- By Alex Hamilton, Yeshiva Outdoors Contributor
At the end of last week‘s Torah portion, Yitro, we read about the requirement to not build a set of stairs up to the altar at the Tabernacle and at the end of this week’s Torah portion we read that Moses accomplishes this by building a ramp up to the altar.
Stairs are an inherently human mechanism to get up to the heavens.
So what does this random architectural fact have to do with the backcountry? Stairs are an inherently human mechanism to get up to the heavens. This is not unheard of in the ancient world. The Babylonians created their towers to the gods with ziggurats, which are stepped pyramids. In Jacob’s dream we see a staircase or ladder leading to the heavens. And more recently we see Led Zeppelin’s writings on a spiritual ascent to heaven. This is not the case here. Moses erected an altar on the side of Mount Sinai. Literally, the most natural mechanism for ascending to a higher elevation.
Summiting a mountain, whether by hiking or by climbing, it is a challenge to reach the top. It is hard and grueling labor. Trippers and outfitters calculate that it generally takes twice as long to go the same distance uphill as it is on a flat or downhill surface. Yet, climbing the mountain was part of the way G-d commanded Moses; and Moses understood G-d’s instructions. So whenever we climb, whether it is a physical mountain, or a metaphorical mountain of challenges, we must always know that there is the reward of being closer to G-d at the top.