Introduction: The Palanquin, the Temple, and the Soul
In this lesson, we continue exploring the Malbim's commentary on the end of chapter 3 regarding the palanquin that King Solomon made for himself, and from there we will proceed to the beginning of chapter 4. The Malbim reveals a profound principle here: the Beis HaMikdash is not merely a physical structure, but a garment for the collective soul of the Jewish people, and all of its components correspond precisely to the parts of the human body and soul. To understand this, let us begin with an introduction to the levels of the soul and their correspondence to the realms of creation.
The Three Realms of the Microcosm versus the Macrocosm
The Malbim explains: There is a direct correspondence between the three parts of the microcosm (man) and the three realms of the macrocosm (the universe). There is the terrestrial world, which is this physical world; there is the celestial sphere of the heavenly bodies, which we perceive in the astronomical realm and the stars; and there is the angelic realm, referred to by the early sages as the "world of separate intellects" (sechalim nivdalim). When the Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim and other early authorities use the term "separate intellects," they refer to the angels. A "separate intellect" denotes a mind without a physical vessel: a human being possesses both a body and an intellect, whereas an angel is pure intellect without a body.
Chayah and Yechidah
The Malbim adds that beyond Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshamah, there are two additional spiritual levels, which the kabbalists rarely discuss because they are exceptionally exalted realms attained by only a select few: Chayah and Yechidah. The Chayah is a divine soul emanating from the very essence of His glory in the World of the Throne, which is the World of Beriah - a profoundly lofty realm just below the World of Atzilus. This is the supreme spiritual soul, "living forever bound up in the bundle of life with Hashem its God."
Yet it does not end there. There is still a "soul of the soul," an even higher level, which is the Yechidah: a precious soul emanated upon the prophets from the World of Atzilus. Regarding this, King David said, "Rescue my soul from the sword, my solitary one (yechidasi) from the paw of the dog." Very few individuals throughout history attained the Yechidah: it is written that Adam HaRishon attained Yechidah, King David attained Yechidah, and very few others reached this supreme level.
A question was once posed to Rabbi Nissim Peretz zt"l: We find in sacred literature mentions of several figures who possessed a share of Yechidah, so how can it be said that only a rare few achieved it? He explained that this is not the literal meaning. Everything in Kabbalah subdivides into further fractal details: when speaking of the ten sefiros, even within Keser itself there are ten internal sefiros - Keser, Chochmah, Binah, Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferes, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchus - within Keser itself. Likewise, we see during Sefiras HaOmer the concept of Malchus sheb'Malchus, meaning that the sefirah of Malchus itself contains ten internal sefiros, and Malchus sheb'Malchus is its lowest dimension.
The same applies to the five levels of the soul: within Nefesh itself there are five sub-levels - Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah, and Yechidah; and similarly within Ruach, within Neshamah, within Chayah, and within Yechidah. Therefore, a person might attain the Yechidah of the level of Nefesh - which is the highest aspect of Nefesh, yet still fundamentally part of Nefesh, and thus a lower realm. Or one might reach the Yechidah of Ruach, which is higher, or of Neshamah, or of Chayah. However, to attain Yechidah in its true essence - that is the ultimate level, which remains beyond ordinary discourse. When texts state that certain tzaddikim attained Chayah or Yechidah, it refers to these internal, lower permutations; whereas Yechidah in its pure essence was attained only by Adam HaRishon, King David, and a rare few like them.
And why is it called Yechidah (the singular one)? The Malbim explains: because its root lies in absolute Oneness, from the singular and unique God. For the World of Atzilus is a realm where "evil cannot abide with You" - there is no room there for mixture, no room for dross, and no grasp for the Sitra Achra (the Other Side). It is an emanated, transcendent realm, the dwelling place of the Holy One, blessed be He, in His essence alone. Therefore it is called Yechidah, for there Hashem is, as it were, singular in His world.
The Temple as a Chariot for the Collective Soul
The Malbim explains: Through the Beis HaMikdash, the totality of the souls of Israel becomes a chariot for the Shechinah, a place where the Divine Presence rests among us. There, all the components of the souls of Israel are gathered together, until as a collective we become one great unified soul. As explained previously regarding Adam HaRishon, he embodied the inclusion of all souls, the collective soul of Israel. Thus, when we speak of the resting of the Shechinah in the Beis HaMikdash, upon what does it rest? Upon the collective soul of all the souls of Israel.
