Miller's Musings Parshas Bamidbar: Earth, Water and Fire

בס''ד

            

Fire, water and desert.  These are the elements in which the Torah was given according to the Medrash on this week’s Parsha.  The only thing left is to know what this actually means and, as always, what message and significance this carries with it for our own lives.

The nature of the Jewish people, right from their inception, was as a people who survived and persevered through acts and situations of extreme danger and threat to their existence.  Reb Meir Shapiro of Lublin zt’l explains that each of these three components brought in the Medrash, actually refer to a formative moment in the Jewish people’s formation. The first of these, fire, occurred when Avrohom was cast into the towering inferno due to his unfaltering belief in one G-d. This imbued his descendants with this potential for acts of self-sacrifice, manifested as an entire nation at the splitting of the Red Sea; the water.  Lest one think that this was a momentary act of greatness that could not be sustained for any longer period of time, the Jewish people’s willingness to brave the desert and all its perils, demonstrated our ability to keep faith in the most challenging of conditions. These demonstrations of our ability to respond with faith and strength in the most trying of times was what entitled us to receive the most precious and important gift ever given to humankind; the Torah.  

We live in uncertain times when there are moments and situations that can present threats to our survival both as individuals and as a nation.  Many of them are instigated by factors that are beyond our control and due in no part to choices we make.  What is within our control, however, is how we respond to these times.  When there are those who are bent on destruction, we must be committed to creation.  When some are inspired only by hate, we must challenge ourselves to act towards others with even undeserving love.  If there are people whose every act is to take and take and take, we must give and give and give.  What happens in the world around us is often not our choice and sometimes heartbreaking in the tragedy it brings.  How we react and the manner in which we choose to confront those challenges, are some of the most important decisions that we make.   

*May the serenity of Shabbos extend its peace throughout the world*

                                                                                                                          

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם

לרפואה שלימה:  שרה יעל בת ברכה אסתר