Balancing Competing Values After detailing the census of the Jewish people in the desert, the fourth book of the Torah, the book of Numbers, describes how the Jewish people traveled and camped in the desert. The tabernacle and the Levites were in the center of the camp surrounded by four camps each consisting of three tribes. The Torah describes the makeup of each of the four camps, describing the tribe that was the leader of each camp and the other two tribes that were members of each camp. Reading all this detail leaves the reader puzzled. The Torah’s messages, stories and teachings are eternal; why do we need to know precisely how the tribes organized in the desert? What relevance does this have to our lives today? Each of us have multiple aspirations and goals in our lives. We want to succeed in multiple realms simultaneously; we work to advance our career, our relationships, our health and fitness and our values. It often seems that we struggle to keep a healthy balance between all of our, sometimes, conflicting aspirations. The story of the tribes organizing and traveling in the desert, is the story of our life. We too should organize and prioritize our values in our figurative journey through the often complicated dessert en route to the promised land. The four camps of tribes symbolize the four general pursuits which we value: (1) wisdom (2) character (3) physical strength and health (4) wealth. The order in which the Torah places the four camps tells us that they are all critical, yet we must remember the hierarchy of their importance. The first camp, east of the temple, led by the tribe of Judah embodied wisdom. The second camp, south of the temple, led by Reuben, embodied humility and good character. The third camp, north of the temple, led by the tribe of Ephraim, embodied physical strength. The fourth camp, west of the temple, embodied wealth. (see the Kli Yakar for a detailed analysis of how each tribe embodied its own particular quality). Naturally these values will conflict and undermine each other. Too much of one will take away from the focus on the other. Some of these values are more spiritual and abstract and other are more physical and concrete, thus, appreciating the value of one may lead to under emphasizing the other. The lesson is that in order for these values to create a wholesome life they must be organized around the temple, the house of the Torah. Our core, the center of our own personal figurative camp, is the Torah. Wisdom, good character, health and wealth, are all valuable and must be pursued because they are means by which we express the Torah and its teachings. Once these values are not an end purpose unto themselves but rather a means to express a deeper unified value (the Torah), they can coexist peacefully, each enhancing the other, creating harmony and serenity in our life.
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