d’var torah
Escaping the Wilderness
BY RABBI LINDA HOLTZMAN
I Parshat B’midbar
t sometimes feels as if we are all
b’midbar, in the wilderness, uncer-
tain as to what to do next. In the
wake of the horrifi c shooting at an ele-
mentary school in Uvalde, Texas, I am
feeling that way.

Are we really living in a country
that we can be proud of — one that
is moving toward greater peace and
justice? Or are we wandering in a wil-
derness with no clarity about how to
stop the shootings and killings and
the overwhelming gun violence from
continuing? Of all the countries in the
developed world, the United States has
the highest percentage of deaths by gun
violence, signifi cantly higher than all
the others.

During the days aft er the mass kill-
ing in Uvalde, we all witnessed the
usual, now too-familiar response: tears
and prayers, a desire to stand with the
bereaved and saddened parents, friends
and family of those killed, and poli-
ticians shouting about the need to do
more to end this gun violence epidemic.

Yet the next night in Philadelphia
there was a shooting that injured three
people and, in the days since, there
have been many more shootings and
killings. As the headlines about Uvalde fade,
the will to do something real about
ending the scourge of gun violence in
our country will lessen, and the serious
work that it will take for us to make
a real diff erence will dissipate. But it
is so clear that we need to do some-
thing right now! Th is week’s parsha,
B’midbar, gives us some hints about
what needs to be done.

Th e fi rst word in the parsha, in the
whole book that we are starting to read,
grounds us in the wilderness. Here we
are with little clarity or certainty about
what will happen next — about what
we need to do.

In the midbar, anything can happen.

And in this book, so many strange
things take place: A donkey talks, an
overabundance of quail descends for
the people to eat, Moses hits a rock
and water fl ows out for the people,
and there’s a mutiny in the Israelite
camp. Th e start of the book, however,
the section we read this week, gives us
guidance about how to weather these
challenges. First is the acceptance of the fact that
we are all wandering in a wilderness.

When we think that we know what
will happen next, when we think we
are in control in life, we need to face
the truth. Just like the Israelites, none
of us are in control. We are b’midbar
where anything can happen. People
plan, and God laughs is truer each day.

So we enter the wilderness, and then?
We aimlessly wander accepting all that
we are given? Clearly not!
Th e rest of the Torah portion is not
about aimless wandering at all. Th e
Israelites organize their camp accord-
ing to precise directions, fi nd a way
to create a safe, solid community, and
organize their space and their commu-
nity in thoughtful ways. Th ey establish
a census and pay careful attention to
who is in the community, to what
everyone’s needs are and to what each
individual can contribute to all.

At the heart of the community is
the mishkan, the Tabernacle where the
presence of God dwells; this guarantees
that no one can ever forget that the
community is a holy one with its core
values always at its heart.

In our world, we have entered the
midbar, and we seem to be waiting
for something to act to organize our
community to stand up against the
gun violence that is taking over. Th ere
is no one who is going to do the needed
work except us. We need to keep our
mishkan — our deepest values — in
our heart and realize that by simply
arming more people and giving the
police more power and trying to guard
our children’s schools, we are not doing
the work that will build a safe, solid
community. We are not following the
Israelites’ example of doing thoughtful
work in the face of uncertainty.

It is time for us to stop jumping for
quick fi xes whenever there is a shooting
and to do the serious organizing and
planning that can make real change.

We can start by:
— providing fair and equal educa-
tion to all students in our city’s schools.

— bringing jobs with livable wages
to every Philadelphia neighborhood.

— creating youth programming that
is creative and inviting for children in
every neighborhood in Philadelphia.

— electing representatives who will
keep guns off the streets and out of the
hands of those who should not have
them. — changing the system to have non-
police responders give people in emer-
gency situations the care they need.

— fi xing the streets and lights and all
that is broken and overlooked in many
Philadelphia neighborhoods.

— and so much more.

Th ere are so many ways to step up to
face the challenges that gun violence
brings to our city. Together, we can
work to create a safe and solid commu-
nity with peace and justice at its heart.

Once we are in the midbar, we have no
choice. JE
Rabbi Linda Holtzman is on the fac-
ulty of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical
College and is the rabbi of the Tikkun
Olam Chavurah. Th e Board of Rabbis
of Greater Philadelphia is proud to pro-
vide diverse perspectives on Torah com-
mentary for the Jewish Exponent. Th e
opinions expressed in this column are
the author’s own and do not refl ect the
view of the Board of Rabbis.

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