Dear Friends,
What do you picture when you think of the desert? Endless amounts of nothingness? A hot, oppressive environment where most living things cannot thrive?
The Torah paints a different picture of the desert, and there are two significant points in particular I'd like to highlight.
The Torah portion "Bamidbar" is always read on the Shabbat before Shavuot (this Friday and Shabbat). "Bamidbar" literally means “in the desert.” While the desert is a hot place replete with sand, it is also a place of silence, free from visual and auditory distractions.
Silence is often conflated with quiet. How many times were we told by our teachers, or did we tell our own children, to be quiet? But quiet is merely the absence of sound. Silence is full of its own virtue.
When we are silent, we are able to tap into the essence at our core, and to truly listen to the divine whisperings that shape our traditions and practice. Our holy sages said “Silence is a fence to wisdom," and silence accompanied the priests' service in the Temple. The Amidah, the most profound daily prayer, is also said silently.
The famous Shema Yisroel alludes to this truth. There is no sufficient English equivalent for the layers contained within the Hebrew verb SH-M-A in its wide range of senses: to listen, to hear, to pay attention, to understand, to internalize and to respond with our actions.
At Sinai, the Jewish people said, “All that God says, we will do and we will hear.” Listening is crucial to faith, enabling us to hear the music beneath the noise. In our noisy world, filled with constant information, much of it negative and these days frightening, we need moments of silence to hear the “still, small voice” of God, reminding us we are loved, heard, and embraced by God's everlasting arms. So let's escape the outside noise and come together at Chabad Naples, where everyone's voice counts!
There is another characteristic of the desert that illuminates why God chose to deliver the Torah in what most would call the middle of nowhere.
Just as the desert is wide open territory for everyone to take advantage of and make their own, the Torah was given to the Jewish people in order for each and every one of us to make it our own, by delving into it and discovering its beauty and inner secrets.
No one person can claim ownership of the Torah; it belongs to every Jew equally. That's why this Torah portion is always read the week prior to the holiday of Shavuot, when we celebrate the anniversary of the Jewish people receiving the Torah on Mt. Sinai. It's also why the Torah was given to the Jews specifically in the desert.
Everyone gathers together and receives the Torah at his or her own level. Each year, it is as if we are receiving the Torah anew for the first time!
So this year, what deserts are you facing in your personal life? That which may feel like a lack can really be an opening for change. A space ripe for self reflection. A chance to take ownership of the Torah in a fresh and personal way.
It's no coincidence that the Torah is compared to water. For when you've been wandering in the desert for a long time, you desperately need a drink. (And of course, you need a delicious dairy buffet lunch as well!) Each of us is poised to receive that which quenches not merely our physical thirst, but our spiritual thirst as well.
Come receive the Torah with us next week at our community Shavuot celebration. We can't wait to see everyone there!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Fishel and Ettie Zaklos