And God spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year of their exodus from the land of Egypt... (Numbers 1:1)
Last year I participated in Ramah Darom's (Camp Ramah in Georgia) 10th anniversary celebration. This event held special significance for me, for I was lucky enough to be a part of Darom's inaugural staff in the summer of 1997, and have spent my summers there ever since. Even in April, without the hustle and bustle of almost 700 campers and staff, and without the friends I spent so many long days and nights working with, the experience of just being in the physical space of camp conjured up emotions I was hardly prepared for. My reaction was a mix of memory and space, of time and place
The very first verse of Bamidbar (above) at first glance, appears to be merely descriptive. The reader is simply being told where our story is picking up (wilderness), the place that God addresses Moses (Tent of Meeting), and the date of the event (first day of the second month in the second year of their exodus). After all, have we not been on hiatus from the action of the Israelite people for an entire book, Sefer Vayikra? Any good story of adventure must continually inform the audience of its setting!
However, beyond the reminder of where and when we pick up the story with the Israelite people, the Torah is also being prescriptive. Sefer Vayikra mapped out for us a complicated and detailed blueprint for encountering God, praising God, and apologizing to God -- the sacrificial system. The first verse of Bamidbar counters by claiming that experiencing God can actually be quite simple. One need not wear extravagant priestly garments; one need only a wilderness, and a Tent of Meeting.
The wilderness represents the vastness of the lives we lead (the chaos, even), and the Tent of Meeting symbolizes the sacred experiences we carry in our hearts. That is to say, even when we feel lost something inside of us can work outwards to help foster holy moments.
As a student at the University of Florida I would often begin the semester ready to conquer the world. New notebooks, a new system for organization, a number of resolutions for being in control- all lost in roughly a month. My personal wilderness. It is only when my life seemed on the brink of complete disarray that I would dig deep and pursue strength from within (usually during finals week) in order to buckle down and finish the semester successfully. That strength, I believe, was my Tent of Meeting hidden in my wilderness. My Tent of Meeting: The experience of Ramah Darom.
Professor Richard Elliot Friedman, in his remarkable commentary on the Torah, beautifully describes the journey in the wilderness in the introduction to Sefer Bamidbar:
"One must read the story in Numbers with a sense of what is pictured: a great mass of people, an entire nation, in movement-with a visible miracle (the column of cloud and fire) and miraculous feeding (manna) happening in their presence at all times over a span of nearly forty years... There is organization for travel, a hierarchy for community life (Moses, judges, priests) and formal rituals of time (Sabbath, holidays, and new moons) and of space (sacrifice, incense, vestments, the Tabernacle, fringes on clothing)." (Commentary on the Torah, 421)
The cornerstone of this journey through the wilderness is the Tent of Meeting, the portable gathering place for meeting God; a mikdash ma'at (small holy space bursting at the seams with the Divine presence). The organization, the rituals and the hierarchy, all revolve around the space within which God speaks to Moses. In a very real way, the Ramah experience resembles this depiction. There are multitudes of campers and staff and a structure of life that lends itself to consistent interaction with God. Even in the expanse of the Deep South and the chaos of nearly 500 campers, a living Tent of Meeting rests poised to offer opportunities for order and interaction. It is this experience that I draw from when I my wilderness weighs down upon me, and it is this place that consistently draws me near God when the world around me seems only to be an inhibitor for such encounters.
Next week we celebrate Rosh Hodesh Sivan and sit on the brink of Shavuot, the holiday that marks the Israelites people's first encounter with Torah in the wilderness. You too sit prepared for your opportunity to receive Torah, to sense God. The question is: What is your personal Tent of Meeting that will foster that possibility? What sacred experience gets you through the semester? What helps bring order to your life?
Find your Tent of Meeting and you may just find God.
Shabbat Shalom
**This drash was created originally for KOACH's (College Outreach for United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism) monthly Ezine and I appreciate their letting me use it here as well.