Miles from NoWhere

Yep, time to start a new book. We just finished Vayikra, wrapped up in a tidy little package all those laws about sacrifices and the like (well, not so tidy – see last week's Pshat!), and it's time to move on.

But, to where? Where are we going? And where are we now? Oh, yeah, those last couple of parashiyot of Vayikra reminded us that, despite all the emphasis on the MIshkan and, by implication, its permanent successor, the Beit Hamikdash, we are still firmly planted at Mount Sinai. And standing (and sitting, and camping, and waiting) at Sinai, we are still dreaming of returning to a land that returns to each of us every fifty years. Marching instructions? None, yet. We're still stuck in the middle.

Indeed, Josh, my weekly Ramban chevruta, adamantly insists that we are still in Vayikra, still in a process that began toward the end of Shemot and won't come to a conclusion until Hashem "gets those doggies movin'" in Beha'alotecha, where one of B'midbar's three books – the "good" book – comes to a close and another – the "bad" book – slaps us in the face. Until then, we're still in the midst, says Josh.

All of this is true. And yet: we begin a new chumash, one which, though difficult to characterize, with its difficult to grasp interplay of narrative and halachic material - is different from Vayikra from the get-go.

So, let's start from that beginning. Here's the first verse of Bamidbar:

"And Hashem spoke to Moshe in the desert of Sinai on the first of the second month in the second year of their going out from the land of Egypt, saying..."

Last week, Hashem spoke to Moshe at Mount Sinai. Now, it's the DESERT of Sinai? Is that the same place? The people haven't departed the mountain yet, so it must be. Yet if so, why change the reference from "mountain" to "desert"?

The key is to be found in the word "spoke". The place reference isn't referring to where the people are, but to whence the Divine voice emanates. Until this point, Hashem has spoken to Moshe from the top of Mt. Sinai. Now, in Bamidbar, the Divine voice comes to Moshe from between the two keruvim almost-embracing atop the aron, as promised by Hashem way back in Parashat Terumah.

The date noted in this passuk confirms this: the first of the second month. Now the entire Mishkan was made operational on the first of the FIRST month of the second year – that's the date of the passage in chapter 8 where the mitzvah of Pesach Sheni is given. ("Wait a second", you ask – "why does a passage dated "1/2/2^nd from Egypt" precede one dated "1/1/2^nd from Egypt"!! Ah, good question! See Ramban square off with Ibn Ezra on this question – coming up in a couple short weeks!) With the Mishkan up and running, Hashem speaks to us from that special point He's chosen as His Dwellingplace in our midst.

But why the SECOND month? Why do we not hear Hashem's guidance and instruction from that place right away upon the completion of the construction of the Mishkan? Why wait a month? The Kli Yakar has a beautiful insight. He says that since Hashem was not to "take up residence" amongst us as a "temporary lodger" but as a "permanent resident", Now permanent residence – dirat keva – is only established after a full month of residence. Only when one loony cycle of waxing and waning, of hiding and reappearance, of tzimtzum and hitpashtut is complete can the relationship proceed on a basis of trust in process. "Mommy's gone to the store but SHE'LL BE BACK", are words which reassure not only the toddler but the parent as well. Hashem wanted to reveal Himself to us from the perspective of Eternity – a perspective we didn't merit even at Mt. Sinai.

When Hashem move IN, Mt. Sinai, with all of its ephemeral florescence, the lights, the sights, the shakes and sounds and smells – reverts to desert by comparison. The nourishment, the richness, the sustenance – all comes through the channel He has establish "b'toch" – in the midst – of individual, family, tribe, people…universe. That is why, says the Or HaChaim, that midbar in our verse precedes ohel mo'ed. Just as with the designation, where the particular precedes the universal – date precedes year – likewise, and almost counterintuitively, with place: The spiritual singularity of bein shnei hakeruvim, that forever-point bounded momentarily by non-touch of the beating wings of the celestial beings approaching embrace even as they are solidly mired in the thick gold of the atonement cover – that singularity is expressive of the everflow of the The Oneness – and the desert, in all its apparent generality and receptiveness, an unmarked canvass upon which our people will paint its journey in colors of forty years and Shabbat portions, is but a particular waiting to become actualized.

As did our ancestors before us, we wander the deserts of our lives, causing them bloom with meaning by the dripping sweat of our grandest visions and apocalyptic fears. That expanse is as transversable, that bloom is as real as we allow the bein hakeruvim point to be in our lives. When we see and experience the Yes that Hashem says about us and pours into us on every level, then even in the desert, we are miles from nowhere!