Sign In Forgot Password

Approaching the Desert

03/09/2023 08:43:41 AM

Mar9

Beth Schafer

There is a poem by Rabbi Zoë Klein that posits that there are three regions in each of our souls; Egypt, the desert, and the Promised Land. The poem affirms that all of us come from some sort of Egypt, a place or state of constriction, containing something we’d like to leave behind for something better. At the other end of our journey there is a Promised Land, a place or state that we imagine to be the best version of ourselves, or even of all humanity. Finally, the poem reminds us, that between those two endpoints of the journey, there is the journey itself, which takes place in the desert. The desert represents the expanse in which we confront ourselves, make mistakes and claim victories, and, the poem expresses, it is where we spend most of our time.

As we approach the book of Leviticus, our people having received the Commandments at Sinai, we find them putting the finishing touches on the mishkan, the portable tabernacle that accompanied them as they traversed the desert. Why do we need to schlep a portable mishkan throughout the desert? This was certainly not a way to travel light.

We are told that God accompanied the Israelites as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The mishkan was the portal through which the wandering Israelites could commune with their God as a Jewish people, and find comfort in the partnership that would deliver them to the Promised Land.

Whatever journey on which we find ourselves, knowing that we are not alone is so encouraging. Constructing a “mishkan” of love, faith, values, and strong relationships protects us in the desert-no matter how long or how challenging the journey might be. It is this personal mishkan, that lives in the deepest chambers of our hearts, that is our portal to the divine, reassuring us that as we cross our deserts we are not alone.

Shabbat Shalom,

Beth

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784