From here, the Malbim deduces that everything present in the individual human body must also exist within the exalted spiritual body, which is the site of the Beit HaMikdash. Just as Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah, and Yechidah dwell within the body, so too these levels dwell within the Beit HaMikdash, corresponding to the spirit of the Jewish people. Now let us examine the parallels.
In man, the body is a physical entity that serves as a garment for the spiritual: it contains limbs and organs through which the soul's faculties carry out their functions through physical action. The same is true of the palanquin - the Beit HaMikdash - which is in the nature of a garment for the collective soul of the Jewish people. The Rambam also writes that the components in the Kodesh and the Kodesh HaKodashim were elevated higher, while those situated outside them were on a lower level.
אַפִּרְיוֹן עָשָׂה לוֹ הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה מֵעֲצֵי הַלְּבָנוֹן. (ג, ט) - "King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon." (3:9)
עַמּוּדָיו עָשָׂה כֶסֶף רְפִידָתוֹ זָהָב מֶרְכָּבוֹ אַרְגָּמָן תּוֹכוֹ רָצוּף אַהֲבָה מִבְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם. (ג, י) - "He made its pillars of silver, its base of gold, its seat of purple, its interior inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem." (3:10)
"He Made Its Pillars of Silver" - The Courtyard Corresponds to the Nefesh
The Malbim begins from the outside and proceeds inward. "He made its pillars of silver" - these are the pillars; "its base of gold" - these are the planks; "its seat of purple" - this is the parochet (curtain). The courtyard of the Tent of Meeting in the Mishkan, and parallel to it the Ulam (vestibule) in the Beit HaMikdash, represent the external part, and they correspond to the vessels of the natural nefesh - the lower soul from the diaphragm downward, connected to the stomach and the organs that digest food.
And how so? For in the courtyard stood the altar, and the altar consumes the sacrifices, just like the lower soul whose place is in the digestive system. There is the "bread of God," there the meat is consumed upon the altar, and there are its ash-removal pans, its shovels, and its basins. The Malbim explains that it resembles the stomach in every respect: an animal is brought and placed upon the altar, and the fire burns and digests it - just as in the stomach there is a kind of burning and digestion of what a person eats. And after the parts are offered and consumed, the remnants must be cleared away, which corresponds to excretion in the human body; and on the altar there were shovels used to clear and remove the ashes that remained.
Notice the precision: in the courtyard there were pillars, not planks. The Mishkan itself, the inner sanctum, was built of planks forming a rigid structure - plank joined to plank, with the middle bar running through them and binding everything into a single unit. But the courtyard was constructed of pillars and fabric: a pillar and a curtain stretched between them, which were the hangings of the courtyard. This is "He made its pillars of silver." The same is true in the body: in the lower section, from the chest down, there are no ribs or planks enclosing the organs; rather, there is a kind of pillar - the spinal column. "He made its pillars of silver," without planks, just like the courtyard.
"Its Base of Gold" - The Heichal Corresponds to the Ruach
The Heichal is the inner section, corresponding to the chest and upward, where the heart and lungs reside - the more vital organs. Therefore, the inner chamber housed more elevated things. What was in the Heichal? The incense altar. Notice the difference: outside, we spoke of sacrifices where meat was consumed by fire on the altar, whereas on the inner altar there was no meat at all, only incense - which is something far more spiritual, as incense pertains to fragrance. Furthermore, ketoret (incense) shares a root with kesher (connection, binding): just as the ruach connects the nefesh to the neshamah, so too this middle section features the ketoret, acting as a link between the lower realm and the upper realm.
In the Heichal also stood the Menorah with its seven lamps, which corresponds to the seven lobes of the lungs that fan over the heart and kindle the breath of life. One might wonder why he speaks of "seven," when modern anatomy divides the lungs into five lobes - three on the right and two on the left. A lobe is a section without which life can still continue; this is why we speak of chambers in the heart rather than lobes, for if the heart lacks even one chamber a person dies instantly, whereas with the lungs, one can survive even if several lobes are removed. The Malbim apparently also counted the two main bronchi, the two branches that spread into the lungs and draw the air inside, bringing the total to seven.
