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May 21, 2004/Sivan 1 5764, Vol. 56, No.35
Insight in the wilderness
Torah study
RABBI ANDREW STRAUS
Bamidbar/Numbers 1:1-4:20
As a congregational rabbi, one of my favorite privileges is working with our b'nai mitzvah students. Their insights into Torah are often very revealing, and from each and every one of them I learn something new.
A number of years ago, while one of my students was practicing his reading, he made an error. It was an easy one to make. He misread the word "bamidbar" and instead read "bamidabear." The consonants are the same; only the vowels are different. In his mistake, he made a fascinating commentary on Torah. "Bamidbar" means "in the wilderness" and "bamidabear" means "in the process of speaking." I have often used this student's misread words as a teaching opportunity by combining both readings: "In the wilderness there is speaking."
In this week's Torah portion, we begin reading the fourth book of the Torah, Bamidbar - in the wilderness - in English known as the Book of Numbers. Much of Bamidbar describes the events that occurred to the B'nai Yisrael (Children of Israel) during their 40 years of wandering. It is also important for us to note that much of Jewish life was lived on the edge of the desert/wilderness.
Jerusalem was built literally on the edge of the wilderness. When you stand in Jerusalem and look to the east, you are looking toward the wilderness and when you look toward the west, you are looking towards the fertile coastal plain.
It is to the wilderness that many of our great leaders (Moses, Isaiah and Elijah, to name just a few) went to escape and to find God.
So we who live bamidbar must ask why so much of Jewish life happens bamidbar. In the Talmud, we are taught that "Torah was given bamidbar to teach us that we must consider ourselves open like the midbar (wilderness) in order to learn" (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Nedarim 55b). Our rabbis teach us that if we truly wish to make Torah our own, then we must be open to all of its various teachings. The best Torah students are not those who close themselves off and are only open to one possible interpretation, but rather those who are receptive to new ideas and willing to consider new perspectives.
Yet others have suggested that at times to truly hear the voice of Torah, we need to retreat to the midbar. In our world in which we are bombarded by so many messages and influences literally 24 hours a day, seven days a week, sometimes we need to escape Madison Avenue, Hollywood and the sound bite of the day to truly hear the voice of God and Torah.
According to Jewish tradition, when we see the midbar, we are to say, "Be praised Adonai our God for the wondrous works of creation." The wilderness has always inspired us. It is quiet, mysterious and invites contemplation. We go to the wilderness to find a new perspective, to deepen our spiritual awakening and to gain insight. Sometimes it seems that only in the midbar that we can hear God speaking to us; but ultimately we cannot live there. Torah can be heard in the midbar, but it must be lived in community.
Rabbi Andrew Straus is spiritual leader of Temple Emanuel of Tempe.
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