TELL Magazine August - September 2019

OUT OF THE DESERT
Kobi Bloom
Pesach is the story of the end of the Jews time in slavery, a time where we were
constrained physically and mentally in Mitzrayim, Egypt, the narrow place.
On the second night of Pesach we
begin counting the Omer, a period
of 49 days between Pesach and
Shavuot, between the end of slavery
and the beginning of the Jewish
people at Har Sinai. So, we have
left Mitzrayim but not yet reached
Sinai, neither here nor there, we are
in an in-between space, a liminal
space. This is a period of our Jewish
calendar for us to consider transition.
There is a theory, offered by author
William Bridges that transitions
happen in 3 stages, ending, the
neutral zone and beginning. In
our story, Pesach is the ending
of slavery, Shavuot is a new
beginning, a life no longer dictated
by the demands of an earthly
taskmaster bur rather Torah and
our collective imperative for good.
Yom Haatsmaut this year marked
71 years since David Ben Gurion
proudly declared Hee Medinat Israel.
Was this our new beginning? Or was
it perhaps just the end of our time
in Mitzrayim, a period of 2000 years
where our lives as Jews often hung
perilously in the hands of others.
But before I speak about Zionism,
we need to really understand
the in between time, the neutral
zone that Bridges speaks about,
in our story from Mitzrayim to
Sinai, this in between time takes
place in the desert, bamidbar.
According to Bridges, people in
this intermediate space are often
confused, uncertain and impatient.
There may be feelings of anxiety,
scepticism or low morale – the past
has been let go of, but the path to
the future has not yet manifest.
It is uncomfortable, being no
longer this but not yet knowing
what that is going to look like,
how it feels, who we will be and
whether it will be any good at all.
And yet the neutral zone is a time
of rich spiritual power, creativity,
a time to try new ways of being
in the world. It can be liberating
to not be constrained by old ideas
about who we are, what are our lives
are supposed to be like. Terrifying
sure, but also exhilarating.
The neutral zone is a time of
quietness, of seeking out silence
and the power it holds.
It is no coincidence that everything
important in the Bible – prophecies,
kingships, Torah – came out in the
wilderness. It’s a place of danger
and vulnerability, and perhaps it
can feel like it can go on forever.
Midbar Medaber, despite its almost
inconceivable silence, the desert
speaks with incredible power.
I suggest that Yom Ha’atzmaut this
year, Israeli Independence marks the
ending of our 2000-year exile and
since then, our people have been
in transition, in between. The fact
that Israel now exists cannot alone
be our Shavuot, our redemption.
We need to see the State of Israel as
a place that still needs to reach the
promise laid out in the Declaration
of Independence, which states that,
continued on page 29
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