-- In Honor of the Shloshim (thirty-day period
of mourning) of my dear father, Gershon Jacobson, son of
Simon and Freida --
And the living shall take to heart
Is life about the journey
or about the destination?
We humans have been trained
to think in terms of goals, deadlines and endings. We work on a project with
an end goal in mind. When we finish a job we celebrate its conclusion. We
may then begin another project, but it too has its defined parameters; its
beginning and its end. Just look at any efficient project planner and you
see the clearly delineated boundaries.
But does this self contained,
open and close, bookend structure reflect the true nature of things or is
it an artificial system that we superimpose to create a semblance of control
in our lives?
When you think about it, life is actually a continuous flow with no inherent
breaks. The march of time never stops and neither does the
energy of life. Even birth and death are part of an ongoing
journey, with everything traveling on its way to another
place. A rotting fruit is absorbed into the ground, only
to spawn new fruit.
Linear thinking – that
narrow, myopic view that simplifies things into digestible packages – can
look at birth and death as a beginning and an end. But only if you define
life and existence on a body/material level. Yes, a body, like every piece
of matter erodes and dies.
But life is not a body,
and a body is not life. Life is an experience; an experience that includes
the body, but is not contained by it.
The soul lives on. And
even the body continues its journey in a different form. After all, E=MC2.
Matter turns into energy.
This is the theme of the
fourth book of the Torah which we now are in midst of reading. The book is
called “Bamidbar,” literally desert or wilderness, referring to the journey
of the Jewish people through the Sinai wilderness.
A complete understanding
of Torah is only possible when we recognize its multi-dimensional nature.
Biblical events are not only the history of an ancient past; they also reflect
the inner spiritual dynamics of existence and of our souls. The Torah speaks
in the “language of man” but it is really a spiritual blueprint for life.
In effect each story and episode in the Torah is the story of our own lives.
This explains the fact
that the Torah is so disproportionately structured. Close to four of the five
books of the Torah relate the events that took place in a period of 40 years.
While the other book and a few chapters covers over 2200 years!
The first book of Genesis
(Bereishis) tells the story form the beginning of history, Adam and Eve, and
concludes with the end of Jacob and his son’s generation – a period of over
2200 years. Then the next book of Exodus (Shemos) covers 210 years in its
first three chapters. After that, the rest of the entire Torah discusses the
events that transpired over a mere forty years from the time the Jews leave
Egypt until they arrive at the east bank of the Jordan River forty years later.
11 chapters dedicated to 2500 years, and the remaining 41 chapters focusing
on 40 years!
If the Bible were a history
book it would surely be inexplicably lacking.
The Bible, however, is
not about history; it’s about the spiritual odyssey of life. Indeed, the word
“Bible” – whose etymological root is related to “book” or “papyrus” – does
not reflect its true nature as does the word “Torah,” which means instruction
and light (ohr). The Torah is an illuminating roadmap into the inner workings
of existence, the soul and its psyche.
Life is fundamentally
a journey. A journey through a wilderness, traveling toward the Promised Land.
All the events in Genesis were a preparation to help the people in their difficult
journey that followed.
This journey begins technically
when the Jewish people leave Egypt, but the primary emphasis on this journey
is in the fourth book. Hence, its name Bamidbar, in the desert. [The book
of Exodus is primarily concerned with leaving Egypt, the parting sea, the
revelation at Sinai, the building of the Temple. The book of Leviticus addresses
mainly the laws in and related to the Temple. It’s in the book of Bamidbar
where the Torah returns to the 40-year journey through the wilderness, consisting
of 42 journeys and stops, concluding with the final one at the east bank of
the Jordan].
Yes, life is a journey.
The journey begins with the soul traveling from its comfortable, spiritual
abode, into the wilderness of this universe. Then it continues the voyage
through the cycles of life. First, protected by parents and provided, then
leaving home to build its own life. The journey only gets more difficult as
life wears on.
Yet, we are well prepared.
Remember, we did not fall into the world by accident; we were sent. And sent
with all the resources necessary to face any challenge. To transform every
challenge into an opportunity, and every adversary into a catalyst.
Each chapter in the book
of Bamidbar (as captured in the individual chapter names) conveys a vital
message to us, in an accumulating sequence, about how we must travel our journey.
Bamidbar: Know, and know well that you are traveling through a desert.
“A great, terrifying desert,” with “snakes, vipers, scorpions and thirst,
with no water.” And it is your mission to bring life to this arid desert,
to tame the elements and transform this uncivilized universe into a home,
a home for the Divine. To bring tenderness into a harsh world.
Nasso:
Nasso means to “raise.” Nasso es rosh bnei Gershon gam hem,” “raise the head
– an idiom for “take a count” – of the children of Gershon, them too.”
Though we are traveling
in a wilderness, remember and remember well that your heads are lifted, stand
tall and proud, for you have been chosen to serve.
Rashi explains that the
words “them too” implies that the children of Gershon are being counted and
raised to see how many are ready for service, just as it was stated earlier
about the children of Kehot.
So after entering the
terrifying wilderness, the children of Gershon are lifted, and they are lifted
to serve, to serve as transporters of the holy Temple.
We are not asked to begin
from scratch and build the Sanctuary. It is already in place. Our job is to
transport the sanctuary. And the children of Gershon specifically are charged
with the task of transporting the doorway-curtains, tent-coverings and tapestries
of the Tabernacle.
“Are they ready to so”?
is the question. When they are, then their heads and beings are raised to
another level, to a new dimension.
Behaalotcho: “Light – raise up – the flames.” Not only is your own head
raised in the wilderness of life, but you have the power and the obligation
to light up many flames – to ignite other souls, and raise them up in a way
that they should burn on their own.
Understand and understand
well, that you must create students that in turn become teachers who create
more students – perpetual flames, one lighting another, and yet another ad
infinitum.
Shelach: Send out messengers to scout out the land and ease the
way to its capture. Not only must we illuminate others and ensure that they
rise on their own, but we must inspire them and inspire them well to become
emissaries, that carry a mission to help conquer the crass nature of the material
world and turn it into a “Holy Land,” a sacred space.
Korach:
Yet the challenges abound. Realize and realize well that rebellious voices
will incite us to defy our mission, with all types of brilliant and even spiritual
arguments (as the wise Korach did in defiance of Moses). But even rebellious
energy can be channeled into positive revolution.
[The next five chapters, Chukat, Balak, Pinchat, Matos,
Massei – in The
Journey Part II of this series].
Bamidbar indeed.
Read the story of this book. Read it well, and you will see your own life
journey come alive.
The
Journey Part II