These internal organs are critical to human survival, which is why they require extra protection - namely, the ribs. If someone receives a blow to the abdomen, it is extremely painful, but at most it results in internal bruising; but a blow to the heart or lungs, Heaven forbid, can prove fatal - and that is even with their protection. Had there been direct access to the heart, a person could die in an instant from a single blow. Therefore, here we already have overlapping planks, just as in the interior of the Mishkan, where the Heichal and the Kodesh HaKodashim were built like a solid room, plank alongside plank - exactly as the heart and lungs sit behind the "planks" of the human body.
And this is "its base of gold": the ribs are like gold in their stature, a cushion far more precious than the pillars. In the allegory: there, the nefesh becomes a cushion and a resting place for the neshamah. For the neshamah cannot unite with the nefesh as it is - the neshamah is exalted while the nefesh is lowly - and therefore "its base of gold" is needed, the cushion in the middle section from the chest upward, through which the neshamah can come to rest.
"Its seat of purple" - The Holy of Holies Corresponding to the Neshamah
Further inward lies the Holy of Holies. Both the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies were contained within a single building, separated in the middle by the Parochet, and from there inward was the Holy of Holies. This corresponds to the neshamah, the intellective soul. What was inside the Holy of Holies? The Ark, containing the two stone tablets, "for there the portion of the lawgiver is hidden," and it serves as the chariot for the Shechinah. The purple partition that divided the chamber was the Parochet, regarding which it is said, "its seat of purple."
Upon the Ark were the two Cherubim, which allude to the higher soul levels: chayah and yechidah. Thus we find: the lower part corresponds to nefesh, from the chest upward corresponds to ruach, the Holy of Holies itself corresponds to neshamah, and atop the Ark are chayah and yechidah. In the words of the Malbim: "Where between their breasts the Supernal Beloved dwells and abides with His bride, the consummate maiden, of whom glorious things are spoken in this sacred song."
Between the Two Cherubim
When we stand in prayer, we direct our thoughts toward the holy city of Jerusalem, the Beit HaMikdash, and the Holy of Holies, for there is the gate of heaven and there rests the Shechinah. Yet the Kabbalists explain that one should direct his intention even further, precisely toward the space between the two Cherubim, as that was the exact place where the Shechinah rested, and where the Holy One, blessed be He, so to speak, causes His presence to dwell. Rav Nissim Peretz cited in the name of the Ramchal that when the Kabbalists speak of a thin ray of light emanated by the Holy One, blessed be He, upon which He enclothed all the Sefirot - as explained regarding the secret of the Tzimtzum, where the Holy One, blessed be He, contracted His light to form a circular space, with a narrow aperture through which His light enters and upon which the Sefirot are clothed within the space of the Tzimtzum - that very ray descends through all the worlds, and the point it reaches is between the two Cherubim. It emerges that one is praying to the Ein Sof, blessed be He, Who is present there between the two Cherubim.
Regarding this it is said, "its interior inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem." There, so to speak, is the Heavenly fire, and there is the union of the "daughters of Jerusalem" - the physical faculties that have been refined - with the Holy One, blessed be He. There the exalted maiden, the divine soul, unites with her Beloved, the Ein Sof. And what happens to all the daughters of Jerusalem, which represent the body and its faculties, whose ostensible role is to disrupt this match, pulling as they do toward material and earthly pursuits without any desire for the soul to unite with its Beloved? There, within the palanquin, on the contrary: all physical faculties are nullified before the Ein Sof and into this union. For already in the outer sections we saw how physical entities are elevated to Him, blessed be He, upon the Altar, thereby forging closeness and connection, to the point where even the physical forces do not disrupt the union between the supernal soul and the Holy One, blessed be He.
"King Solomon" and Not Merely "The King"
The Malbim notes with precision: it does not say simply "the king," for "the king" on its own refers to the evil inclination that rules over the body, "an old and foolish king." Here it says "King Solomon" (HaMelech Shlomo) - Shlomo sharing the root of shalom (peace) and union, creating harmony between the soul and the body, so that both together lead toward the Ein Sof and toward attachment to the Holy One, blessed be He. And how? By elevating the body.
