"Wilderness" Interfaith Text Study

Each summer, Jews worldwide explore the Book of Numbers in the annual cycle of Torah readings. Numbers is the fourth of the Five Books of Moses, known as "Bamidbar [In the Wilderness]" in Hebrew. It encompasses 38 of the Israelites' 40 wilderness years, and the first portion (Numbers 1:1-4:20) opens with a census: Preparing for a journey. Taking stock of people and resources. Seeking vision. Exploring leadership and community.

In fall 2011, CBB is launching "Religious Leaders for Reconciliation" Caravan. This interfaith text study focuses on themes for these parallel journeys: Preparing. Taking stock. Seeking vision. Exploring leadership and community.

• In the Wilderness
  Almighty Intangibles, Honoring Multiple Voices, Seeking Divine Guidance


• Variety as Virtue
  This portion includes a 76-verse recounting of offerings brought to dedicate the Israelites' desert sanctuary: Twelve identical offerings are brought on twelve successive days by twelve different leaders. But the portion also includes detailed instructions meant for groups of Israelites with specific roles, both temporary and lifelong....Why the uniformity? Why the variety?


• Sibling Prophets
  Sibling prophets argue but find a way to remain together in the third Bible portion in this series. The reading -- Numbers 8:1-12:16 -- includes a dramatic, rather cryptic, passage involving the prophet Miriam, sister of Moses, covered in "scales, white like snow" [tzaraat ka-sheleg, in Hebrew] (Numbers 12:10). The same snowy scales appear on Moses' arm at the Burning Bush (Exodus 4:5). In the Qur'an (7:108, 20:22), Moses' arm becomes "[shiny] white without blemish" or "luminous."


• Common Ground and Agreement
  Despite commonalities our traditions are not identical. And sometimes a common theme — the need for water, for example, in both physical and symbolic terms — serves to highlight our differences.


• final installment coming soon