D'var Torah By: Steven Kushner for ReformJudaism.org
Becoming Midbar
There are only three places in Torah: Mitzrayim or Egypt, which means "the narrow place" in Hebrew; eretz zavat chalav u' d'vash, "land that flows with milk and honey" at the opposite end of the continuum; and in the middle, midbar, the unknown empty space of wilderness. It is midbar, this in-between place, that is at the center of our attention this week (and, for that matter, the next eight weeks). It is the overriding theme of the entirety of the Book of Numbers in Hebrew, B'midbar, "In Wilderness."
While often translated as "In the Wilderness," let me note that the name of this week's parashah and the book it commences can be read as "In Wilderness," at least if we are translating just the word B'midbar by itself. The vocalization of B'midbar has a sh'va beneath the first letter bet, which sounds like b' or beh, indicating the word "in." There is no patach under the bet (ba) to indicate a definite article, "the." Reading the word in isolation, therefore, one can find a hint that midbar is a larger, more generic notion than a specific place. Wilderness is more than a construct of geography: it is a state of being.
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