OU Torah Insights Project

With rare exception, Parshat Bamidbar is always read on the Shabbat before the holiday of Shavuot. This arrangement is not mere coincidence, as there is a correlation between the theme of this parshah and the theme of Shavuot, the giving of the Torah.

The Midrash asks, Why does the Torah specify that G-d's conversation with Moshe took place in the Sinai Desert? "From this we learn," the Midrash concludes, "that the Torah was given through three things: fire, water, and desert."

The great sage, Rabbi Meir Shapiro, zt"l, understood this statement to mean that the Torah was given to Klal Yisrael as a covenant to be observed under all conditions and circumstances. Both as a people and as individuals we have been invested with the power to withstand all challenges to our faith and remain loyal to Hashem.

Avraham, the first Jew, with stood the test by fire when he preferred to be thrown into a fiery furnace rather than renounce his G-d. The entire Jewish people withstood the test by water when they followed Nachshon ben Aminadav into the Red Sea.

In both of these instances, their tests were met with a single burst of faith.

Sinai, however, represents a sustained loyalty to G-d and to His Torah. As the Jewish people traveled through the desert for forty years, they had to maintain their dedication to Hashem, and despite the difficulties and occasional lapses, they persevered and reached the Holy Land.

Our people's acceptance of the Torah in the wilderness before they had a land of their own reveals a basic truth about the transcendence of Torah and the essential nature of Jewish peoplehood.

Living in the barren wasteland of the desert, where the winds of adversity blew in all directions, the Jews, as a nation, placed the Torah at the heart of their existence. The Tabernacle stood in the center of the camp, with the tribes camped around it, welcoming the Shechinah as the unifying and lifegiving force of our people.

That the Torah was given to us in the wilderness also teaches that a Torah lifestyle does not depend on the territory upon which Jews find themselves. It continues to be in force regardless of where we live. Torah is not grounded upon a particular time, place or society, and therefore cannot be limited to that particluar time, place or society. Torah presupposes nothing. Societies and values must be built around it, not vice versa.

The Talmud relates that the prophet Ezra had arranged for the Tochachah, the stern warning that G-d places before the Jewish people, which is found in Parshat Bechukotai, to be read just before Shavuot. But, Tosafot points out, the readings were arranged so that the Shabbat of Bamidbar would act as a buffer between the Tochachah and Shavuot.

This proximity should serve as a reminder to us all. Though modern man lives in a period which is bamidbar, in a wilderness beset with the crosswinds of immorality and irresponsibility, marked by affluence and indulgence, plagued by the erosion of values and direction, he can still avoid the harsh implications of the Tochachah. By remembering that the formulation of our peoplehood, through our acceptance of the Torah, took place in a wilderness, we attain the proper perspective. We must embrace the holiday of Shavuot by acknowledging our unswerving loyalty to G-d's Torah under any time, place or circumstance.

Rabbi Klavan is the Rabbi of Congregation Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah, Washington, D.C.

AMIT	Orthodox Union	National Council of Young Israel
Bnei Akiva	Poalei Agudath Yisroel	Religious Zionists of America
Emunah	Rabbinical Council of America	Touro College Alumni

RIETS Alumni, Stern College Alumnae, Sy Syms School of Business Alumni, & Yeshiva College Alumni (YU)

Torah Insights for Shabbat Parashat Bamidbar

June 7, 1997

Rabbi Klavan is the Rabbi of Congregation Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah, Washington, D.C.