inspiration may fluctuate, 
but the time and order of our 
prayers do not. As a result, we 
can take comfort in our siddur 
the way we take comfort in a 
loyal companion who sticks 
with us when times are good 
and steadies us when times 
get bad. 
This sense of order helps 
guide us in all of our endeav-
ors. If we applied ourselves 
to our marriages or jobs or 
friendships only when we 
felt like it, we would surely 
struggle to maintain them at 
all. If we only give to charity 
when we feel flush, few people 
would give much of anything. 
Life can be very confusing, 
and we often feel besieged by 
conflicting choices and feel-
ings. So, it can be reassuring 
to follow the rules for proper 
behavior set out in the Torah. 
Such structured guidance for 
how to live and what to do can 
offer a sense of stability in a 
world of uncertainty. 
Reb Yerucham Levovitz, one 
of the great educators in the 
Mir Yeshiva, offers the follow-
ing analogy. When stringing a 
necklace of pearls, we typically 
tie a knot at the end to keep 
the pearls from slipping off. 
Reb Yerucham says the value 
of order is like that knot. The 
individual pearls represent the 
many values of Judaism — 
devotion to Hashem, prayer, 
kindness, charity, Shabbos, 
learning Torah, etc. What 
holds these values together 
is the knot at the end of the 
string of pearls — structure 
and order.
Most people crave structure 
in their lives. Because we like 
to know where we are going 
and what we are doing, we 
tend to find comfort in pat-
terns and routines. Physically, 
we function best when our 

days heed a certain order, such 
as when we go to sleep and 
wake up around the same time 
every day, and in the same 
bed.
Spiritually, too, we are nour-
ished by predictability. Because 
prayer and gratitude are baked 
into our daily routines — we 
know to say the Shema when 
we wake up and to bensch 
after meals — we are sure to 
make time for such things. 
Our sages note that one of 
the questions we are asked in 
heaven is kavata itim laTorah
— “Did you set aside time 
to learn Torah?” Notably, we 
are not asked whether we 
learned Torah but whether 
we set aside time for it. This is 
because the Torah prescribes 
set times for everything: when 
a person learns; when a person 
davens; when, how and how 
much a person gives charity. 
All of this goes to the heart of 
how important the concept of 
seder is to the philosophy of 
Judaism. To live as a Jew is to 
embed righteousness into the 
routines of ordinary life.
This helps us understand 
the importance of the encamp-
ments in the desert. Each 
tribe had its designated flag 
and location, its identity and 
sense of duty. In a period of 
great change and uncertainty 
for the Jewish people, as they 
wandered the desert and won-
dered which direction was for-
ward, this sense of order must 
have been a source of comfort, 
an existential balm of sorts. 
In these uncertain times, the 
structure and order outlined in 
the Torah is no less comforting 
today. 

Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein is the 

chief rabbi of South Africa and the 

founder of The Shabbat Project. This 

essay was written for the Shabbat 

Project in 2017.

JUNE 2 • 2022 | 41

For Team Israel
W

hen my wife, 
Susan, and 
I moved to 
Michigan 24 years ago, one 
of the first things we were 
prompted to do was to pick 
a college team that we could 
make our own. 
I had what I thought was 
a great idea: I would 
root for both U-M 
and MSU. Little did 
I know, it must have 
been written some-
where —perhaps in 
the charter from when 
the state of Michigan 
formally entered the 
Union on Jan. 26, 1837 
— that to root for 
both the Wolverines 
and the Spartans was 
tantamount to treason. 
After all, who would I root for 
when they played one another 
each season?
I actually didn’t realize the 
serious intensity of it all until 
Michigan and Michigan State 
competed for annual bragging 
rights and the Paul Bunyan 
trophy. During that week in 
our first fall, I saw more block 
M and block S flags flying 
around the region than I had 
ever seen to date. Even the 
local bakeries were selling 
both blue and green bagels to 
mark the occasion.
So, too, as we begin the 
Book of Numbers this week 
with Bamidbar, we are given 
a glimpse into the age-old 
power and import of getting 
behind team colors as a pro-
found expression of human 
identity. We read: 
“The Children of Israel shall 
encamp troop by troop, each 
person within their division, 
next to their flag and under 

the banner of their ancestral 
house (Numbers 1:52).”
With 12 tribes making 
their way through the desert, 
it must have been at least a 
little bit easier to keep every-
one together by having them 
march alongside their tribal 
flag. It also allowed them to 
simultaneously take 
pride in their extended 
familial connections 
within the larger 
Israelite community; 
each of the 12 tribal 
groups distinguished 
themselves with color-
ful, embroidered flags.
Marching each day 
and then camping each 
night around their 
respective flags allowed 
the people to feel con-
nected both individually to 
their families and collectively 
to the entire community. 
The people all stood proudly 
beside their tribal banners, 
feeling united in their com-
mon purpose and shared her-
itage while never losing track 
that as a larger human com-
munity, each person was on 
the same squad: Team Israel.
The time has come for 
our modern human com-
munity to take a page out of 
the playbook of our desert 
ancestors. We must find a 
pathway for everyone’s voic-
es and opinions to coexist 
together in a way that makes 
room for everyone. Only then 
will we see the day when we 
can proudly proclaim in one 
voice: “Go blue … Go green!” 
and mean it. 

Rabbi Joseph H. Krakoff is the 

chief executive officer of the Jewish 

Hospice and Chaplaincy Network.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi Joseph 
Krakoff

Parshat 

Bamidbar: 

Numbers

1:1-4:20; 

Hosea 2:1-22.

