The Wilderness That Built A Nation

An Introduction to Sefer Bamidbar

The fourth Book of the Torah, Bamidbar — “In the Wilderness” — tells the story of the forty years the Jewish people spent in the Sinai Desert under the leadership of Moshe Rabbeinu. Rabbi Yitzchak Zilber, zt”l, explains that this sefer is not only a record of travel through the wilderness, but the story of how a nation of slaves became a people shaped by Torah.

The desert was a place where human life could not naturally survive. There was little water, unbearable heat, and no reliable source of food. Yet hundreds of thousands of Jews lived there for forty years through open miracles: the mahn from Heaven, the traveling well, and the Clouds of Glory that protected them from the harsh desert conditions.

Why did they remain there so long? Rabbi Zilber explains that the generation which left Egypt still carried the mentality of slavery and repeatedly failed important tests of faith. A new generation had to arise — one raised on Torah and trust in Hashem — before the nation could enter Eretz Yisrael.

Throughout these years, Moshe taught the commandments that would guide Jewish life forever. The Book of Bamidbar concludes as the Jewish people stand near the Jordan River preparing to enter the Land promised to the Avot.

By Rabbi Yitzchak Zilber, zt”l