Wilderness, Water and Fire: Humility and Raising the Head

1“Hashem spoke to Moshe in the Wilderness of Sinai … Lift up the head of the entire congregation of Bnei Yisrael, by their families, by their fathers' house.”¹ Why does the verse need to tell us here that Hashem spoke in the Wilderness of Sinai? The Ibn Ezra and the Ramban have already raised this point.² We must also look closely at the words “the head.” The verse could have said, “Take the count of Bnei Yisrael.” What, then, does the word “head” mean here?

2The Midrash Rabbah says: “‘Hashem spoke to Moshe in the Wilderness of Sinai.’ Why in the Wilderness of Sinai? From here the Sages taught that the Torah was given through three things: through fire, through water and through the wilderness. Through fire, from where? ‘And Mount Sinai was all in smoke …’ Through water, from where? As it says, ‘The heavens also dripped, the clouds also dripped water.’ Through the wilderness, from where? ‘Hashem spoke to Moshe in the Wilderness of Sinai.’ And why was it given through these three things? Just as these are free to all who come into the world, so the words of Torah are free, as it says, ‘Ho, all who are thirsty, go to the water.’”³ But how do these three things connect to receiving the Torah?

3aWe can explain this through the words of my holy father and teacher, zt"l, on Rashi's comment: “Out of His love for them, He counts them every hour.”⁴ My holy father noticed the wording “every hour,” and explained it through a saying of Chazal: “The early pious ones would wait one hour before their prayer and one hour after their prayer.”⁵ Before prayer, he explained, they waited an hour to reflect on their own lowliness: in what state were they approaching prayer? After prayer they waited an hour to reflect on what they were taking with them from it. They wanted the prayer to leave its mark on them for the whole day, so that they could bring holiness into all the physical matters of that day.

3bWe find the same idea in Torah study: a blessing over the Torah is said before learning and after it.⁶ The blessing before is a time to reflect on what connection one has to the Torah; the blessing after, to reflect on what one is taking away from it. This is hinted in the words Israel said at Sinai, “We will do and we will hear,” na'aseh venishma.⁷ Before Torah study a person needs “we will do,” na'aseh, which means rectifying his soul [for asiyah, “doing,” also carries the sense of repairing]. After learning comes “we will hear,” nishma: seeing what he has heard and received from the Torah. That is the meaning of “Out of His love for them, He counts them every hour.” In Heaven, the hours in which Bnei Yisrael reflect on themselves before and after their avodah are very precious. Those are his holy words.

4We can explain all this as follows. We know that humility and submission are a great foundation for receiving the Torah. As Chazal said, “Who is wise? One who learns from every person.”⁸ Learning from everyone shows submission and humility, for wisdom can be attained only through submission; only then can a person receive what is good and true. That is why we find that the greatest preparation for receiving the Torah was “And Israel encamped there,” which Rashi explains: “As one man with one heart.”⁹ Unity can come only from humility. Without humility each person sets himself above his fellow, and brotherhood becomes impossible.

5This lets us explain a practice, found many times in the Gemara, that seems puzzling.¹⁰ When someone asked one of the Amoraim, the sages of the Gemara, about a halachah or how to resolve a teaching, the Amora would tell the questioner that he would explain it once the questioner had done him some service. The reason is that by serving the sage, the questioner became humble and submissive, and this made him able to receive understanding of Torah; for, as we have seen, submission and humility are the foundation of receiving the Torah.

