A Thought on Parshas Bamidbar

"...degel machaneh..." "...each camp with its flag..." (2:3) The counting, placing and "flagging" of the Benei Yisroel features prominently in our parsha. Beyond the function of some form of census keeping, what was the meaning behind this methodical, and picturesque, structuring of our camp into four groups, as we traveled through the wilderness and as we camped in formation, with flags? ibn Shu'aib offers a midrashic perspective. These three steps - the accounting, the formation and the flagging - were to demonstrate the great affection shown to us by HaShem. The camp below mirrors the heavenly camp above. HaShem's "chariot", which we glimpsed in the writings of ibn Shu'aib on Parshas Emor,has four facets, which we have identified as the imprints of our three Patriarchs and that of Dovid HaMelech. But those four facets also have four spiritual presences ("Archangels"), namely, the malach Michael and his "flag", Gavriel and his flag, Refael and his, and Uriel and his. We read in Shir HaShirim (2:4): Hevi'ani el bais ha'yayin v'diglo alay ahava - He brought me to the house of wine and His flag over me is love. The midrash explains: wine has the gematria of 70. The house of wine is Mt. Sinai, where HaShem led our nation to shelter us, with the giving of the Torah, from the seventy nations. He 'fed" us wine, which means that HaShem gave us our own nationhood status through our imbibing the words of Torah (see Shir HaShirimt 8:2, and 1:2). What is "the flag of love" which HaShem spread over us? This is how the firmaments, that which divides and blocks our perception of the Holy, were set aside so that we could see more clearly the worldly and cosmic manifestations of the Divine. This means that we could peer through the veils of human limitation and espy the "chambers of the Chariot."(see Shir HaShirim 1:4). The chambers of the Chariot are the four Archangels and their flags. We were given a glimpse of the higher world and its hidden elements, and at that moment, our people longed to have a part of it all. HaShem declared there and then that we could in fact have a replica of that higher realm, here on earth. This became the four faceted formation of our camp, with its four flags. This is alluded to in Tehillim (20:6) when Dovid HaMelech recalls our glorious songs of salvation in the desert which were followed by "u'v'Shem Elokeinu nidgol" - we raised our flag in HaShem's name, which means the assembly at Mt. Sinai where we were granted the heaven-like banners of the angels. There are only 4 places in TaNaCh where the word degel is used as a verb or adverb rather than as a noun. One is the above verse in Tehillim, two are in Shir HaShriim 6:4 and 10, and one is in Shir HaShirim 5:10. The one in Tehillim we have mentioned. The ones in Shir HaShirim, a'yuma k'nigdalos (twice) and "dagul m'revava" translate as "fearsome as flagged ones" and "flagged by multitudes." ibn Shu'aib relates the midrashic perspective that at the end of our exile, the nations of the world will cower in the presence of our nation, as we become, once again, flagged by Divinity as are the angels above who carry out His word. Good Shabbos and Chag Matan Torah Sameach. By the way, the day after Shavuos this year is, uh, Flag Day. D Fox