Bemidbar Cycle Six Bemidbar

 Being Bemidbar

We now enter Bemidbar. This is commonly translated in English as in the wilderness. There are two other important Torah words with that same prefix. There’s the word Behar. The common translation is on the mountain. And we can’t forget the same pronoun in the very first word of Torah: Bereshit. In the beginning.

I’d like to focus on these three words because I believe strongly in this way we can open the door…and open it wide… to this whole new book Bemidbar. Especially to this parashah that has some interesting concepts. First, there’s the question with counting. Oy, we think as we read it, does every single man capable of battle really need to be counted? And why do the Levites need to be counted separately? Why is there a whole parashah so dedicated to numbers and names? What is really going on here?

So first, given the three words above, let’s look at Bemidbar. The proper translation given the vowel would be in a wilderness. This opens the door immediately. It includes all the subsets within the larger set, the tiny wild places in each mind and heart of all the Israelites, the relentless dreams and goals of one man, one woman, his and her children, his and her soul manifestations throughout time, being to being, eye to eye, heart to heart. It includes the propelling of all souls in the space the mystics title gilgul and from souls within souls.  There’s so much work being done in the passing of one tiny second, work we can’t see or know, work we only intuit. The best way to understand this is to consider the miracles of springtime.  So much is happening beyond our personal consciousness. We don’t know everything. We are growing to that place (thank God). We are within the exquisite multiplicity of growth that is not at all chaotic but ordered with boundaries, openings, logical sequence and set vessels. There’s a specific pattern here. Within it if we squint a bit we can see the exponential replications of these same (name and number) vessels over time. In the fine weaving of numbers and names, certain ones are spread wider apart but as we get closer to the source…in this case Torah…there’s a tightening. We can visualize a web shining in the sun. At the center the filaments become closer and closer together. The filaments at the center include the same cellular matter as the ones on the outside. When they get so close in, they seem to be attached. As Nahmanides says: for each and every tribe constitutes a large group on their own. We also must infer that this is not only men. Nahmanides also says that the word to describe a work force of Levites is also used to describe a work force of women in Exodus 38:8 when they serve at the entrance to the tent. Therefore no one is left out of this holy scenario. 

Bemidbar therefore brings out the intense intimacy with Hashem we experience when we open our eyes to see the sacred patterns in the universe. The holiness therefore has to do with order, community and oneness at the center. It’s as if there’s a construct being set in place for eternal revelation.

Let’s look at behar. When we read the word behar we know that God is speaking from the mountain. Literally, this transmission is happening within a mountain. This is the place where Moshe receives much of his conversation with God. It’s a solid place (you can’t get much more solid) where we receive the Ten Commandments. With Shavuot so soon we can feel the coming of revelation as we count the Omer. The transmission of the mitzvoth and the chukot (we realize) are clearly ways that God organizes and brings order to His sanctity. It’s how he manifests Himself on earth. With the idea of behar we are not in a wild state of mind. We can even see ourselves as  each a distinct mountain and the many mitzvoth are within us…we just need to learn to apply them to our daily world. Sages have compared revelation on the mountain, for example, to Jacob’s ladder.  While we are all holy there are levels of intimacy and the tool of transmission that God uses to enable this intimacy is the mitzvoth.  Once again, in the world of Behar there is order, community and oneness at the center. It’s as if a construct is being set for eternal revelation.

Let’s look at Bereshith. This is the one word that revolves around an abstraction. We are in a beginning about to experience the wonders of creation. Within creation there are two stories and within each story there are steps and steps towards…yes a climax and another beginning. After all, the way the vowel is placed shows us we are faced with the fact that this is not the beginning but one of many. In Bereshith therefore we also see order and community leading to oneness. As the Zohar infers, the purpose for creation is so God can infuse His light into us and we can then rise to merge with Him again. 

Bemidbar. Behar. Beereshith. 

How easy it is to look at the first word and place it aside in terms of the God-intimacy it infers. How easy it is to say in life that our confusion, our logical response, our organization of tribe and name, of family and community, our wanderings, our adult years (so in-between birth and death) and our daily struggle  is not as intimate as the Mountain or the Beginning.

I think though that what God is trying to say is that Bemidbar is holy. It's more than holy. It's way up there holy with the holiest words.

Of course the bet itself has much to say (as we hear from the kabbalists).  Simply through juxtaposition however we as humans in day to day life can understand the holiness of being bemidbar.

In the end Bemidbar, Behar and Bereshit are really all the same place. How amazing.