This is precisely what is stated in the allegory: the maiden told the daughters of Jerusalem to go and see what a beautiful palanquin King Solomon made, thereby, so to speak, distancing them from herself. And so it is in the deeper meaning: she carries the faculties of the body with her by dedicating them as an offering to Him, blessed be He. At that point, the bodily faculties no longer pose an obstacle; rather, the righteous person becomes a chariot for the Shechinah.
And what is a chariot for the Shechinah? A chariot is a carriage, and there is one who rides upon it. It is not autonomous, nor does it travel wherever it pleases; rather, it is guided by its driver. So too is the righteous person: he does not act independently, but completely nullifies himself and his faculties before the Holy One, blessed be He, and therefore he becomes a chariot for the Shechinah. The Holy One, blessed be He, is present the moment He is given room. When a person nullifies himself, space is cleared for the Holy One, blessed be He, and He rests upon him. But when a person does not nullify himself, he effectively leaves no room for the Shechinah - asserting, "I will ride, I will lead" - and there is no room for the Holy One, blessed be He, to ride. When the righteous person nullifies himself before Hashem, blessed be He, he attains the level of a chariot for the Shechinah, and the Shechinah rests upon him completely. This is what took place here: the physical faculties were nullified before the spiritual faculties, and thus they did not hinder the maiden in her union with her Beloved there between the two Cherubim.
צְאֶנָה וּרְאֶינָה בְּנוֹת צִיּוֹן בַּמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה בָּעֲטָרָה שֶׁעִטְּרָה־לּוֹ אִמּוֹ בְּיוֹם חֲתֻנָּתוֹ וּבְיוֹם שִׂמְחַת לִבּוֹ. (ג, יא) - Go forth and gaze, daughters of Zion, upon King Solomon, wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, and on the day of the gladness of his heart.
Through all this, the holy beloved can send away from herself the daughters of Zion, which are the physical forces, so that they will not disrupt, divide, or prevent her union with her Beloved there between the two cherubim. She says to them: "Go forth" - separate from me, do not be with me while I am secluded with the Holy One, blessed be He. "And gaze upon King Solomon" - that king who is also the yetzer (the instinctual drive), for an unqualified "king" represents the yetzer, has now become "King Solomon," the King to whom peace belongs. The forces that were supposed to be opposing are no longer just an ordinary "king," but a king to whom peace belongs, who no longer wages war with the spiritual forces; on the contrary, he assists them so they can receive the Divine bounty.
"With the crown with which his mother crowned him" - his mother is the source from which the yetzer emerges, which is physical matter and its material forces. And now, at the wedding and union with the Holy One, blessed be He, both the body and its forces, as it were, dedicate themselves to that spiritual union. Then man merits the aspect of the "groom's crown" - the crown of the intellect uniting with the perfected bride, which is the soul, and the body becomes a crown for her, assisting and adorning the holy soul. Whereas previously the body opposed spirituality and had no desire for this union, now the body itself becomes a vessel for the spiritual union.
And here we have received an answer to the question we asked: what about the physical forces, how did they not prevent the union? The answer is: through the palanquin that King Solomon made for himself. By building the Beis HaMikdash, which united physicality and spirituality, the Holy One, blessed be He, could remain with King Solomon in continuous connection through Ruach HaKodesh for extended periods. Nor was the union severed when the Beloved ascended from the beloved, for the Beloved did not return to His transcendent place, but remained within the Beis HaMikdash and the Holy of Holies - "an exalted house for Him," the dwelling place of the Shechinah. Through this, He was constantly available for union with Solomon's soul.
Chapter 4: The Praises of the Bride - The Soul
הִנָּךְ יָפָה רַעְיָתִי הִנָּךְ יָפָה עֵינַיִךְ יוֹנִים מִבַּעַד לְצַמָּתֵךְ שַׂעְרֵךְ כְּעֵדֶר הָעִזִּים שֶׁגָּלְשׁוּ מֵהַר גִּלְעָד. (ד, א) - Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves behind your veil; your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead. (4:1)
Now the supernal Beloved praises the bride, the soul, with all manner of praise and detailed descriptions of the soul's power, its strengths, and its capacities. To preface: the Malbim here enters a deeper realm, explaining matters of the loftiest spiritual heights. Take a breath. But this will show us the immense stature of the soul, its capabilities, and its perceptions.
