Sefer Bamidbar (Numbers) teaches us that there is no shortcut to genuine religiosity. To achieve it, one needs to dwell for years in a desert, full of dangers; wild animals, storms, war, and unbearable heat.

It is surely not by accident that the Torah opens this book with the words: “The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai” (Bamidbar 1:1). The wilderness is not merely a geographical location. It is a spiritual condition.

But while the road is dangerous, it is the journey itself that is the greatest accomplishment, not the final destination.

To be fully religious is not possible. To live in constant awareness that we exist in the presence of God would be so overwhelming that we would become completely paralyzed. One can only make a sincere attempt.

Instantaneous transformation is impossible.

The Israelites began as a band of liberated slaves who had no idea how to deal with their newfound freedom. Before there could be any meaningful change, they first needed to learn what freedom truly meant—not merely throwing off the yoke of slavery, but by accepting an exalted mission of spiritual and moral grandeur.

Freedom Without Transformation

Yet what the Torah and all of Jewish history teach us is that the Jews continued to struggle with freedom but never fully internalized it.

The first generation that left Egypt failed at freedom. It was simply too much. That generation could only lay the foundation for the next generation, the one born in the desert. Something needs to die before something new can grow in its place. But even that second generation did not fully succeed.

With the giving of the Torah at Sinai, one could have hoped that the impact of slavery would finally be overcome and that the Jewish people would discover genuine spiritual freedom. But it did not happen.

The people did........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)