14 Jun Bamidbar-Nasso ; Breaking of the Vessels

Something very interesting happens in parshas Bamidbar  as the assembly (and travelling order) of tribes one would expect to be in some kind of logical order such as birth order, yet it does not.  Rather, the travelling order of the tribes seems to be random. In parshas Nasso we begin to see tribal assignments of work. Following is a brief explanation of why the formation of the Nation of Israel begins with such seemingly randomness.

Regarding Creation; first there was the World of Tohu (Chaos) that gave birth to this world, the World of Tikun (Recitifcation). This is called The Breaking of the Vessels and is often referred to as the Big Bang. From this occurrence sparks (shards) of holiness were spread out throughout creation. (Fyi, there is also a  ‘second breaking of the vessels that occurred when Adam and Chava were expelled from Gan Eden)

Since Adam and Eve had fallen from the Garden of Eden, the effects of entropy; the breaking down of matter to has been a challenge of this world. It is our mission to reveal the concealed and elevate the fallen sparks of holiness to return this word to a state even beyond the original Gan Eden.

There is a very interesting Mishna that teaches that where there is a clay vessel that once rendered impure (not kosher) cannot be made pure (kosher). However it does then in fact give a remedy that one can break/shatter the impure vessel it into pieces, and in a most ‘careful’ process of reassembling the shards, the vessel could be deemed pure and need not even be required to be immersed in a mikvah to be kosher.

Why is this so interesting? Because a clay vessel is simply dirt, and one could much more easily fashion a new vessel so this process was never actually done. The mishna would seemingly lack purpose… but that it is teaching us that when something is broken or shattered physically, spiritually or emotionally, one who is mindful and meticulous can repair things better, more pure, than it was before. Such a vessel would not require toiveling (immersion in a mikvah). It would be considered kosher for use. This is metaphor for a Tikun-rectification.  

The assembly of the tribes in Bamidbar  are seemingly random and likened to the Breaking of the Vessel, the spark or shard of creation on the journey through the wilderness become elevated,  and those seemingly random sparks as tribes will create a strong and unified Nation as  Klol Yisroel.  This unification begins with action to transform the apparant ‘chaos order’ of tribe to a tikun- rectified order of tribes.

This occurance  of the ‘Breaking of the Vessels’  of entropy to rectification constantly flows throughout the Torah and our daily lives giving us the opporunity through our efforts that when things break, we can rectify and elevate them to a state that is better than before. As it was with the order of the tribes, we see once again an example of the transformation of broken vessels… chaos to order.

Leib Getzel (Lawrence) Lax
Addictions and Counseling
lawrencelax.com 
lawrenceJlax@gmail.com