6Accordingly, we may say that this is why Parshas Bamidbar is always read before Shavuos and the receiving of the Torah. Because this parshah mentions “the Wilderness of Sinai,” we read it to teach that the first of all the preparations for being privileged to receive the Torah is humility and submission. As is well known, Mount Sinai is the lowest of the mountains, and it hints at this humility.¹¹ So does the word “wilderness,” as Chazal said in the Midrash: “Another explanation of ‘Hashem spoke to Moshe in the Wilderness of Sinai’: whoever does not make himself ownerless like a wilderness cannot acquire wisdom and Torah.”¹²

7This is what the Midrash means when it says the Torah was given through three things: wilderness, fire and water. The wilderness alludes to humility, as we saw in the Midrash about making oneself ownerless like a wilderness. Humility brings a person to “water,” which alludes to thirst for the Torah and love of it, as the verse says, “Ho, all who are thirsty, go to the water,”¹³ and “water” means nothing but Torah.¹⁴ Yet although submission and humility are the beginning of everything, a person also needs “fire,” which alludes to pride. For humility and submission can sometimes make a person slack in his Torah study, because he says, “Who am I, to be privileged to understand the words of Torah in their depth?” Then he must use the power of fire, in the spirit of the verse said of King Yehoshafat, “his heart was lifted up in the ways of Hashem.”¹⁵ He must strengthen his heart and know that he too has a connection to the Torah, and that he can learn it and understand it.

8But if submission is the very foundation and root of receiving the Torah, where can a person find the strength for a heart that is “lifted up,” and how is it possible? It comes from reflecting that we are the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. The merit of the Avos and the power of their Torah help and strengthen us, so that we can surely understand and acquire the words of the Torah. This lets us understand what Chazal said: when the Torah was given, the nations of the world envied Bnei Yisrael, and the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the nations, “Bring your book of lineage.”¹⁶ Several holy sefarim ask what lineage has to do with the Torah: the Chida's Rosh David, the Ahavas Yonasan, the Yismach Moshe and the Hafla'ah.¹⁷ But it is as we have explained. At times a person needs the power of a heart “lifted up,” and this is possible only through the merit of the Avos. That is why Hashem said, “Bring Me books of lineage”:¹⁸ the merit of the Avos is needed when the Torah is received.

9This is the meaning of the words here, “Lift up the head,” and it answers our question about the word “head.” Although the foundation of Torah is “in the Wilderness of Sinai,” submission and humility, a person must still remember that every Jew can raise himself up and summon his strength, lifting his “head,” and strengthen himself in Torah through the power of “by their families, by their fathers' house,” [the merit of his fathers].

10[We may say that this idea is contained in the words of my holy father that we cited about the hours before and after avodah. Before Torah study and before prayer, each person must reflect and know that he is still far from whole, and that he does not yet have any real grasp of Torah and avodah. That is why Israel said “We will do and we will hear” before receiving the Torah. Before Torah study a person needs “we will do”: he must know that his soul still needs a great deal of rectifying. After learning he must see what he has received from the Torah, and make sure that the Torah will go on influencing him later, when he is occupied with physical matters, so that everything stays connected and bound to the Torah. For this he needs “we will hear” in particular: to reflect that he has truly received much from the Torah. The same is true of waiting an hour before prayer. Then a person must reflect on his own lowliness: he is not able to pray and does not know how to approach prayer. And once he has been privileged to pray, he needs an hour to reflect on what strength from the prayer remains with him, so that he can bring the holiness he has gained into his physical occupations all day long.]

11[The general rule is this. When the yetzer hara comes to weaken a person by telling him that he has nothing to do with Torah and avodah, for example when he has to deal with physical matters, he should act in the spirit of “his heart was lifted up in the ways of Hashem.” He should strengthen his heart, knowing that he surely does belong to Torah and avodah, and remember all that Hashem has granted him until now, in the spirit of “Lift up the head.” In this way he will always be bound to the Torah and to avodas Hashem, the service of Hashem.]

12May the Holy One, blessed be He, help us prepare and rectify ourselves to receive the Torah properly through this middah of humility. With this character trait we will reach “as one man” as a matter of course, and be privileged to receive what the verse promises, “Length of days is in its right hand; in its left hand are wealth and honor,”¹⁹ and to see the coming of the Redeemer. Amen, may it be His will.