Reply To: Short & Sweet

Vayeitzei: Out Of Many, One

The Medrash Rabbah tells us that Yaakov knew that the Jewish nation was going to be comprised of twelve Shevatim. He knew that Avraham and Yitzchak had not been chosen to raise those twelve Shevatim, and he hoped to be the one to do so.

When he lay down at Har HaMoriah, he placed twelve stones around his head. When he woke up and saw that the twelve stones had merged into one, he knew he had been chosen.

Asks R’ Betzalel Rudinsky, isn’t this symbolism backwards? Shouldn’t the obvious sign of having twelve Shevatim be one rock splitting into twelve?

Based on the Pirkei D’ Rebbi Eliezer, the answer becomes obvious. Raising twelve tribes is great, but that wasn’t Yaakov’s entire goal. Yaakov’s goal was to raise twelve Shevatim that would still consider themselves one people. Each Shevet would have its own characteristics, its unique strengths and weaknesses. But each would work for the good of the nation as a whole, not for their personal gain.

Yaakov was not looking to be split into twelve. He wanted to have twelve very different Shevatim, who would all come together to form Klal Yisroel.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום