Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

There is a cartoon by the artist Mari Andrew showing two identical drawings of a woman holding a suitcase, staring at the road in front of her. On one side, she stares at an empty road ahead, and the caption reads: “I’m leaving.” On the other side, there is a road leading to a city, with trees and buildings. That caption reads: “I’m expanding.”

As we embark on a new journey, we often have two disparate feelings. One, a sense of discomfort, of anxiety, and of loss as we uproot ourselves from the familiar and normal routines of life. The other, a sense of excitement as we contemplate the possibilities that lie ahead.   

In this week’s Parsha — Bamidbar, “In the Wilderness” — we find the Israelites poised to leave Mount Sinai and embark on their journey to the Land of Canaan. We can imagine them having a sense of dread and foreboding as they leave God’s Mountain. After all, the Torah describes the wilderness as

…..A land of deserts and pits,
A land of drought and darkness,
A land no man had traversed,
Where no human being had dwelt…

We can also imagine the Israelites about to depart Mount Sinai having a sense of hope. After all, it is in the Wilderness that the Torah is given. It is in the Wilderness that the Israelites come to know God. The Wilderness represents the potential for growth, for expansion.

Our rabbis declared, “Anyone who does not make themselves open, like the Wilderness, cannot acquire wisdom or Torah”. Rabbi Lawrence Kushner describes what it means to be “open”:  

……. If you think you know what you will find,
Then you will find nothing. 
If you expect nothing,
Then you will always be surprised.
And able to bless the One who creates the world anew each morning.
So it is with setting out on the path of liberation, leaving everything……..


May we never lose the capacity to be surprised.

Photo by Alfred Franz on Pexels.com