And the king, instead of addressing the crowd, singles you out. He speaks directly to you.
That, my friends, is the opening of Bamidbar Rabbah, the ancient midrash on the Book of Numbers. "The Lord spoke to Moses…" What an incredible honor, right? This is how the text begins, immediately highlighting the unique relationship between God and Moses (Bamidbar Rabbah 1).
But then, the text quickly moves on to the where. "The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai." Why specifically the wilderness? What’s so important about that location?
Well, the Sages, in their infinite wisdom, teach us that the Torah was given with three essential elements: fire, water, and the wilderness. Fire? Think back to Mount Sinai, wreathed in smoke as God descended (Exodus 19:18). Water? Remember the heavens dripping, the clouds pouring forth (Judges 5:4), a poetic image linked to the giving of the Torah. And, of course, the wilderness itself.
But why these three? What do they symbolize?
The Midrash offers a beautiful explanation. Just as fire, water, and the wilderness are available to everyone, free for the taking, so too is the Torah. It's a gift for all of humanity. “Ho, everyone who is thirsty go to water," the prophet Isaiah cries out (Isaiah 55:1). And just a few verses later, Isaiah urges us to incline our ears and listen, promising that our souls will live (Isaiah 55:3) – a clear reference to the life-giving wisdom of Torah. The Zohar, the central text of Kabbalah, also speaks of Torah as the “water of life,” nurturing and sustaining us.
But there’s another, perhaps even more profound, reason for the wilderness. The Midrash teaches that only someone who makes themselves like a wilderness – open, accessible, and without pretense – can truly acquire wisdom and Torah.
Think about it. The wilderness is a place of humility, stripped bare of distractions and ego. It demands that we be present, that we listen, that we learn. It's a blank canvas on which God can write.
So, the next time you open a sacred text, remember the wilderness of Sinai. Remember the call to humility, to openness, to making yourself a vessel ready to receive the divine wisdom that is freely offered to us all. It’s not just about studying the words, but about preparing our hearts and minds to truly hear them.