Dedicated to Sheri Rosenberg

Parashat Bemidbar 5775/ 23 May 2015

The time between starting out and reaching the goal is bewildering. The great contemporary biblical interpreter, Aviva Zornberg, translates Bamidar, the book of the Torah that we begin today, as bewilderment. This is a far better title than the Book of Numbers that the Greeks bequeathed to the English and more active than the more literal “In the wilderness,” the Hebrew might yield.

Bewilderment connotes movement. It describes the journeying from one place to another with intimations of sometimes even feeling as though one is going around in circles. It describes ups and downs; encounters with the unknown and changes of course that don’t always make sense. It describes on the most literal narrative sense, the history of the people of Israel between Sinai and Eretz Yisrael – a goal that will not even be reached by the end of the Torah – but it also describes the course of the life of every human being and every human community. There will be joy and sadness, aggression and defense, mistakes and reconciliations, life and death, and still the goal will only be seen from far off.

And when the people finally arrive at the bank of the Jordan, this book will end and a fifth book of the Torah – one that might be called the book of memory and inspiration, will review all of the ins and outs of the journey and finally reiterate the values of commitment, justice and love that ultimately constitute the goal of the journey whether the new land is reached or not.

Whether in 4 days or 40 days or 40 years, what counts is the commitment, the justice and the love of the journey. This community has once more, as it no doubt will be again in the future, been rocked by tragedy. But, the commitment, justice and love of Sheri’s journey will remain our inspiration despite the brevity of her journey.

Tags: Bemidbar, Future, Tragedy