בס”ד
By Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
The Man and Israel in the Wilderness
In this painting, we see the figures of Israel in the Wilderness surrounded by the miraculous Cloud. Within the encampment we also see drops which can allude to the Man described in this parsha and in parshat Behaalotcha as sustenance coming from Heaven looking like drops. The Torah describes this Man as being an individual portion for each Jew. Interestingly, this matter may be explained by what we have remarked in the past how the letter yod can describe a Jew known also in Yiddish as “yid” and the letter yod is also Kabbalistically linked to the concept of the drop, also considered a source of life. We also remarked in the past that the signature of two yods is known to signify the Name of God, and thus the central two yods is clearly a reference to God’s Presence among the encampment of Israel, a matter mentioned in many Torah sources. It seems that the conjunction of these two yods with the drops here, after the connection we just made between these concepts seems to allude to the idea that the supernal sustenance that came with the Man came, not only through God’s Presence among Israel, which is self-obvious, but also through the unity of Israel, indicative by the two yods, i.e two “yidin” – Jews, for this unity and peace invites the Holy Presence to rest, and also provide sustenance. This is an important message to remember even when we are not in the same miraculous atmosphere that Israel were when leaving Egypt. Even today, when Jews are united and in peace then the Holy Presence rests between them and brings sustenance and prosperity.
In the painting we see that the Israelites resemble flames as the verse says “the candle of Hashem is the soul of man,” while the drops representing the Divine sustenance carry a water theme. Kabbalistically water is associated with kindness and the masculine, while fire with judgment and the feminine. Indeed, we can correlate this with Shir Hashirim which describes, according to our Sages, the Divine with the masculine while Israel are likened to the feminine. Also we see that the Wilderness takes on hues of various colors, similar to the various hues of the Israelites, a matter which suggests Israel’s influence on the spiritual status of the Wilderness.
All these ideas come together in Hebron which stands for hibur- unity. Unifying the yods together as a place of the Holy Presence, and a place of unity of Israel through our common roots, the threshold where all prayers rise and souls rise to Gan Eden, bridging the Divine and Israel together.