B”H
ותצחק רחל די
Book 4b
The
second part of Bamidbar is about a
darker side of exile. It’s about wandering in the desert, being so close to
Hashem that sometimes it hurts; feeling so far from Hashem that it hurts even
more. The tests of exile bring about tremendous tragedy; yet they also reveal
our true nature, our Divine Essence. As much as Bamidbar is about seeing things spiritually and connecting to our
essence, it’s also about connecting to the power of words, of prayer. That is
the root of the very word Midbar (desert):
Davar, the spoken word. It takes
going through Bamidbar (Numbers) to
get to Devarim (Deuteronomy), which
literally means, “words.” The sets of 52 explored in this text are as follows:
The Song
of Songs (Shir HaShirim) encapsulates
the stresses and longings of exile more than any other work in the Tanach. Perhaps that is why Rabbi Akiva
stated that if the entire Tanach is
holy, the Song of Songs is the “Holy of Holies.” The work expresses tremendous
longing for Hashem: tremendous remorse over the sins that caused Him to
distance Himself, and the longing for they day we will return to Him.
The
first description of collective exile in the Torah is the description of the seventy
souls (descendants of Jacob) that descended into Egypt. Each one of the souls
contains an essential aspect of the Jewish people, and also of that particular
week in the Jewish calendar.
The
Tractate of Shevuos, which like the
Tractate of Sotah, contains 49 folios and is studied
during the Counting the Omer, is all
about the power of words.
The Book
of Jeremiah, which has 52 chapters, describes one of the greatest tragedies to befall the Jewish people: the fall of the
First Temple. Yet, within what appear to be an extremely sobering and bleak descriptions,
there is also a glimmer of light and many references to the deep and
unbreakable connection between G-d and the Jewish people. Also, the example of
Jeremiah himself, his prayers, inner strength, and his impeccable behavior
during this time, are a source of great inspiration.
