This week’s Parshah contains an abundance of major events that occurred while the Jews were traveling in the desert; the laws of the Pesach Sheini [alternate Paschal Sacrifice], as well as the story of Miriam’s slander about Moshe both play prominent roles in this Torah portion. Interestingly, one of the less well known details of this week’s Parshah is the description of how the Jews traveled based on the movements of the Clouds of Glory, which can be found in Chapter 9, Verses 15-23.
Rokeach elaborates on those Verses, and offers that, as the Torah describes [see Parshat Nasso], the Jews traveled in 4 camps, and each camp had its own flag. Fascinatingly, he writes that each flag had 3 letters corresponding to the names of the patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov; the result was 4 flags X 3 letters=12 total letters. However, when taking the sum total of the letters of the Patriarchs' names, one notices that the total number of letters that their names contain is 13, not 12! Which letter was missing?
Rokeach explains, that the letter that was not represented on the Jews’ flags was the letter “He’i”, which was an addition to Avraham’s name [see Parshat Lech Lecha]; that letter was represented by the one cloud that directly guided the Jews’ travels–as that cloud was shaped in the letter “He’i”, for that was the letter that G-d used to create the world!
The last point of the Rokeach [that the world was created based on the letter “He’i”] can be found in the Talmud, Tractate Menachot 29B, where the Talmud states:
“And for what reason was this world created specifically with the letter heh? It is because the letter heh, which is open on its bottom, has a similar appearance to a portico, which is open on one side. And it alludes to this world, where anyone who wishes to leave may leave, i.e., every person has the ability to choose to do evil. And what is the reason that the left leg of the letter heh is suspended, i.e., is not joined to the roof of the letter? It is because if one repents, he is brought back in through the opening at the top.”
Hence, the Talmud clarifies that this world was created in a fashion representative of the shape of the letter “He’i”---for although one can slip and sin, G-d leaves a path forward to repent.
The question that becomes apparent is, what does the message of the world being created via the letter “He’i” have to do with the Jews traveling in the desert? Why was the cloud designated as the one to be followed designed to allude to the lesson of always-available repentance?
It would seem, that the answer to this query lies in the words of the Rokeach immediately after his comments we quoted above. Rokeach proceeds to reference a debate as to how many clouds the Jews merited in the desert; one primary opinion quoted by Rokeach is that there were 13 [see there for a scriptural basis for this number]. These 13 were correlative of the twelve tribes of the Jewish nation–however, similar to the issue quoted above vis-a-vis the letters of the Patriarchs names, this results in one extra cloud! What was the purpose of that seemingly redundant veil?
Rokeach offers, that Jewish Law required that one who spoke slander of a fellow Jew and became ill with Tzara’at [a Spiritually-based skin disease] was ostracized outside the Jewish encampment until G-d deemed the sinner’s repentance sufficient, at which point a purification process was performed to allow the former slanderer back into mainstream society. As part of the rectification of the sinner, he\she was required to dwell completely alone, totally isolated from the rest of the nation. This last cloud, the apparently extraneous thirteenth, was designated for this group of people, who could not dwell with the rest of their tribe, and needed to repent in total seclusion. Hence, it is abundantly clear why this last cloud was shaped in the letter “He’i”--for it was telling those sentenced to seclusion for their slandering to remember that repentance is always available and attainable–for that is the reason why the world was created with the letter “He’i” initially!
May this message resonate with all, and may we once again merit to have the Clouds of Glory shelter and lead us into the Final Redemption.
Dedicated in memory of Refael Ben Tirtza, HY”D.
Have a Great Shabbas.