The difference between the previous instances and this one: now the Holy One, blessed be He, unites with the soul while it is still within the body. As we explained, this becomes possible because there is a Beis HaMikdash, and since there is a Beis HaMikdash, the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, descends to cause His Shechinah to dwell among the lower realms. By virtue of the service of Hashem in the Beis HaMikdash, the soul is able to remain inside Solomon's body, and within that very reality, the Holy One, blessed be He, bonds with it.
"Your eyes are doves" - The Two Eyes of the Soul
Since we are speaking here of the spiritual realm, all the metaphors we will encounter from this point onward are spiritual metaphors. The Malbim explains: the soul has two eyes. It has an eye through which man perceives the Divine in the upper worlds - the holy sefiros, Divine perceptions, the Pardes. And it has a lower eye, through which man perceives the inner powers of the soul, seeing the Divine within himself - "From my flesh I shall see God." Thus, there are two dimensions to the perception of Godliness.
And both are "doves," meaning they are inseparable from one another: just as one requires the lofty spiritual perception to see the power of Godliness above, so too must one see the power of Godliness dwelling within the body.
"Behind your veil" - The Connection to the Body
What is "behind your veil (tsamatech)"? The root tzamah denotes a binding, something bound together. This is also the concept of a tzomet (intersection), which refers to several paths connecting and joining together. As previously explained in the name of the Radak's father, this is also the origin of the word tzom (fast): "Proclaim a fast, call an assembly" - everyone would gather in one place to pray and beseech Hashem, so the word tzom also denotes gathering. Similarly, tzomet hagiddim refers to the junction of the sinews.
Thus, the Beloved says to her: there is a braid here, a bond binding the soul to the body, and the body is indeed coarse and material - yet nonetheless, "from behind your braid," despite this connection to physical matter, "your eyes are like doves," watching and gazing upon Divinity: both in the highest aspect across all the worlds, and in the internal aspect, in the providence of the Holy One, blessed be He, and in His presence within man himself, which is the second eye gazing inward.
"Your hair is like a flock of goats" - The Hairs of the Soul
The Malbim explains: in the body there is hair and there are teeth, which are the excess elements that nature casts outward. They grow from deep within the body, thicken, harden, and emerge outside. That is the mashal (allegory); and what is the nimshal (meaning) in spirituality? It is an internal light that breaks through and radiates outward.
Whoever knows Kabbalah knows that much is discussed regarding this matter: the hairs of Arich, the hairs of Ze'eir; whoever has read in the Idra, or reads in the Tikkunim, sees that there are the Tikkunei Dikna - again, hairs: the hairs of the beard and the hairs of the head. These are lofty and sublime Kabbalistic concepts, for whenever the discussion touches upon the head, upon the Gulgalta (cranium), it refers to the highest perceptions. Thus, the term "hair" expresses supreme lights emerging outward from within the skull, for inside the cranium reside the highest sefirot - Keter, Chochmah, and Binah - and that which emerges outward is emitted as hairs, which are immense illuminations that descend and channel influence all the way to the lower realm.
So too, the teeth express an outward flow of influence, corresponding to the thirty-two paths of wisdom (Lamed-Bet Netivot Chochmah), which are likewise, as it were, an emergence and emission outward from the cranium, expressing the wisdom that flows down here below.
Concepts and Deductions: The Hairs of the Soul
An illustration of this, says the Malbim, is also found within the soul of man. As is well known, the soul is divided into two: the speaking soul (nefesh ha-diberit) and the intellectual soul (nefesh ha-sichlit). The speaking soul is connected to physical matter - diberit from the root of speech (dibbur), the soul through whose power man speaks. And the intellect manifests in two ways: one through concepts, and the other through propositions and deductive reasoning.
