In the Wilderness

B'midbar, the Torah portion read this year just before Shavuot, means "in the wilderness". That is different from the modern day translation of the word "midbar", which renders it as "desert". A desert is often perceived as being barren, lacking life, while in the wilderness, life forms abound, some plants grow-it is not a wasteland. To quote Maurice Sendak's children's book, it is "Where the Wild Things Are".

There is another meaning to the word B'midbar. It's root word, or "shoresh" in Hebrew, is  "daber": speak. It is no coincidence that revelation took place b'midbar. Or that Moses saw the Burning Bush and heard the voice of God b'midbar. Likewise, Abram (later, Abraham) and Jacob experience God b'midbar, when God speaks, "m'daber" to them. The Torah is given "b'midbar Sin" in the wilderness of Sinai, on top of the mountain. The wilderness is where God's voice can be heard speaking most clearly.

Perhaps the awareness of being in a spiritual wilderness is what leads us to hear God speaking to us. Maybe when we are in such a place, and by this I also mean a state of mind, we are more open to hearing God's words.

The Ten Commandments are called "Aseret ha-Dibrot", which can be translated as the ten things which are said  (There's that shoresh again, "daber"). On this Shavuot, the anniversary of the giving of the Torah, may the heavens open up like a vast wilderness for us, so that we may hear God's words speaking in our hearts.

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