B’midbar
Every year as we ready ourselves to begin reading Sefer B’midbar (The Book of Numbers) from The Torah, my heart rejoices! Why? Well, first of all it really signals the arrival of summer. When I first moved to Las Vegas 11 years ago, I really didn’t look forward to the summer months. Now, I love them! Our physical surroundings, the beautiful mountains that encircle our valley and the almost uninterrupted abundance of bright and powerful light remind me of what it must have been like for our ancestors in The Wilderness.
When summer arrives, I go through an almost indescribable feeling of redemption. I can only imagine what the experience of The Wilderness was like for The Children of Israel. Yes, I know that they complained constantly for having left Egypt. Yes, we all know that during some very difficult times of the 40-year journey, slavery seemed like a better option that facing the uncertainty of the never ending apparent desolation of the territory they covered in their journey through The Midbar.
One of the most important questions to ask ourselves year after year as we study this part of The Torah is –why would God reveal himself to his people in The Wilderness? When you think of all the places God could have chosen to give us The Torah, it is really kind of dramatic that God chose the desolation of The Midbar, The Wilderness. The traditional explanation found in The Midrash Rabbah tells us that God chose The Wilderness precisely because he wanted people to not have any distractions when they were invested in the spiritual exercise not only of receiving The Torah but also in understanding what that moment meant!
The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Have you ever thought about what our life would be like without trivial distractions? When I was a child, I was able to sit down and do my homework and the only distraction my parents feared were the four different TV stations that we had at the time, beyond that and my regularly scheduled sport activities the distractions were not what they are today. Think about our children. We demand so much of them, we ask them to compartmentalize themselves in such a way that they often have no time to just perceive reality in a simple and open wilderness type of way. Think about what happens every afternoon in many of our homes. Hours of homework combined with the most technologically advanced and sophisticated distractions modernity can buy. Did I mention 500 TV channels, the web and online games?
Sometimes in life we have to willingly place ourselves in The Wilderness. I know, it sounds crazy! But it’s not so crazy. The other day I was having a conversation with a friend, we were talking about different types of medication that children with “ADD” take so that they are better able to focus in school or in their daily activities. I couldn’t believe it but I found out that many adults try to take this medication because it allows them to focus better in work and be more productive. I also learned that in many college dorms there is a new drug problem which extends itself beyond the drugs we already know about and into medications that help you stay awake and write a better paper in less time.
There is a message in this week’s Torah Portion. Simplicity works. The Midbar can be a place of desolation or a place where someone who is searching can focus and find what he or she has been looking for. This week’s Torah Portion begs us to return to things that are not complicated, to empty our lives of distractions that cause us to lose focus and lose sight of the important things in life.
Our Sages taught that we always have to follow in the footsteps of God. Our tradition is shaped in many ways by our persistence in trying to imitate Godliness. This is one of the most important messages to understand and then use for our own existence. Make yourself open like the wilderness, eliminate from your life that which separates you from whom you truly are and just like we received The Torah our most precious heritage and possession in the middle of The Midbar, may we be always blessed to understand the meaning of the blessings that are given to us by others without distractions or conditions.
Shabbat Shalom