Summary:
In our parasha this week, Moses’ father-in-law, Yitro, brings his daughter Zipporah and her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, to visit Moses in the Sinai desert. After complaining about the burden of judging all the cases the people bring him, Moses follows Yitro's advice and appoints judges to help him lead the people. Then the Children of Israel camp in front of Mount Sinai. Upon hearing the words of the covenant, the Israelites respond, "All that God has spoken we will do." After three days of preparation, the Israelites encounter God at Mount Sinai. God gives the Ten Commandments aloud directly to the people. Frightened, the Children of Israel ask Moses to serve as an intermediary between God and them. Moses tells the people not to be afraid.
Lesson:
When I was 15 years old, the Sinai desert still belonged to the State of Israel. It hadn’t yet been returned as part of the peace treaty with Egypt. I remember waking up hours before sunrise to hike up Mt Sinai. We made it to the top and witnessed a glorious sunrise that illumined the desert in all shades of color. It was noon by the time we made it back to our campground whereupon we collapsed, moaning about our sore feet, the sand in our shoes, and the heat of dessert. I lay there in my sleeping bag and wondered, “Why did God give the Torah at Mt Sinai?” Couldn’t God have chosen a more accessible site, a less sandy site? Possibly a site that didn’t require hours of hiking under the hot desert sun?
Even though the rabbis of our tradition most probably never endured the hike up Mt Sinai, they too asked the same question. “Why did God choose to give the Torah in the middle of the desert?”
In two different commentaries from the time of the Talmud the question is asked and answered quite clearly. Torah is given in the desert in order to make it clear that the lessons belong to all of humanity, not just to the Jewish people.
“And they camped in the desert”: The Torah was given in freedom, in the public domain, in the place belonging to no human, because if it had been given in the Land of Israel, the Jews would have said to the nations of the world: “You have no portion in it.” Therefore, the Torah was given in the desert, and any person who wants to receive it may come and receive it.
The Torah was likened to three things: desert, fire and water – to teach you that just like these things are free, the words of Torah are free to all who come into this world.
In another commentary the question is again asked and answered. And here we learn a new lesson. Torah is given in the wilderness for spiritual reasons. Only in the quiet and stillness of the desert, without the noise and interruptions of urban life, can human beings truly absorb the lessons of Torah.
“I will take them roundabout in the desert forty years, so that they will eat manna and drink the water of the well (that accompanied them), and the Torah will become absorbed in their bodies…
A modern commentator taught the same lesson in his own words and then adds a beautiful new concept. Not only does the desert allow for us to better absorb the lessons of the Torah, but the fact that the desert belongs to no nation, that in essence the desert is neutral land, allows for the Torah to become our spiritual homeland.
Precisely among the drifting sands of the Sinai Desert was the Torah given. Precisely in the midst of the transience of life, it has a chance of being absorbed. Only thus can it become the homeland of the Jewish people.
A rabbi writing during the Shoah took this concept and expanded upon it in a significant and meaningful way. Learning and living Torah is not limited to one land. It is portable, it is a spiritual homeland for us wherever in the world we might be.
…Israel’s acceptance of the Torah took place in the desert. This fact may suggest, among other things...” Don’t say that in this place it’s possible to serve God, but in that place it’s impossible for me. Rather, one must serve God in all places.”
Had Israel accepted the Torah in their land, the Land of Israel, they would have thought that it is only possible to fulfill it in their own place, in their own home, but not when they are in exile…Therefore, God gave them the Torah in the desert, on the road, in transit, so that they would know that they must fulfill it everywhere.
Did you know that you too have visited Mt Sinai? You may not have suffered through the heat and the tortuous hike, however according to our tradition, all Jews, those born at the time of the revelation, as well as those yet to be born, stood at Mt Sinai and took part in the holy moment of the giving of the Torah.
This week’s Torah portion reminds us that wherever we are, we continue to stand at Mt Sinai. Inside of each of us is the living Torah that we, thousands of years after the moment of revelation, still love and care for. Why was Torah given in the desert? So that each of us could feel deeply that it belongs to us, whomever we are, wherever we live.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Don Goor