"Remain Every Man in his Place; Let No Man Go Out of his Place on the Seventh Day"

Summarized by Rav Eliyahu Blumenzweig

 

     Parashat Beshalach contains only one mitzva: that of 'techumin' (boundaries beyond which one may not walk on Shabbat), based upon the pasuk: "Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day" (16:29).

 

     What is the significance of this mitzva?  It seems to run counter to common sense.  During the entire week, a person's job confines him to a certain place.  One would think that when he is given one day of rest and relaxation, when he is free from all other obligations, he may leave his house and go somewhere else, rather than remaining confined to one place, imprisoned by limitations and boundaries.  How does the imposition of boundaries fit in with what this day is supposed to represent?

 

     Indeed, the Torah teaches us that a person's entire life is bounded by limitations of both time and place.  Time is dynamic and symbolizes movement, while place is static and symbolizes stability.  These two dimensions are active and influential throughout a person's life.

 

     On the one hand, a person is carried upon the current of time and action; he is swept along by progress, expansion and diversification.  On the other hand, he seeks to "find his place" - not in the sense of inactivity, of remaining passive, but rather in the sense of action and creativity with the purpose of "finding his place" - establishment and permanence.

 

     A Jew has an obligation to find his own "place", somewhere to plant his roots and build his own edifice - a building with strong foundations.  Only then can he expand and spread out.  If he spends his whole life wandering, he will eventually discover that he is a displaced entity which, having rambled through every place, actually has no place at all.

 

     Similarly, the midrash in Parashat Vayechi teaches (Bereishit Rabba 86:2):

 

"It is written, 'For I am a stranger with You and a sojourner' (Tehillim 39), and 'For we are strangers before You and sojourners... our days on the earth are as a shadow' (Divrei Ha-yamim I, 29) - If only we were at least like the shadow of a wall or of a tree; but rather we are like the shadow of a bird in flight, as it is written, 'like a passing shadow.'"

 

     A person may often feel as though he is merely a "passing shadow".  He prays that at least he should be like the shadow of a wall or of a tree, which are somewhat permanent, and not like the shadow of a bird in flight, which disappears and moves on.

 

     In our modern world, since the Industrial Revolution, man has lost his connection with the earth.  He is no longer confined to his patch of ground, and he travels away from his home to his place of work.  Most people grow up in large cities - places which by their nature do not encourage the formation of strong ties to them.

 

     Specifically in our times, a person has to intensify his efforts to "find his place."  And this "place," as we have learned, is not necessarily his land or his home.  Rather, "his place," from a spiritual point of view, refers to a "place" in which he can establish himself, a place which he can reinforce and strengthen himself, a place where he can plant his roots and grow and flourish, expand and spread out.

 

     It often happens that a person who has not yet "found his place" is eager to be carried along by the current around him.  He believes that thereby he will find a realm of activity and fertile ground ready and waiting for him.  Of course, this is not so.  His roaming guarantees him nothing, and a person has to establish his own place in life - not by refraining from action, but rather by prolific action and continuous building.

 

     The fulfillment of this obligation, i.e. that of a person "finding his place," takes place on Shabbat.  A Jew has to build his "place" specifically at the time when the whole world abounds with and is influenced by the holiness of Shabbat.  He must desist from his roaming and find the solid center within.  This is the obligation of Shabbat: "Remain every man in his place" - each individual should remain in his own place and not move from it until he is spiritually established and standing on firm ground.  This explains the words of Chazal, "A person purchases for himself a resting place:" to "rest in one's place" means to acquire that place, an acquisition of continuous creativity and construction, towards the ideal of an eternal acquisition, a "kinyan adei ad."

 

 (Originally delivered on Shabbat Parashat Beshalach 5733.

Translated by Kaeren Fish.)

 

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