Weekly Davar - Clear Mind, More Wisdom
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Bamidbar
(Numbers 1:1 – 4:20)
GOOD MORNING!! It’s been one of those weeks with just no time to write something new, so my apologies for sending a previous davar. It may be an oldie, but I think it’s a bit of a goldie!
It’s been good to see the US President visiting Britain this week and talking of the strong bond between the two countries. Worldwide, I can’t think of 2 stronger allies. But it wasn’t always that way. The relationship began with many years of oppression followed by a bitter and bloody war. It just goes to show that no relationship is beyond redemption when human beings are willing to put the past behind them and look forwards. No one of us does ourselves a favour holding onto grudges, resentments and frustrations from the past. When we are willing to let the past be where it belongs – behind us – the future always has the potential to look very different.
Torah Portion
This portion contains the census of the Jewish people – 600,000 men of army age, around 2.5 million souls in all. It also describes the passing of spiritual leadership from firstborn to Levite. The firstborn lost their position as a result of their involvement with the Golden Calf – now the formal transfer of power occurs.
Davar Torah
We start this week what is referred to as the book of Numbers but its true name is Bamidbar meaning, ‘in the desert’. The setting for most of the Torah’s narrative is that of a desert – and that’s no coincidence. The Rabbis tell us that a person who wishes to find wisdom must make his own personal setting that of a desert.
What they mean is as follows.
One of the most important things in learning wisdom is being able to look at what you are learning with an open mind. The more you filter what comes in to you through preconceived notions, prejudices and personal thinking, the less you will understand it for what it is.
Wisdom is all around us – in animals, in nature, in the world and most especially in every single human being. Wisdom is bombarding us at every moment. But we need open minds and open hearts in order to appreciate it, to value it and to take it in. If not, we merely shape what we hear to feed our existing misconceptions rather than develop new understandings.
The key is to make ourselves into deserts – open to the world, allowing the outside to flow into us uninhibitedly.
The Rabbis say something similar with regards to humility. They say that Torah’s wisdom is like water - and water will naturally flow to the lowest place. Arrogance, they say, is a barrier that wisdom cannot penetrate. If you see a wise, yet arrogant man, either you are misjudging his arrogance, or his knowledge is skin deep – as the Rabbis say, like a donkey carrying books. Humility on the other hand is a magnet for wisdom. The humble man cannot help but be wise, because the water of wisdom is always flowing downwards. And the humble man is waiting at the bottom to be filled up.
When are minds and hearts are deserts – freed from personal agenda – then, and only then, will wisdom fill them up.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Shaul Rosenblatt
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