parsha bit: B'midbar

[cellio]

The rabbis ask why the torah was given in the midbar, the wilderness. One commonly-cited answer is that it was given in a place not claimed by anyone to show that the torah is available to all. Another is that it was to teach us about openness: just as the desert is open to all influences, so must we be open if we are to adopt torah. We must be open to new perspectives and ready to examine and experiment with others' interpretations rather than closing our minds and thinking we know the truth. (Pesikta d'Rav Kahanah 107a)

I'd love to know the context for this one; I saw this passage quoted in another source but don't have the original.

(I didn't actually give this one today; I deferred to someone else in leading the service.)

Comments

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

My gut feeling -- I won't pretend that this is based on any talmudic wisdom -- is that the wilderness is undefiled -- it's literally G-d's Country -- and so this shows that the giving of the Torah signified an entirely new and supremely holy thing. When, for example, I read in the story of the Burning Bush "put off your shoe, for you are standing on holy ground" I understand that to imply not only G-d's presence, but that the place had never been touched by man before. I also saw a connection when, while studying Welsh, I learned that the the word "gwyn" means not only "white" but "pure" and "clean" and "holy". I think it's an intrinsic part of our psyches that holiness and cleanliness and purity are tied up in the same notion -- that cleanliness really is next to godliness, and I think there may be some of that going on here.