Masei | The "Journey" Towards the Goal

Summarized by Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon

"These are the journeys of Bnei Yisrael, who went out of the land of Egypt... And Moshe wrote down their departures for their journeys by God's command... And they departed from Ra'amses... and they departed... and they camped..." (Bamidbar 33)

          This parasha is extremely puzzling.  Why does the Torah enumerate all the journeys of Benei Yisrael - what possible significance can this have?  Why does the Torah not simply tell us where the original starting point and the eventual destination were?  In any case we don't know what happened at each place that is enumerated, so why name each and every one?

          Rashi explains: "Why were these journeys recorded?  In order to show us God's mercy.  Although it was decreed that Benei Yisrael would wander in the desert, one shouldn't think that they spent forty years on the move, one journey after the next, without rest.  For... it works out that during the entire thirty-eight year period they journeyed only twenty times."

          In other words, the journeys were recorded in order to show us God's mercy in that He moved them only twenty times during forty years.

          Ramban cites a different reason, offered by Rambam in his Moreh Nevukhim (Guide for the Perplexed): "And our teacher has explained, in Moreh Nevukhim, that there is a great and important reason for mentioning the journeys.  Because the miracles and wonders which were performed were clear to all who saw them, but in the future they would be conveyed by word of mouth, and the hearer might disbelieve the wonders described in the Torah...  The hearers would not believe it, and would think that their location in the desert was somewhere near an inhabited area, a place where other people were to be found, like the deserts inhabited by the Arab peoples today... Therefore God removed the possibility of such thoughts, and specified all the wonders in the enumeration of the journeys, in order that future generations should appreciate them...."

          In other words, if some heretic should claim that the places where Benei Yisrael journeyed in the desert were places where there was food, and that therefore there were no such miracles as the manna etc. since the food arrived in a perfectly natural manner, we can show him the places where Benei Yisrael journeyed and prove that they were barren areas devoid of any vegetation, and that without God's perpetual help there would have been absolutely no possibility of their surviving.

          Rashi brings another explanation, which hints at another possible significance in the recording of all the journeys:

"Rabbi Tanchuma gave a different explanation for it - he compared God to a king who had a son who was ill.  He took his son to a distant place in order to have him healed.  When they returned, the father began recounting all the steps of the journey.  He said to his son, 'Here we slept, here we gave thanks, here you laid down your head...' etc."

          Why did the father point out to his son all the stations that they had passed up until his recovery?  Because he wanted to show his son that not only is the result important - i.e. the fact that the son had in fact recovered - but the process, too, has significance: "Here we slept, here we gave thanks...."

          This is what the Torah is teaching us in its enumeration of all the journeys.  There is a philosophy which holds that the whole purpose and significance of today is that it leads us to tomorrow.  This approach attaches no independent significance to the actual day itself; only to what it will bring in its wake, what it will lead to.  This opposes and contradicts our belief.  Such a philosophy leads to the idea that "the end justifies the means" - everything is permissible, everyone and everything may be trampled, so long as the aim is attained.  This is the approach adopted by the Socialist movements and by the various messianic movements.

          We await and hope for the ge'ula (redemption); we await the coming of messiah.  But despite the importance of today as the harbinger of tomorrow, as bringing redemption nearer, the primary importance of today is its importance in its own right.

          In Pirkei Avot (chapter 4) we learn, "Better one hour of teshuva (repentance) and good deeds in this world than all of eternal life in the world-to-come."  The world-to-come is of tremendous importance, but one hour of Torah and good deeds in this world are better than all of eternal life in the world-to-come.  And if one hour of Torah and good deeds in this world is better than all of eternal life in the world-to-come, then it is certainly better than all the future hours in this world.

          Massekhet Shabbat (30a) records a conversation between King David and God: "David said to God, 'Master of the Universe - Tell me, O God, my end... and I shall know how I shall perish.'  God replied, 'You will die on Shabbat.' [David said,] 'Let it be on the first day [Sunday]'.  He replied, 'The time for the rule of Shlomo, your son, will already have come, and one rulership does not overlap another by even the shortest time.'  [David said,] 'Let it be on Erev Shabbat [Friday].'  God replied, '"One day in your courtyards is better to me than a thousand..." - I prefer your sitting for one day involved in Torah study to the thousand sacrifices which your son Shlomo will bring to the altar.'"

          Imagine the ceremony of a thousand sacrifices - imagine how long it takes to sacrifice a thousand offerings!  A powerful spiritual experience indeed.  In contrast, what is one day of study, regarding which God says, "One day in your courtyards is better to me..."?  Will he be more of a talmid chakham (Torah scholar) after one day?  What is the value of that learning?  He cannot even pass it on to others, for either way he is going to die the very next day!

          Nevertheless, God prefers this learning to a thousand sacrifices, because one hour of Torah and good deeds in this world is better than all of eternal life in the world-to-come.  The value of the present in this world is very great, and the study of Torah has significance not only for the future, in order that one become a talmid chakham, but also for the present - for the sake of the learning itself, even if by tomorrow all will be forgotten.

          A stranger who happened to enter a synagogue between Mincha and Ma'ariv would be amazed at the sight that met his eyes: a group of people sitting and studying a gemara or mishnayot on a topic far removed from any practical application - pertaining, say, to the sacrifices or to categories of ritual impurity - the details of which are unlikely to be remembered for long.  Can we even imagine a group of people conscientiously studying pages of a medical or legal textbook, knowing full well that they will have no use for this information and that the information will be forgotten within a few days?

"It is not your obligation to finish the task", but at the same time "you are not free to desist from it".  A Jew is obligated to study Torah because of the importance of that learning in the present, and not just in order to further his future status as a talmid chakham - and even if it is clear to him that he will in fact never become a talmid chakham.  "You are not free to desist from it."

          It is important for a person to plan his future, but not to the extent that he perceives the present as purely a means to that end.  He must appreciate the special significance of the present itself, of each and every moment.

          This is what the Torah is teaching us by enumerating all the journeys of Benei Yisrael.  Even if a person died during the last journey, just before reaching Jericho, and did not enter the Land of Israel - there is still considerable significance in the journeys which he completed.  Each journey has its own importance, there is significance in each step of the process and not only in the final outcome.  It is true that each day does bring the end closer, it takes us a step nearer to tomorrow, but each day has significance first and foremost in its own right.  "One hour of teshuva and good deeds in this world is better than all of eternal life in the world-to-come."

(This sicha was delivered on Shabbat Parashat Masei 5750.

Translated by Kaeren Fish.)