Parashat Bemidbar 5780

Twelve Tribes Meditation for Parashat Bemidbar
A D’var Torah for Parashat Bemidbar
By Rabbi Jill Hammer

Parashat Bemidbar describes how the twelve tribes encamp around the Tabernacle and the priests: three tribes on each side, with the Levites at the center. This sacred geometry is reminiscent of the months of the year and also of the four directions and seasons—twelve is three times four, a combination of two powerful numbers. One way to take in the Torah of Parashat Bemidbar is to explore the encampment of the twelve tribes through meditation.

Sefer Yetzirah, the Book of Creation, is a Jewish mystical work written between the 6th and 9th century CE. Sefer Yetzirah describes how God uses the Hebrew letters to create the world. Twelve of the letters are associated with twelve human faculties, and also with the twelve months. Later Jewish sources associate each month and faculty with a tribe as well. In one version of the correspondences, offered by translator Aryeh Kaplan, the association between tribes and faculties looks like this:

Yehudah/Nisan             Sihah/Speech

Yissakhar/Iyar                Hirhur/Thought

Zevulun/Sivan                Hilukh/Journey

 

Reuven/Tammuz           Re’iyah/Seeing

Shimon/Av                     Sh’miyah/Hearing

Gad/Elul                         Ma’aseh/Action

 

Ephraim/Tishrei            Tashmish/Intimacy

Menashe/Heshvan         Reihah/Smell

Benyamin/Kislev           Sheinah/Sleep

 

Dan/Tevet                       Rogez/Anger

Asher/Shevat                  Le’itah/Taste

Naftali/Adar                   S’hok/Laughter

These correspondences can sometimes be quite powerful. For Yehudah, think of how Yehudah speaks to Yosef to convince him to release Benjamin, and how we tell stories at the Passover seder in Nisan. For Reuven, think about how the word “sight” is part of Reuven’s name, and how Tammuz is the month of the summer solstice and the longest days. Or think about how laughter makes so much sense as the faculty associated with Adar. In a time when we largely don’t identify as members of these tribes, this system of correspondences can invite new curiosity about the nature of the twelve tribes.

This practice, a version of which is offered in my new book on Sefer Yetzirah, Return to the Place: The Magic, Meditation, and Mystery of Sefer Yetzirah, offers gratitude for the twelve faculties mentioned in Sefer Yetzirah, and associates them with the twelve tribes. If any of these faculties are absent or impaired for you or others in your group, you can skip them, or, you can choose to contemplate any ways in which those faculties have mattered to you. Or, you can substitute some senses that are not in this list– for example, touch instead of sight, or vibration instead of hearing.

Close your eyes and breathe out.
Visualize a sacred space.
There are twelve encampments around the space,
one for each of the twelve tribes.
Begin to travel around the sacred space,
and enter each of the encampments.

Go to the encampment of Yehudah.
Remember a moment
when the gift of speech has mattered to you.

Go to the encampment of Yissakhar.
Remember a moment
when the gift of thought has mattered to you.

Go to the encampment of Zevulun.
Remember a moment
when the gift of journey has mattered to you.

Go to the encampment of Reuven.
Remember a moment
when the gift of sight has mattered to you.

Go to the encampment of Shimon.
Remember a moment
when the gift of hearing has mattered to you.

Go to the encampment of Gad.
Remember a moment
when the gift of action has mattered to you.

Go to the encampment of Ephraim.
Remember a moment
when the gift of intimacy has mattered to you.

Go to the encampment of Menashe.
Remember a moment
when the gift of smell has mattered to you.

Go to the encampment of Benjamin.
Remember a moment
when the gift of sleep has mattered to you.

Go to the encampment of Dan.
Remember a moment
when the gift of anger has mattered to you.

Go to the encampment of Asher.
Remember a moment
when the gift of taste has mattered to you.

Go to the encampment of Naftali.
Remember a moment
when the gift of laughter has mattered to you.
Offer gratitude for all these moments.

Now, go to the sacred space in the middle.
Choose one faculty that you need or value in this moment.
Commit to use this gift in a special way today.

Breathe out and open your eyes.

If you do this exercise as a part of a community, invite people to share in pairs about what they experienced. Or, you can ask people (or yourself), with what tribe they most identify right now.

Shabbat shalom.
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Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD, is the Director of Spiritual Education at AJR. She is the author of several books, including The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Visions of Jewish Women’s Spiritual Leadership, Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women, and The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons—as well as the forthcoming Return to the Place: The Magic, Meditation, and Mystery of Sefer Yetzirah.