A Meaningful Repetitiveness (Numbers Ch.7)

One of the greatest puzzles that readers of the Bible struggle with is why there are certain (very important) realms of Biblical Law that are only hinted to in the written text and expounded on at great length in the oral tradition.  While on the other hand, there are very lengthy passages in the written text that do not seem to teach us very much. The gifts of the Heads of the Tribes to the Dedication of the Altar (Num. Ch. 7) is one such lengthy passage in the written text where the Torah repeats the same information twelve times over with no clear justification.
Each head of a tribe brings the exact same offering as the one before: 1)one silver bowl, 2)one silver basin, 3)one gold ladle 4)one young bull, one ram, one sheep 5) a he goat 6)two cattle 7)five rams five he goats and five sheep. If we compare the basic nature of the offerings, the first three are inanimate in nature while the last four are all animals. There is a contrast here between the inanimate and animate worlds.

The whole function of the altar and the Tabernacle is for bringing up offerings to G-d.  What are we doing when we are bringing an offering? We are raising up the life force, and consciousness of the animal from a mere beast of the field to its spiritual source in the supernal worlds. Jewish Mysticism explains that our main task in this world is to elevate sparks of holiness that are lying dormant and "awaken" their Divine consciousness.  When the animal (or plant) is consumed by us, or offered up on the Altar, if it is consumed with the right intentions, then its divine spark is awakened and gets raised up to its source, which triggers a reaction from above that provides us with the life energy we need.

With a live offering this becomes much more revealed and especially so in the Tabernacle. With every offering, a fire would descend from heaven to consume its earthly matter. "A fire went forth from before Hashem and consumed upon the Altar the burnt offering..."(Lev. 9:24). With inanimate objects this was not the case. An inanimate object that has no life force cannot be transformed in the same revealed way as an animal offering.

The first three gifts of the Heads of the Tribes were inanimate representing the relationship of the world to G-d prior to the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai and the building of the Tabernacle. Until that point in time, the world was not a fitting vessel for the open transformation and elevation of the mundane up to the holy. While the animal sacrifices represent the increasing revelations and transformations that began to occur once the Children of Israel received the Torah and began their mission of actively refining the world and bringing down light into the earthly reality. This important message about the purpose of the Creation and the role we play in it justifies the repetition of these same sacrifices twelve times.

Based on the Talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe