Wandering Home

by Nina Fondiller Woldin

What makes a place home?

I am currently wandering across the country as I do every Passover season – driving in my camper van from New York to family in California and then to more family in Denver. I can’t help but see parallels to the Israelites in the desert. This is a season of wandering.

Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman says that the Torah teaches us how every one of us is a wanderer. Beginning with Adam and Eve who were sent from the Garden of Eden, people have been wandering. We see that there is no permanence to human life. This underscores God’s infinity and humanity’s impermanence.

 

However, wandering can be seen not as a punishment,
but as a necessary part of faith and purpose.

Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks tells us that Abraham was commanded to leave his place in order to testify to the existence of a God not bounded by place – Creator and Sovereign of the entire universe. Abraham and Sarah were to be like perfume, leaving a trace of their presence wherever they went. Implicit in this midrash is the idea that the fate of the first Jews already prefigured that of their descendants. They were scattered throughout the world in order to spread knowledge of God throughout the world. Unusually, exile is seen here not as punishment but as a necessary corollary of a faith that sees God everywhere. ‘Lech lecha‘ means “Go with yourself” – your beliefs, your way of life, your faith.

Rashi, following an ancient tradition, translates the phrase “Lech lecha” as “journey for yourself.”

So this season of wandering in a way defines home – what is most important – the unseen but very palpable forces of family, faith, and love.

Wishing you a happy and meaningful Passover in the place you feel most at home.