[Avodah] Uniqueness

[Yitzchok Levine]

IMO there is a tendency today within certain 
Orthodox circles to foster conformity on 
people.  There is pressure to dress a certain 
way, to think a certain way, etc.  This leads to 
a "suppression" of individuality.  Yet people are 
not the same. Indeed, to me one of the great 
accomplishments of the Alter of Slabodka is that 
he developed his students into gedolim while at 
the same time preserving their individuality. Reb 
Yaakov Kamenetsky was not like Reb Aaron Kotler, 
who was not like Rav Ruderman, who was not like 
Rav Yaakov Lessin, who was not like Rav Yaakov 
Yechiel Weinberg,  etc. The Alter definitely did 
not use a "cookie cutter" approach to Chinuch.

I think that RSRH's commentary on Bamidbar 1

2 Take the total count of the entire community of 
the Children of Israel, according to their 
families, according to their fathers’ house,
counting the names, all males, according to their heads.

speaks to this point. He wrote

The conception of the nation as the “House of Israel” and of all its
members as the “Children of Israel” ensures that the concept of the
Jewish nation does not become a mere abstract idea without real union
and does not exist merely as a fiction, as an imaginary union of elite
representatives. The Jewish nation is always conceived of in the actual
unified entirety of its members. They are united by a common inner
element, and each one of them is an actual and integral part of this
unity.

Our forefather Yisrael was one man; but even when his descendants
had grown to six hundred thousand men, they all were still members
of “one house,” sons of “one man,” bearing in their hearts and souls
the impress of the same stamp, bearing through the ages their heritage
of one mission and one destiny.

But amidst this fundamental unity and under its influence, a diversity
of qualities unique to tribes and families is preserved and nurtured.
In this way, the goal — which we have already pointed to several times
in Bereshis (17:6, 35:11-12, 49:25) — will be attained: The one mission
shared by all will be accomplished by every individual — despite his
uniqueness; it will be accomplished by a diversity of special qualities
and character traits, a diversity of professions and positions in life. And
this accomplishment will be a model for the entire human race.

Each tribe in its specialty and each family with its special qualities
are to work at the common task of the House of Israel; they are to give
shape to this task, educate their children to it, and pass it on to the
next generation. 
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