The Kabbalah of the Burning Bush (adapted from Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson)
We all have heard of the infamous burning bush. After all, the inaugural relationship between G‑d and Moshe takes place through a thorn bush that “was burning in the fire but was not consumed” (Exodus 3:2). And it was at this awesome burning thorn bush that G‑d charged Moshe with the mission of redeeming the Jewish People.
What is the spiritual and psychological symbolism behind the vision of this burning bush? Why was this site chosen to begin molding of the Jewish nation?
"Man is a tree of the field," (Deuteronomy 20:19) states the Torah.
All humans are compared to trees and bushes. Just like trees and bushes, we humans contain hidden roots, motives and drives buried beneath our conscious self. Just like trees and bushes, we also possess a personality that is visibly displayed, each in a different from and shape.
Some of us can be compared to tall and splendorous trees, with strong trunks enveloped by branches, flowers and fruits. And some of us might be analogous to bushes, humble plants, lacking the stature and majesty commanded by a tree.
Some of us may even see ourselves as thorn-bushes, harboring unresolved tension and unsettled turmoil. Like a thorn, our struggles and conflicts are a source of constant irritation and frustration, as we may never feel content and complete within ourselves.
All of us ‘trees and bushes’ possess a fire burning within us; a yearning for meaning, love and wholesomeness. Just as the flame of a candle is forever licking the air, reaching upward toward heaven, so too each of us long to kiss heaven and touch the texture of eternity.
Yet for many of us ‘human trees’, the longing flame of our soul is satisfied and ultimately quenched by our sense of spiritual accomplishment and success. We might feel content with our spiritual achievements; complacent in our relationship with G‑d, and satisfied with the meaning and love we find in our lives.
We human thorn-bushes, on the other hand, experience a different fate. The thorns within us never allow us to become content with who we are, and we dream for a life of truth that always seems elusive. Thus our yearning flames are never quenched. We burn and burn and our fire never ceases. Since the ultimate peace we are searching for remains beyond us, and the reality and depth of G‑d always eludes us, our internal void is never filled, leaving us humbled and thirsty, ablaze with a flame and yearning that is never satisfied and quenched.
And it was through this site – the never ending burning thorn bush – that Moses was shown one of the fundamental truths of Judaism: More than anywhere else, G‑d is present in the flame of the thorn-bush. The prerequisite to Moshe's assuming the role of the eternal teacher of the people of Israel was his discovery that the deepest truth of G‑d is experienced in the very search and longing for Him. The moment one feels that "I have G‑d," he might have everything but G‑d.
And so, on this Shabbat, as we read the account of the enigmatic bush that never ceased to burn, let us keep our inner fires continuously ablaze. Let us never feel content with our current spiritual state of being. And as they say at this time of year: ‘let it grow, let it grow, let it grow!’
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Raleigh Resnick
