In this week’s Torah reading, Moses asks God to appoint a leader for the people. He knows that without good leadership the people will lack direction, like wandering sheep, he says. When he makes his request to God, he says, יִפְקֹד ה’ אֱלֹהֵי הָרוּחֹת לְכָל־בָּשָׂר אִישׁ עַל־הָעֵדָה׃ God, Master of the breaths of all flesh, appoint someone over the people.
Commentators notice something about this name of God - elohei haruchot l’khol basar - master of the breaths of all flesh. The word ruchot, spirits, or breaths, is in the plural, whereas it could’ve made just as much sense in the singular.
A Midrash ascribes some deeper meaning to this particularity: the Torah describes God as the master of all the breaths of flesh, because each person is different. No face is the same as another, no mind is the same another, and each one is unique and has its own secrets of the world. This is why we say a blessing over seeing a large group of people, thanking God for having the wisdom of all the individual secrets and uniquenesses. Every person has their own knowledge and their own breath, which is why God is called Elohei haRuchot, the master of all the breaths.
This text strikes me as particularly special as I am spending my week at Camp Ramah Darom, teaching staff and campers and visiting the many Memphis kids here. For me, as a camper and a staff member, camp was where I learned to have my own individual relationship with Judaism and with God. It was a place where I realized I didn’t have to have the same relationship with Judaism as my parents, where I developed a sense of self inside of our Jewish tradition. Camp was where I learned to own my own Judaism, where I created my own secrets of the world.
As I make my way around camp, hearing campers and staff singing new melodies to tefillot, speaking new Hebrew words, and discussing new Jewish ideas, I can’t help but smile knowing they are in the very process of forming their own secrets. Indeed, I look out and I praise God for having the wisdom to create all of the individual secrets and uniquenesses. I pray that each of our children, in whatever way is right for them, realizes that Judaism is theirs. It’s for them to find their way, their own meanings, their own secrets of the world.
Shabbat Shalom from Ramah Darom, Rabbi Sarit
