In contemporary spirituality the journey metaphor has received high acclaim. The roots of that metaphor are in the Torah connected both with the travels of Abraham and Sarah and other Jewish ancestors in addition to the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness. While the journey, the way or the path has been raised up as perhaps more important than a final destination or place, the Torah gives primacy of place to both wandering as well as pilgrimages or journeys with a destination. The following study only scratches the surface of the metaphors of journey and way-stations or sacred destinations. You are invited to consider both the holiness of "the journey" and the "sacred experience of the destination" in this study.
As we mentioned, the Torah ascribes greatness to both the journey and to the destination(s). The wilderness wandering was essential in the life of the Jewish People. Arrivals and departures made for growth oriented experiences for our ancestors as they provide for us. And, an ultimate desire to arrive at one's destination - the Temple, the Promised Land - provide rich grounds for metaphorical explorations of our life experiences. "These are the journeys..." and "...three times a year we should present our faces in the place where God's name dwells" are frameworks for reflecting on our lives. Where have we gone? When did we arrive? What did we learn there? What was it like for us when we landed in the holy places we desired to see or to which we were called? And do we answer those calls?
The final Torah portion of the Book of Numbers is Massei - Journeys. The word מסעי, journeys, can also be translated as travels. A list of 42 places is raised in chapter 33. Read through those texts below, to start the learning journey.
We did not need Douglas Adams to tell us in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "The ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything is...42!"
What is the nature of this passage? What does it say to you just the way it is?
Do you think it was written from memory? Did God write a travel guide of 47 verses for the journey itself? Or, was this a part of the Torah that was written down only after the travels took place (there are traditions that certain parts of the Torah were not revealed until after they happened). Was it God who communicated these or was there a recording secretary who gave the places names. Did Moses himself have a travel diary in addition to the Torah scroll?
Read the following TWO selections of the Or HaChaim's commentary (Rabbi Moshe Ben Atar, Morocco, 16th C.).
What do these commentaries suggest about journaling or keeping a record of our travels? How do you record the journeys you take? Do you? Why or why not?
ויכתב משה את מוצאיהם, Moses recorded their departures (quoting Numbers 33:2), etc. What precisely did the Torah want to teach us with this verse? We did not need to be told that it was Moses who recorded this as Moses recorded the entire Torah and the journeys are part of the Torah! Besides, the Torah ought to have written that Moses recorded את מסעיהם, "their journeys." What was the point in recording their "departures?" [there's a seeming extra word in the text] Furthermore, what is the meaning of the words ואלה מסעיהם למוצאיהם "and these are their journeys according to their departures?" Why did the Torah change the order in which it mentioned departures from מוצאיהם למסעיהם, to מסעיהם למוצאיהם? [Can I learn anything from the order of the expression?]
[Continued] The Torah wanted to inform us that Moses did not record all these journeys on a single day, but that he recorded them as they occurred. He commenced recording when he had received instructions to make the Israelites depart from Egypt. He wrote in his booklet the date on which the Israelites departed from Raamses up until the word שפטים at the end of verse 4. Once the Israelites made camp at Sukkot, Moses wrote verse 5. When the Israelites made camp at Eytan, Moses wrote what had transpired as verse 6. In this manner Moses recorded each and every journey as it occurred until the people arrived at ערבות מואב. At that point G'd told Moses to include these private notes he had made in the Torah in the order in which he had previously recorded it. This is what was meant by: "Moses recorded their departures, i.e. starting from the day the Israelites departed from Egypt. This referred to the two lines from "they journeyed from Raamses until the word שפטים." When the Torah speaks of למסעיהם it refers to Moses listing all the Israelites' journeys from the day they left Egypt until the end of all their journeys. It adds the words על פי השם, "at G'd's command," to inform us that the very first recording already was at the command of G'd, i.e. that G'd had told Moses to record and to keep recording. When the Torah repeats ואלה מטעיהם, "and these are their journeys," this means that these are the journeys which G'd commanded Moses to record למוצאיהם, as and when they occurred, i.e. every time the Israelites broke camp. What the Torah describes in our chapter is a copy of all the notations made by Moses throughout all these years.
What is the Or HaChaim teaching us by sharing the tradition that our greatest teacher and rebbe, Moses, wrote down the places and made notes about the wilderness travels?
I love the image of Moses keeping a diary or a travel log or a notebook or even a sketchbook! I recall keeping a learning journal when I was in Rabbinical School. I used green graph paper left over from my studies in Jerusalem and found images in the Jewish Encyclopedia to paste on pages. My teacher Dr. Aryeh Cohen had us reflect on our experiences of learning in addition to the texts themselves.
I was interested in recording where I learned in addition to what I learned. Dr. Cohen would ask us to consider: were you leading the learning? Were you being led? Who was present? Was it just you and fellow students? Whose presence did you feel? Was God there?
Consider this comment of the Sforno, Italy (16th):
אלה מסעי, God wanted all the journeys to be recorded in order to compliment the Jewish people who had followed him through the desert where nothing grew, so that as a reward for their faith they would deserve to enter and inherit the land of Israel.
Sometimes I do feel as though God is leading me through the wilderness of my life and towards a Promised Land - metaphorically and physically. Do you feel that, too?
