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(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֨ר יְהוָ֧ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֛ה בְּמִדְבַּ֥ר סִינַ֖י...
(1) God spoke to Moses in the Sinai wilderness...
Study Questions:
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How would you describe the wilderness? What images, words, emotions come to mind?
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Why do you think God speaks to Moses in the wilderness, of all places?
(ז) וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל משֶׁה בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי (במדבר א, א), לָמָּה בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי,... כָּל מִי שֶׁאֵינוֹ עוֹשֶׂה עַצְמוֹ כַּמִּדְבָּר, הֶפְקֵר, אֵינוֹ יָכוֹל לִקְנוֹת אֶת הַחָכְמָה וְהַתּוֹרָה...
(7) "And God spoke to Moses in the Sinai Wilderness" (Numbers 1:1). Why the Sinai Wilderness?...Anyone who does not make themselves ownerless like the wilderness cannot acquire the wisdom and the Torah...
Bamidbar Rabbah is a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Torah, 300-500 CE
Study Questions:
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Why is it not enough to be in the wilderness to acquire wisdom and Torah? What can we learn from the instruction to make ourselves like the wilderness? What does this mean? How might we do it?
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How is wilderness “הֶפְקֵר” / “ownerless”? What might it mean to make oneself “ownerless” (Hebrew: hefker הֶפְקֵר)? Why might this be important?
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What do you think is being referred to by “the wisdom” and “the Torah”? What kind of wisdom and Torah might come from being ownerless?
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In what ways does the concept of “wilderness” speak to your life right now?
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What sort of “wilderness” are you being challenged to traverse?
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What would it mean for you to become “ownerless”?
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What “Torah” might be waiting on the other side?
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Dakota: A Spiritual Geography
Excerpted from Kathleen Norris, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography describing life in the wilderness of the Great Plains of Dakota...
Here the eye learns to appreciate slight variations, the possibilities inherent in emptiness. It sees that the emptiness is full of small things… A person is forced inward by the spareness of what is outward and visible in all this land and sky… Maybe seeing the Plains is like seeing an icon: what seems stern and almost empty is merely open, a door into some simple and holy state.
Study Questions:
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This text offers an intimate account of wilderness.
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What does this evoke for you?
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What images, associations, feelings arise?
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What does this text add to your understanding of wilderness?
אֲנִי חֲבַצֶּלֶת הַשָּׁרוֹן (שֽׁוֹשַׁנַּ֖ת הָעֲמָקִֽים)... רַבִּי בֶּרֶכְיָה אָמַר, הַפָּסוּק הַזֶּה הַמִּדְבָּר אֲמָרוֹ, אָמַר הַמִּדְבָּר, אֲנִי מִדְבָּר וְחָבִיב אָנִי, שֶׁכָּל טוֹבוֹת שֶׁבָּעוֹלָם חֲבוּיִין בִּי...
"I am a rose (chavatzelet) of Sharon, a lily of the valleys (Song of Songs 1:1)"... Rabbi Berechyah said: "This verse is the statement of the desert. The desert said: ""I" am the desert, and beloved (chavivah) am I because all the good things in the world are stored (chavuyin) in me..
Shir HaShirim Rabbah is a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Torah, 8th century, CE
Study Questions:
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Song of Songs is considered by some ancient rabbinic sources to be a love poem between two human beings or, as a love poem between God and Israel. This midrash reads the wilderness into the role of the beloved.
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What does it mean for the wilderness to call itself “beloved”?
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Why do you think the wilderness feels a need to declare that it is beloved?
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To whom do you imagine the wilderness is speaking?
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This text states that “all good things” are hidden in the wilderness.
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What does this mean? What “good things” might the midrash be referring to?
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How do you imagine the “good things” hidden in the wilderness are discovered or revealed?
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