A tribe over all sectors

Parsha and its fulfillment - Parashat Tetzaveh - Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald - 5769

In our Parsha the Torah commands that the Choshen, the Urim and the Thummim be made:

...וְלֹֽא־יִזַּ֣ח הַחֹ֔שֶׁן מֵעַ֖ל הָאֵפֽוֹד׃ וְנָשָׂ֣א אַ֠הֲרֹן אֶת־שְׁמ֨וֹת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל בְּחֹ֧שֶׁן הַמִּשְׁפָּ֛ט עַל־לִבּ֖וֹ בְּבֹא֣וֹ אֶל־הַקֹּ֑דֶשׁ לְזִכָּרֹ֥ן לִפְנֵֽי־ה' תָּמִֽיד׃ וְנָתַתָּ֞ אֶל־חֹ֣שֶׁן הַמִּשְׁפָּ֗ט אֶת־הָאוּרִים֙ וְאֶת־הַתֻּמִּ֔ים וְהָיוּ֙ עַל־לֵ֣ב אַהֲרֹ֔ן בְּבֹא֖וֹ לִפְנֵ֣י ה' וְנָשָׂ֣א אַ֠הֲרֹן אֶת־מִשְׁפַּ֨ט בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֧ל עַל־לִבּ֛וֹ לִפְנֵ֥י ה' תָּמִֽיד׃

"The breastpiece shall be held in place by a cord of blue from its rings to the rings of the ephod, so that the breastpiece rests on the decorated band and does not come loose from the ephod. Aaron shall carry the names of the sons of Israel on the breastpiece of decision over his heart, when he enters the sanctuary, for remembrance before Hashem at all times. Inside the breastpiece of decision you shall place the Urim and Thummim, so that they are over Aaron’s heart when he comes before Hashem. Thus, Aaron shall carry the instrument of decision for the Israelites over his heart before Hashem at all times. "... (Shmot 28: 28-30).

The breastplate was the main part of the priestly garments: "Just as the ark is the head of the holy vessels, the breastplate is the top of the holy garments and on it were the Urim and Thummim etc. (Zror Hamor Shmot 28:30) The Torah emphasizes three times that the breastplate should always be on the heart of the Cohen! And the breastplate must not become loose from the Efod (Rambam, Temple Vessels 9:10).

If we are meticulous in saying "the names of the children of Israel" should always be on the high priest's heart, and all of this why? "Before Hashem always, to pray for them and seeing the names of the children of Israel written in the chest, written on the tablets of his heart, will not let him forget them in his work and in his prayer, and this is called Choshen Mishpat, for he is carrying their sentence close to his heart. As well as carries and atones for their sins in his work ". (Zror Hamor Shmot 28:29).

שפט בני ישראל על לבו, so that he will pray on their behalf that they would emerge exonerated in any judicial confrontation. (Sforno on Shmot 28:30).

The high priest- Cohen Gadol, was not meant to serve only the priestly sector, his tribe, or the tribe of Levi. Also, not only the "religious" but all the tribes, all of them together and each tribe separately. Therefore, it is requested that the names of all the children of Israel should be before his eyes, and that they be engraved in stone on his heart, so that he should remember that they sent him and that he serves them, and only this way he can come to pray before Hashem.

The tribe of Levi as a whole is a multi-sectorial tribe. It is scattered among all the tribes: "…I will divide them in Jacob, scatter them in Israel". (Bereshit 49:7)

Each tribe was commanded to give them four cities in their territory. And they represent the Torah and its values everywhere, "They shall teach your laws to Jacob and your instructions to Israel". (Devarim 33:10), and he does not have properties or estates. (Rambam Shemittah and Yovel 13:10). (It is not for nothing that we chose to embroider the form of the breastplate and the Psukim from the Parasha that we mentioned above in the Parochet in our Yeshiva).

I was struck by an intelligent man: "When was the sectorality propaganda toward the religious Zionist public born? When the non-religious parties discovered the extent of the religious electorate and sought to "bite on it". On the other hand, when representatives of the religious public who wished to be elected to the Knesset and found no place for themselves in a religious Zionist party, found a way to enter the Knesset through a non-religious party, through which they would win mandates from the religious public.

Now, how can one cope with the understandable inclination of a religious Zionist public to support a party that represents the religious Zionist ideology in which they believe?! Here is where the genius copywriter comes in, suggesting and accusing of sectarianism! That the Zionist religious sector, Oy Vey!, takes care of itself at the expense of the whole! And who as the most non-sectoral sector in the country would want, G-d forbid, to be infected by the fact that it only cares for itself instead of worrying about the community?! (Similar to the propaganda of 'arrogance' and 'enclosure').

He continued: If you want to measure the success of the sectorial propaganda, you have to examine how many people in the religious Zionist community were convinced of its righteousness and began to believe that they are indeed "sectorial" and in order to cover up and "to atone" they vote for other parties that present themselves as public, rather than sectoral. (Yey! There is no party that is not sectoral to its ideology!) Parties that not only do not represent and express the Zionist religious worldview in their political and parliamentary conduct, sometimes they even do the opposite! And support laws that harm the Jewish Zionism of the state.

Religious Zionism is the tribe of Levi. It, too, does not seclude itself and segregates as a separate tribe, but is integrated into all parts of Israeli society, leading in its presence, beyond the population, wherever values ​​are required. In the Beit Midrash, in the settlements, in the periphery, in volunteering, in the IDF, and in the public sector. Is the sector that is being educated, that the breastplate that bears the names of all the children of Israel will be on its heart and will not budge from its position and not take it out of his mind. (Yoma 22b, & Sanhedrin 38a).