Mindful Torah...and more

Bamidbar 5780 This week we begin reading Bamidbar /Numbers, the next book of the Torah, with Parshat Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20). In this parashah /portion, God instructs Moses to conduct a census of all the Israelite men over the age of 20. Moses takes up a second census to count all of the Levite men. God then gives specific instructions to the Levites about their roles in the constructing and caring for the Tent of Meeting The name Bamidbar means “in the wilderness,” which is where all of the events the exodus through the end of Deuteronomy take place in the wilderness. Through the centuries, various rabbis and scholars have pondered why God didn’t give the Torah in the land of Canaan. Why didn’t the people spend 40 years on their journey? Of course, we know that the 40 years is ultimately a punishment for the people believing in the negative reports of the 10 spies who scouted out the land and ignoring the positive reports of the other two (see Parshah Shelach). However, putting ...

The name of this past week's parashah /portion, as well as the fourth book of the Torah, which began with this reading, is Be'midbar ( Be’midbar /Numbers 1:1 - 4:20) .  The name means "in the wilderness" and it can be found in the book of . One ancient rabbinic commentary points out that if we change one vowel in the name of the parasha , the word במדבר be’midbar , in the wilderness, it then becomes be'midabe י r , with one who is speaking. This is somewhat ironic, as the wilderness is usually associated with silence and solitude. However, we can imagine that the wilderness of Sinai and its surroundings must have been anything but silent, with the multitude of Israelites and others wandering through it for 40 years. Yet, we all know that even in the midst of a chaos and cacophony one can experience silence.  It is just as true that one can experience unceasing noise in one's mind and soul while walking seemingly in solitude and silence. What determi...