Hefker K'Midbar: Making Room For Wilderness

(1) On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying:

(7) ...And God spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai. Why in the desert of Sinai? .... Another interpretation of 'And God spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai' - whoever does not make him/herself open to all [lit. ownerless], like a desert is not able to acquire wisdom and Torah, therefore it is written 'in the desert of Sinai'...

Said Rabbi Abahu....in the name of Rabbi Yochanan...When the Holy Blessed One gave the Torah, no bird chirped, no fowl fluttered, no ox lowed, the angels did not fly, the Seraphim did not utter the Kedusha, the sea did not roar, the creatures did not speak; the universe was silent and mute. And the voice came forth “Anochi Adonai Elohecha” (I am the Infinite, your God).

The verse states with regard to Joab: “And he was buried in his own house, in the wilderness” (I Kings 2:34). The Gemara asks: Is that to say that Joab’s house was a wilderness? Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Joab’s house was like the wilderness; just as the wilderness is freely open to all, so too, Joab’s house was freely open to all, as he generously opened his house to the poor and made them feel like members of the household.

(R. Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk)

The Torah only stands firm in one who makes himself like a midbar hefker before those who are poor of mind and rich of mind, and he doesn’t think of himself as better than his friend. On the contrary, he should be completely nullified before his friend, and it is through this that they become united and bound up one with the other.

(Rabbi Arthur Green translation)

"Indeed, the children of Israel have not listened to me, so how will Pharaoh, since I am a man of uncircumcised lips?" [Ex: 6:12] We have already explained that it is because Israel refused to listen that he has these "uncircumcised lips." The prophet prophesies by the power of those who listen. This is the meaning of "a prophet from your midst...[to him you shall listen]" [Deut. 18:15]; it also says: "Hear, my people, and I will speak" [Ps. 50:7]. The rabbis teach that a witness must be one who can hear.

This is what delayed the giving of the Ten Commandments. Speech was in exile as long as those who were to receive Torah had not yet readied themselves to hear the word of God. When it says [of the people in Egypt] that "they did not listen to Moses" [Ex. 6:9], the Midrash says that it was hard for them to abandon their "foreign worship." Thus it is said: "No man would cast away the abominations of his eyes" [Ezek. 20:8]. This does not necessarily refer to idols, but to worship that was foreign to them.

Hearing requires being empty of everything. "Hear, O daughter, and see, give ear; forget your people and your father's house" [Ps. 45:11]. This is the essence of exile today as well: our inability to empty ourselves, to forget this world's vanities so that we empty the heart to hear God's word without any distracting thought. This is the meaning of the verse: "Do not turn after your hearts [or your eyes]" [Num. 15:39]. It was because "no man would cast away the abominations of his eyes" that they walked amid "the idols of Egypt." Had they been ready to hear God's word, they would have been redeemed immediately.

Now Torah has already been given to Israel by "a great voice that did not cease." [Deut. 5:19]. It has never stopped. Each day we say "Hear, O Israel, YHWH our God, YHWH is One" [Deut 6:4]; this is the voice saying: "I am YHWH your God"; it has never stopped. But we have to prepare ourselves to truly hear the Shema' without any distracting thought.

This is why we mention the Exodus [in the Song of the Sea] before the Shema'. By being redeemed from Egypt we are emptied of all distraction and become ready to hear God's word...

trans. Arthur Green

In the Midrash, the Torah is imagined as like the wilderness (midbar), in that one needs to be “hefker (free, unattached, ownerless)” like the wilderness…The Midrash tells of a prince who entered one city after another only to see the people flee before him, until he came to a ruined city (midbar), where he was greeted with praise. Said the prince: “This is the best of all the cities. Here I will set my throne.”

The word “midbar” comes from a root meaning “to lead” or “rule.” The “midbar” is one who acquiesces to that rule. That is to say, a person should empty oneself (m’vatel et atzmo) such that one has no strength or initiative save for the live force of the Exalted One.