{"id":46264,"date":"2018-12-23T18:28:10","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T16:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=46264"},"modified":"2022-07-17T15:49:22","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T12:49:22","slug":"make-yourself-like-wilderness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/make-yourself-like-wilderness\/","title":{"rendered":"Make Yourself Like Wilderness"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":50634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[788,702,410,435],"acf":{"old_id":"46264","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"118","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The wildness of creative interpretation...","content":"<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the beginning of the Book of Numbers, we are told that \u201cthe Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting\u201d (Numbers 1:1). What might the rabbinic sages make of this simply informative indication? It is the fundamental nature of midrash to \u201csearch out\u201d [the Hebrew root D-R-Sh means \u201cto seek\u201d] the possible implications of every discrete linguistic element in the Scriptural text &#8212; individual letters, words, phrases, verses, chapters and whole biblical books. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A parade example of the rabbinic tendency to focus particularly on a single word is found in the opening chapter of the most well-known aggadic-midrashic composition on the book of Numbers (Numbers Rabbah 1:7): <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr; padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhy does God choose to speak to Moses \u2018in the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wilderness<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of Sinai\u2019? Pondering this question, the Sages formulated the following teaching: \u201cThe Torah was given through three entities \u2013 Fire, Water and Wilderness. Through Fire, is suggested by the verse \u2018Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the Lord had come down upon it in fire\u2019 (Exodus 19:18). Through Water, is suggested by the verse \u2018The heavens dripped. Yea, the clouds dripped water. The mountains quaked before the Lord, Him of Sinai\u2019 (Judges 5:4-5). And through Wilderness, is suggested by the verse \u2018the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting\u2019 (Numbers 1:1). <br \/>\nBut why was the Torah given through these particular entities? Because Fire, Water and Wilderness are all freely available to everyone in the world. So too, the Words of Torah are freely available to all, as it says in Scripture: \u2018Ho, all who are thirsty, come for water. Even if you have no money, come! Buy food and eat. Buy food without money, wine and milk without cost\u2019 (Isaiah 55:1). But only those who, in turn, make themselves like the Wilderness \u2013 that is, \u201cfreely available\u201d (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hefqer<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, i.e. unencumbered, intellectually open) to grasp the word of God \u2013 only they will be able to acquire the Wisdom of Torah. This is what is suggested by \u201c\u2026in the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wilderness<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of Sinai\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps the creators of aggadic midrash are here hinting to us, that to fully appreciate their creative approach to Scripture, we may \u2013 on occasion \u2013 need to suspend our everyday rationality in order to resonate with their sometimes seemingly \u201cwild\u201d interpretive imagination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>image:\u00a0http:\/\/powerlisting.wikia.com\/wiki\/File:Fire-earth-air-water.jpg<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":46354,"id":46354,"title":"num1-Fire-earth-air-water","filename":"num1-Fire-earth-air-water.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/num1-Fire-earth-air-water.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/make-yourself-like-wilderness\/num1-fire-earth-air-water\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"num1-fire-earth-air-water","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":46264,"date":"2018-12-25 04:27:56","modified":"2019-12-05 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