That connects me with the original "journey forth!" that God spoke to our ancestors Abraham and Sarah:
The LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you; I will make your name great, And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you And curse him that curses you; And all the families of the earth Shall bless themselves by you.” Abram went forth as the LORD had commanded him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
According to Rashi (France, 11th C.) God knew what was good for their family.
Have you ever been called to "go forth" because God knew it was good while you didn't even know what awaits you?
לך לך GET THEE OUT (literally, go for thyself) — for your own benefit, for your own good: there I will make of you a great nation whilst here you will not merit the privilege of having children (Rosh Hashanah 16b). Furthermore, I shall make known your character throughout the world (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 3)
"Note that this journey is uniquely yours, no one else's. So the path has to be your own. You cannot imitate somebody else's journey and still be true to yourself. Are you prepared to honor your uniqueness in this way?" ~ Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn
Who is steering your ship? Are there times that you have answered the call to "go forth!" and let God lead the way?
Do you feel that undermines your agency?
How do we live as both travellers true to ourselves and as those who honor God's calling us to journey onwards?
I always like to remember that while I make individual decisions about my journey I am ever connected to the adventure of the Jewish People.
We, as a Jewish People, travelled in the wilderness and maintained connections long before the Modern State of Israel became a Jewish State and home for our People. Even though seas separate me from cousins in the Holy Land, I feel my journey and my travels must and do connect me to our People.
Do you feel connected to the journey of the Jewish People over the generations? When do you feel most connected to the collective adventure versus your own life's journey?
Jewish Law, or tradition, is one way to unite the Jewish People as they journey on and travel throughout the world. My travelogue includes which cities I have visited in the world, in addition to which kosher restaurants and synagogues I have spent time at praying and feasting.
Sinai, the Mountain where we received Jewish law and the metaphorical starting-point or destination from which we embark on our adventures of life daily - is a place where everyone's hearts became one, unified. The verse explains: they (plural) journeyed, and then Israel (singular) encamped:
Having journeyed from Rephidim, they entered the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the wilderness. Israel encamped there in front of the mountain,
ויחן שם ישראל. כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד בְּלֵב אֶחָד. אֲבָל שְׁאָר כָּל הַחֲנִיּוֹת בְּתַרְעוֹמוֹת וּבְמַחֲלֹקֶת:
ויחן שם ישראל AND THERE ISRAEL ENCAMPED as one man and with one mind — but all their other encampments were made in a murmuring spirit and in a spirit of dissension (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:2:10).
Oh no! but all their other encampments were full of murmuring and dissention? I see Rashi's comment as pointing out that there are two types of people: those who crossed the Red Sea and saw miracles and those who looked down at their feet and said, "yuck, mud!"
Which type are you?
Meanwhile, remember:
The reason why we find sometimes the objective mentioned first and other times the place of departure, is due to the fact that sometimes the people were glad to get away from a certain place where unpleasantness had occurred, whereas other times they were merely glad to arrive at a new destination hoping for a pleasant stay in their new encampment. One of the most vexing aspects of all these journeys was that the new objective had never been announced beforehand, so that the people were always in the dark about what the next day would bring. In spite of all these uncertainties they never refused to follow the cloud and break camp at a moment’s notice when required. The reason that both the breaking of camp and the making of camp are mentioned separately is because both entailed a considerable amount of discomfort.
עֲשָׂרָה נִסִּים נַעֲשׂוּ לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בְּבֵית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ..... עוֹמְדִים צְפוּפִים וּמִשְׁתַּחֲוִים רְוָחִים, וְלֹא הִזִּיק נָחָשׁ וְעַקְרָב בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם מֵעוֹלָם, וְלֹא אָמַר אָדָם לַחֲבֵרוֹ צַר לִי הַמָּקוֹם שֶׁאָלִין בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם:
Ten wonders were wrought for our ancestors in the Temple: ....[8] the people stood pressed together, yet bowed down and had room enough; [9] never did a serpent or a scorpion harm anyone in Jerusalem; [10] and no man said to his fellow: the place is too congested for me to lodge overnight in Jerusalem.
“In Aristotle's words, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
― Tal Ben-Shahar, Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment
"No man said to his fellow: the place is too congested..." They held their tongues and steered into the sacred experiences they could attain in Jerusalem, that holy destination.
And where else are we going? Where else do you want to go on this journey of life? Where have your travels taken you? What have you learned there?
Consider the journey metaphor in the way the Baal Shem Tov taught it:
"I have heard—in the name of the Baal Shem Tov [the founder of Chasidism]—the forty-two journeys of the Israelites are to be found in every person from the day of his birth until he returns to his world [at death] . . . Each individual's birth should be understood within the context of the Exodus from Egypt and the subsequent stages of life are journeys that lead from place to place until one comes to the land of the 'supernal world of life' [that is, the Shekhinah, the in-dwelling presence of God]." (Degel Machaneh Ephraim, p. 199, col. a)
And add a final prayer by a master liturgist of the 20th Century:
Days pass and the years vanish, and we walk sightless among miracles.
God, fill our eyes with seeing and our minds with knowing;
let there be moments when Your Presence, like lightning,
illumines the darkness in which we walk.
Help us to see, wherever we gaze, that the bush burns unconsumed.
And we, clay touched by God, will reach out for holiness, and exclaim in wonder:
How filled with awe is this place, and we did not know!
- Chaim Stern
חזק חזק ונתחזק