Bamidbar

Reflection by Ariel Dominique Hendelman, from the Or HaLev team:

"This week, we enter into the book of Bamidbar, which is translated into English as Numbers, but actually means `In the Desert.` In truth, both titles are fitting. In the first portion, Am Yisrael is being counted - God tells Moshe to take a census of the 12 tribes - and we are also still in the desert. We often describe our time in the desert as `wandering,` but the movements are actually quite precise. The Levites are the ones to dismantle and carry the Mishkan, and then reassemble it at the next camp. The Kohanim carry the ritual objects from one camp to the next. So too, the placement of each tribe's tents are set in a specific direction and order surrounding the mishkan itself. Even though Am Yisrael may be displaced, and still on their way to the Promised Land, there is a sacred order to the journey.

Meditation practice can feel a lot like wandering through the desert - with uncertainty as the constant landscape. The desert is a place stripped of frills. It has no billboards or high-rises, it does not even have the comfort of swaying trees or rivers that promise the sustenance of life. The desert is bare, wild, and raw, much like what we encounter when we go within, and dare to return again and again to the still quiet place that exists just between those racing thoughts; that memory; that future aspiration. The desert is where trust and devotion are our compasses. Because if we look deeply enough, if we stay committed to the journey, we realize  - and remember, that there is a sacred order to the journey. We are heading somewhere after all - to the land that was promised to us. We see glimpses of it when we touch in to the compassionate and loving presence within; when we feel that we are home and that it's been inside us all this time."

Shavuot Sameach & Shabbat Shalom from Or HaLev