, each set or group of offerings was the same.
Think, for example, how many people give donations in multiples of 18. There isn’t a “requirement” to do so, yet many people will end up giving the same donation because of an association to the word חי (“life”) which has a numerical value of 18.
Sometimes people think alike, even if they don’t consult with one another. And so, Rav Shternbuch explains, each Nasi happened to think alike. But they weren’t copying one another. In listing each set of korbanos, the Torah might have presented a different result from each Nasi had they actually been different. The fact is that each one came to his contribution on his own, without consulting others. That they turned out the same is coincidental.
So what was the thought process? Here are some possibilities.
The Midrash equates the Par ben Bakar to Avraham, who served ben Bakar to the 3 angels. The ram to Yitzchak, who was replaced with a ram at the top of Mt Moriah, and the lamb to Yaakov, who became wealthy with lambs.
Baal Haturim notes that פר איל כבש. בגימטריא אברהם יצחק ויעקב. Those three animal offerings – by name – have a combined numerical equivalent to the names of the 3 patriarchs.
The S’ir Izim – could be an atonement for the sale of Yosef (a goat was slaughtered for his coat to be dipped in its blood), or it could also be a reference to Yaakov who brought S’ir izim to his mother to feed his father.
The Midrash explains that the two oxen (בקר שנים) Peace offerings, the Korban Shlamim, parallel Moshe and Aharon, who were Shleimim (humans who achieved perfection in their greatness). As for the five rams, five Atudim, and the five Kvasim (sheep), the numbers five represent the Five Books of the Torah, the Five Dibros on Luchos I, and the Five Dibros on Luchos II. Daat Zekenim suggests the two Bakar parallels the two tablets.
Looking at these Midrashim, it is easy to say all this is conjecture and rather silly. Meaning, how do they know what the Nesiim were thinking?
In either case, it doesn’t matter. If we accept the premise that the reason for all the repetition of the sacrificial offerings is because each offering was not exactly the same – each offering was brought with different intentions, different thought processes, different kavanos, different people in mind, and different figurings behind the numbers – then we can understand why each set of korbanos had to be mentioned separately.
And the truth is we know this. We note this every day in our davening, and we know this because of how we go about our davening.
Every day in our davening we reference the God of Avraham, God of Yitzchak, God of Yaakov - ברוך אתה ה' א-לקינו וא-לקי אבותינו א-לקי אברהם א-לקי יצחק וא-לקי יעקב. Why don’t we say “The God of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov” א-לקי אברהם יצחק ויעקב? The answer is that each one had his own special relationship with God. This is why we note the separation – even though it’s all the same God. There are different ways of getting close to Him.
And as far as how we go about our davening, we all do it differently as well. Some:
• understand very well what we’re saying.
• pay a special attention to the words we say.
• don’t understand Hebrew very well.
• can read Hebrew, and put devotion into what we’re saying, even as the words don’t mean much (unless we utilize a translation).
• don’t read Hebrew at all, and make our way through the translation.
• don’t have any conversations with others during davening.
• have light conversation for a purpose, and sometimes we forget
• talk a lot during davening.
• might come to shul to talk!
But anyone who comes to shul and makes one’s way through the siddur seems to have a similar davening experience as others. Same words. Same word meanings.
But as we might all know very well, we all have VERY different experiences.
We could say to God, “Please accept our prayers.” But perhaps it would be more meaningful if we said to God, “Accept so-and-so’s prayer.” Because we all know that the experience of two people – even in the exact same circumstance – is never exactly the same. If we are part of a collective, and we are(!), then praying for someone else, even just that the person’s prayer is accepted by God, would make the entire collective experience be one of rooting for one another, which would make our own prayers ever so much more powerful.
Ninja Warrior is a competition for which people train their strength and agility, to get through some kind of obstacle course that tests areas of human physical achievement. Each person competes against everyone else, while also competing against a clock. What’s unique is that since usually the competitors cheer on the others (though sometimes there’s a race between two people), since everyone does the obstacle course alone, they all know how hard it is. If you slip, you fall into a pool of water and you’re out.
Those who get through the SAME CHALLENGES, each approach it with their own strategy. Some focus on their upper body strength, some their speed, the lighter ones use their weight to their advantage.
It’s all the same. But it’s definitely not all the same.
And that, I think, is the beauty of our Jewish experiences. We learn the same Torah. We sit in the same Shul. We read the same siddur. We might hear the same sermon on Shabbos! Yet everyone takes away something else, something which speaks to their own life experience and their own heart.
This is the blessing of being a collective, made up of very different people.
And that was the experience of the Nesiim and what they modeled for us then and what we continue to live now. They didn’t plan to do everything the same. It just turned out looking the same. But each, after being interviewed regarding what he brought and why he brought it, would have a very different explanation for how he got to where he got, and what he had hoped to achieve.
This is one of the great strengths of the Jewish people. May we be blessed to admire the different approaches that others have to getting closer to God. May we be blessed to be respectful of others approaches, and tolerant of others approaches, and celebrate the unity we have in our shared respect for one another, even as we go about doing the things we do, as well as fine-tuning our respective relationships with the Almighty, each in our own way.
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