Wandering the Desert

Newsletter April 29, 2024 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

For those who observe seven days of Passover, the holiday concludes this evening. Suddenly we can resume eating chametz (bring on the pizza!), but spiritually, we also find ourselves alone in the desert wilderness. At least, that’s how it was for the ancient Israelites who made the exodus journey from slavery to freedom. Essentially once they cast off oppression in Egypt, they were faced with the daunting task of having to dream into existence what to do with that newfound freedom. They had to envision a new way forward; a new way that had never existed in their lifetime.

Would each family go their separate way on the journey? Or would they band together? And if they stuck together, would they build power and replicate old systems of domination and control, or create spiritually healthy communities based on sharing and caring?

The Torah tells us there was bickering and infighting in the wilderness. The people grew tired of wandering. It was hot and they began to take the miracle of manna from heaven for granted. When Miriam died, the wells of water accompanying them dried up and the people threatened to rebel against Moses’ prophetic leadership who, in turn, grew frustrated and struck the rock when God had instructed that he simply speak with it. 

This people had lived through a miracle, being saved from 400 years of slavery, and now, what? Fighting for freedom from oppression seemed to be easier than imagining a new world and working toward that vision. Their sights had been dimmed by centuries of subjugation.

Indeed, it is difficult to shift the paradigm, to grow and realize that you are no longer struggling against the injustices committed by those in power, and that you are free to think and dream. Even harder to consider that now here you are with your own power calling the shots, and held accountable by throngs of people who would be impacted by your every move.

Leadership is like that. In my own days in college, I had been a student leader fighting for changes to campus policies that were not thought out well, causing harm, and/or flatly discriminatory. But, when later I became a school administrator, I realized it is one thing to critique leadership and it is another thing to actually lead. To have your finger on the pulse of the people, to envision a better way of doing things, to create policies around those visions, and then to execute them well. And, probably most importantly, to be flexible enough to receive critique from those invested in the goals of the community to change course as needed. 

Religiously, the tension at this time of year is due to the shift of the holidays associated with the ancient Israelites from being an enslaved people, to now governing ourselves. And it seems that the tensions today reflect this challenge- the Jewish people worldwide and in Israel in particular are wrestling with what it means to forge a new way forward.

Some have taken on the paradigms of our oppressors. Some are still acting like we are enslaved. And those striving to push through a new vision are divided on what that new vision could or should be. Add in powerful monied geopolitical forces who attempt to influence leadership and who inject sophisticated weapons systems into the equation, and we get what we are seeing on the 5 o’clock news everyday. No wonder we are all exhausted.

We are living through a huge historical shift in power, resources, leadership styles, and tactics of warfare. We could not have envisioned a world like this, and now we are left to deal with it. 

Fortunately, our tradition has provided a spiritual scaffolding to support the ancient Israelites through the titanic shift in orientation to their world. Perhaps we can lean on this practice in our day, as well, to help us clarify our calling?

The practice is called is the counting of the Omer- a ritual that would have us contemplate every day for seven weeks who we are as spiritual beings. It would lead us through our grief and trauma and ground us in the best of human qualities.

The kabbalists developed this way of counting that involved taking seven of the ten attributes of God and balancing them among themselves. This created a system by which participants methodically contemplate who we are spiritually daily for 49 days.

This is the journey our people have taken for centuries; perhaps now we can use it to help us acclimate to our new position in the world; to consider our new position in the world post-Holocaust, post-the founding of the state of Israel, and post-October 7.

We have lost our way, and in the birthing of our new structure we are seeing, feeling and participating in the struggle to move forward. We need help envisioning our survival and also to consider what thriving in the new world looks like for ourselves and others.

Are we to amass weapons, create a nation-state and wage wars like the rest of the countries around us? Or participate on the global stage as a community grounded in the highest of human values? And how do we actualize that vision?

Evidence shows that it is all very complex and we are struggling through, as a people, to figure it out. I am feeling the pull of all the infighting, the lack of nuance, and the blaming, shaming, and oppression olympics. Also the vulnerability, ancestral trauma, and fear. Hopefully, this period represents a wandering in the desert that will eventually lead us to a clearer vision of what could be, and a brighter future. And hopefully, it won't take 40 years to come to fruition. Until then, all we can do is keep encouraging in one another's commitment to the highest ideals.  

This is how we are keeping it sacred. Together, we’re #keepingitsacred...

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

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