Concepts are infinitely numerous, and each concept is distinct from the next. One can speak of beauty, of the world, of purpose, of love, of creation, of pride, of soul, of home - concepts that are entirely distinct from one another, and one could go on endlessly. These are called "the hairs of the soul": just as hairs emerge from the seat of the intellect, from the brain (mochin), and are immensely numerous and extremely fine, so too within the soul are the hairs of the soul, which are concepts without end or limit.
And in what way are they similar to "a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead"? The goats in a flock are distinct from one another: some are streaked (akudim), some speckled (nekudim), some spotted (berudim); some have patches of one kind and others of another kind, with varying shades and colors. If you ask the shepherd, he knows each one by name. To an outside observer they might look alike, but the shepherd certainly knows how to distinguish between them, and between some of them the differences are substantial. So too, every concept has its own distinct identity: when one speaks of beauty, of purpose, of love, and of the soul, these are four concepts that are not alike at all and share no inherent connection.
Hairs in the Divine Soul: Akudim and Nekudim
So too in the Divine soul, which is the higher spiritual soul: there, the hairs allude to perceptions of Divine matters, and they are compared to "a flock of goats." Whoever is familiar with Kabbalah knows how much is discussed regarding the initial emanations of the worlds. The Arizal, when beginning to describe what was created first - even though it is written that there are hidden worlds he did not discuss - begins with Adam Kadmon (abbreviated as A"K). Without delving into an explanation of this concept right now, what must certainly be cleared from one's mind is that this does not refer to any physical image of man, Heaven forbid; rather, Adam Kadmon is a transcendent and profoundly spiritual reality from which the ten sefirot descended and began to emanate, from the lights issuing forth from it.
As proof: the Arizal does not speak of the hairs of Adam Kadmon at all, because that realm is exceedingly sublime; he begins speaking from the forehead downward, discussing the influences and lights that emerged from Adam Kadmon, until the ten sefirot took form, followed by the shattering of the vessels (shevirat ha-kelim), and the entire process until this world was created through the power of those ten sefirot. And so, when discussing the worlds created from Adam Kadmon, the Arizal speaks of the world of Akudim (the Bound) and the world of Nekudim (the Pointed) - there are entire treatises in Kabbalah dedicated to these worlds.
From this one can understand that there are tremendous secrets in everything that took place with Yaakov Avinu. One who reads without understanding wonders: Why does the Torah bother to describe akudim (striped), nekudim (speckled), and berudim (spotted), and "The striped shall be your wages," "The speckled shall be your wages" - and all this elaboration which seemingly does not concern us? Does it truly interest us how Yaakov outsmarted Lavan? Rather, there are tremendous and wondrous secrets there, revealed to us by the holy Ari, and already revealed to us in Kabbalah from the holy Zohar: that these are allusions to supreme secrets, and the entire matter is understood through very lofty perceptions of infinite divine spiritual emanations from which the worlds were created. This is what the Malbim explains: the hairs come to allude to exalted perceptions found in the upper spiritual worlds, which resemble a flock of goats - just as within a flock of goats there are striped, speckled, and spotted, so too were the upper worlds emanated: the World of Akudim, the World of Nekudim, and so forth, until the Sefirot were formed.
In summary:
We have learned that the palanquin King Shlomo made for himself is the Beit HaMikdash, which serves as a garment for the collective soul of Israel, and all its parts correspond to the components of man and the levels of his soul: the courtyard and its pillars correspond to the natural soul (nefesh) and the digestive organs; the Sanctuary (Heichal) and its planks correspond to the ruach and the heart and lungs; the Holy of Holies corresponds to the neshamah; and the two cherubim correspond to chayah and yechidah - and there, between the two cherubim, is the place of union between the beloved Bride and her Beloved. When the physical faculties submit and ascend toward Him, blessed be He, "the king" becomes "King Shlomo" - the King to Whom peace belongs - and man becomes a chariot for the Shechinah. From there we proceeded to the praises of the Bride in Chapter 4: "Your eyes are doves" - the two eyes of the soul that gaze upon the Divine from above and from within; "from behind your veil" - despite the soul's connection to the physical body; and "your hair is like a flock of goats" - the lights and perceptions that emanate boundlessly from the inner soul, each distinct in its uniqueness, like the striped, speckled, and spotted goats within the flock.