We continue to discuss how the Bet HaLevi says that Ahavat Yisrael is so important. He says, The success of the Jewish people is not dependent on any natural event. Rather, only through learning Torah, and connecting to God. And all of this is for naught without shalom. If you don’t have shalom , you can’t learn Torah and you can’t connect to God. Therefore, shalom is necessary for Jewish success. As the pasuk says, וַיְהִי בִישֻׁרוּן מֶלֶךְ בְּהִתְאַסֵּף רָאשֵׁי עָם יַחַד שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ When there is a king in Yeshurun ( which means the Jewish people will come together) when the leaders gather together and the tribes gather together as well.” We say this pasuk on Rosh Hashanah as one of the ten pesukim of the Malchuyot/God is King section of the Musaf Amida . When is God king?When we are together. The Rosh says that when the Jewish people are together with brotherhood and friendship, then Hashem is King on us. But when we argue it’s almost as if we are saying that God is not our King. God’s kingdom is decided by our unity. Without our unity, God cannot connect Himself to us. There is a beautiful Seforno that points out that this process, as in the pasuk above, starts at the top- if the leaders are united. He points out that when the Nesi’im donated to the Mishkan in the desert, besides the jewels that they gave, they also donated six wagons. Every two tribes partnered up to donate a wagon together. Why couldn’t they give twelve wagons? The Seforno explains that it was as a symbol of their brotherhood. In that way, the Shechina would come upon them, as the pasuk mentioned above says. They could have given twelve separate wagons, but they wanted to unite in their donations, and thus, be fit for the Shechina to come down. The Mishkan was there for the Shechina. So they wanted to show their unity in the donation. The same is true for the Mahasit Hashekel- everyone gave half shekel. This was not just symbolic. It meant that everybody was united and together. There’s nothing more beautiful than two people partnering up for a dedication, because that shows the brotherhood. Neither is out for his own honor, they just want to be together. Have a wonderful day.