Rabbi’s message for May 22, 2020 - Shabbat Bamidbar 5780

Shabbat Shalom and happy Yom Yerushalayim!  Today, Friday May 22, 2020, marks Jerusalem Day, the date of the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem, as Israel reclaimed sovereignty over the ancient Jewish capital and holy city.  Join us later today for our online Oneg Shabbat (details below) with songs in celebration of this beloved city.
This coming week, we mark the holiday of Shavuot, from Thursday night through to Shabbat.  Shavuot is known as “Zman matan torateinu” – the time of the gift of Torah – the date on which Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai 3300 years ago.  
At Kehilat Shalom, we will be celebrating the Chag with a special online Yizkor service Thursday evening, followed by shared musical entertainment and Torah learning.  Because Shavuot is traditionally celebrated with dairy meals, we invite you that evening to join in “breaking bread” together virtually.  Because we will be doing our online event prior to the start of Chag, it is your choice whether you wish to indulge in a meal or snack during our online celebration, or to simply talk with us about what you might eat later that evening for the Shavuot holiday.  Please share any recipes or other food ideas as well with the congregation!  We can circulate any such items by email and/or our Facebook group.
The name of this week’s Torah portion is also the same as that of the fourth book of Torah which this parsha introduces: Bamidbar.  Bamidbar means “in the desert/wilderness”, where the Israelites spent forty years on their journey to the land of Israel.  
This portion is always chanted on the Shabbat prior to Shavuot. The reason traditionally given for this juxtaposition is that, just as the unowned desert is wide-open to everyone, so too is the Torah open and available to all in this world.  Another reason for the connection between Bamidbar and Shavuot is that this week’s parsha includes G-d’s commanding of a census of the Jewish people.  Recall that a census in Judaism is a very sacred matter; people are not to be counted unless under specific instruction by Hashem.  Rashi explains that this particular census was commanded in order to enact G-d’s love of each individual Jewish person.  Just as someone may count their treasures, even more so G-d wished to count the treasure which was each and every Israelite.  The reading of Bamidbar prior to Shavuot signifies G-d’s treasuring each and every Jewish person, and marking this love with the gift of Torah to each and every one.
Yet there is another connection between Badmibar and Shavuot which I wish to highlight.  The “midbar”, or desert/wilderness, is a place of barrenness. Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb points out that the Yiddish translation for this word, “veesternisht”, is similar to the translation of the chaotic tohu vavohu that preceded G-d’s creation of heaven and Earth: “poost und veest” — empty and desolate.
And what do the Jewish people, under Hashem’s guidance, do amid this desolation?  They construct order.  They create encampments according to the twelve tribes.  The parsha describes how the tribes’ camps were arranged, three to each side (north, south, east and west) of the central sanctuary, the mishkan. Just as we Jews today orient ourselves in prayer towards our most sacred space, Jerusalem, so too did the Israelite camps face towards the mishkan, thus signifying Hashem’s centrality in their lives.
And just as this holy place formed the geographic center of their lives, so too did G-d’s Torah form the center of morality, religion and meaning in their lives.  It is said that the manna Hashem sent from heaven (and the water Miriam’s well provided) sustained the Jews sufficiently that they could live their lives immersed in the study and practice of Torah.  Amid the desolation of the desert, the Jews guided by G-d’s Torah created not just order, but goodness and meaning — and fostered a legacy which carries through to our very lives at this time.
When we read Bamidbar on the Shabbat before Shavuot, we remind ourselves that our mission, as a Jewish people, is to construct order and goodness to the world according to the wondrous ways of G-d’s Torah.  From a place of senselessness, we create meaning. From the emptiness, we create holiness. From a place of desolation, we create hope.
So too may we, in this uncertain and chaotic time, create meaning, hope and goodness in order to carry forth the legacy from Sinai to this day.