A Thought on Parshas Ki Tisa

"...v'haya kol mevakesh HaShem yaetzae el ohel mo'ed..." (34:7) "...and all who sought HaShem went out to the Tent of Communion.." Moshe Rabbeinu distanced himself from the camp in the desert. Those who sought him out followed the path leading to the Tent and were then able to continue their learning from and with him. You will notice that our verse refers to those who followed Moshe as "mevakesh HaShem" (G-d seekers), rather than mevakesh Moshe - seekers of Moshe. Moreover, the verse actually gives those individuals this title. They are called "seekers of G-d." What is the message here? Rabbeinu Avigdor begins with a midrashic view. We see from here that seeking out Torah study is tantamount to seeking out HaShem. When we turn to Torah, when we engage in studying in order to know the word of HaShem, we are also studying in order to know (about) HaShem. So those who immerse themselves in Torah need to envision their process as G-d seeking, and need to envision themselves as G-d seekers. Such a lofty and elevated image of our learning as a sublime avoda! Then Rabbeinu Avigdor moves into his role as posek, inferring a practical halacha from our verse. He writes that it is clear, from the wording in our verse, that those who sought out Moshe were exemplars. They did the proper thing, and modeled for us what is right. Otherwise, the Torah might not have needed to reference the fact that there were people who followed Moshe out of the camp. The Torah tells us that there were those who traveled in order to teach us that they did what they were supposed to do. They were supposed to seek out teaching from Moshe, because this is how we are meant to develop and maintain a personal sense of communing with HaShem. Rabbeinu Avigdor rules, on the basis of this inference, that a person is obligated to uproot himself and to travel in order to learn Torah. This is similar to the mishna in Pirkei Avos (4:18) which instructs us to "Exile yourself to a place of Torah." Just as Moshe camped on the fringe of the greater encampment and people traveled to seek out his wisdom, each of us is obligated to travel to those places and to those persons from whom we can grow in Torah and in feeling more closely connected to HaShem. Rabbeinu Avigdor paskens that the path to being a Seeker of G-d is to pick up and travel to find Torah, rather than to remain idle and fixed to the comforts of one's familiar turf. This is a halacha in how to learn Torah and how to serve HaShem. When I was young and there were few places in California where one could be mevakesh HaShem in this way, my parents saw to it that I could go and exile myself in a makom Torah. When it was time for me to continue my studies, they made sure that I could move on for more Torah opportunities. Please join me in wishing my father Gershon ben Mareida a refuah sheleima in the special zechus of his role in being part of the Mevakshei HaShem. Good Shabbos. D Fox