Rabbi's Corner

"You guys don't have enough talent to win on talent alone!"  These were the words of Coach Herb Brooks who had been hired to train the 1980 U.S. Men's Olympic Hockey Team.  Although the members of the team were college hockey all-stars, their team sportsmanship was nothing short of horrendous resulting in an equally horrendous performance on the ice.  After one particular exhibition game, Coach Brooks noticed the players were fighting with each other thus becoming distracted from their intended goal (no pun intended), that of winning the gold medal.  He became enraged, called them back out on the ice, and made them perform an intense drill over and over again.  He admonished them: "Each of you is wearing a jersey with your name on the back representing yourselves.  That name signifies the skills each of you possesses as well as the determination each of you has to carry out those skills.  However, the name on the front of the jersey is far more important.  That name is the name of the team all of you play for.  That name represents the skill sets of all of you combined.  When you place the name on the front of the jersey before the name on the back of the jersey, then the name on the back of the jersey will truly shine."  So what happened after Coach Brooks' admonishment?  Team USA went on to defeat the Soviet Union national hockey team, a team that had one the gold medal in six of the seven previous Olympic Games.  And, of course, the rest, as they say, is history.

In this week's parashah, Parashat BeMidbar, we find the following: "And the B'nei Yisrael encamped - each man by his camp and each man by his flag - by their legions...And Hashem spoke with Moshe and with Aharon saying; 'Each man by his flag with signs according to the house of their fathers shall the B'nei Yisrael encamp - distant and surrounding the Tent of Meeting shall they encamp...." (BeMidbar 1:52 & 2:1-2)  Why the flags?  The flags were assigned to each tribe according to their purpose and mission.  Each flag clarified what each tribe stood for and enabled each tribe to achieve its potential.  Did the flags cause any tribe to feel superior to any other tribe?  No. Why?  Because the central focus was on the Mishkan (the Wilderness Tabernacle) that was placed in the center of the camp with all the tribes surrounding it on all sides, both when the B'nei Yisrael were stationary and when they were traveling.  This central location of the Mishkan united the twelve tribes to complete their mission.

As members of the People Israel, each of us has our own purpose and mission to fulfill.  We remain stronger and more unified in completing our task as Jews when we remember to keep our identity as a single entity with a single mission "on the front of the jersey."  Am Yisrael Chai!