The Secret Recipe For Unity

Bnei Yisrael camp twice in a single pasuk before Har Sinai, once in the plural and once in the singular, and Rashi says the singular means "as one person with one heart". Why the repetition, and why does Yisrael only appear the second time? The Kli Yakar finds a change that happened between the desert and the mountain, hidden even in the name Refidim. It takes a look at the smallest mountain, and what a person must give up before real harmony is possible. A story of two boys booked for the same bar mitzvah leyning brings it into a very ordinary setting.