Journey as a Parable – Matot-Masei
וַיִּכְתֹּב מֹשֶׁה אֶת מוֹצָאֵיהֶם לְמַסְעֵיהֶם עַל פִּי ה' וְאֵלֶּה מַסְעֵיהֶם לְמוֹצָאֵיהֶם (במדבר לג, ב).
Parshat Masei details the journeys that Am Yisrael travelled on their passage from Egypt to Eretz Yisrael.
The Midrash (Bamidbar Raba, Masei, 3) brings the mashal of a king whose son was ill and he took him from one place to another to try cure his illness. After his son was cured, the king reminisces about all the places they had journeyed to. "This is where your head began to hurt. This is where we slept over in the motel. This is where the doctor gave you medicine", etc. Similarly, HKB"H tells Moshe to list all the journeys and recall what happened at each.
The Midrash HaGadol (במדבר לג א) says that the reason the Torah lists the journeys is because the goyim might say that in all 40 years that Am Yisrael were in the Midbar, they never had a moment's peace, that they were walking day and night, because they lost their way in the desert. Therefore, the Torah specifically lists each journey to show that this was by design and not because they "lost their way".
The Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim, part 3, chap. 50) says that the reason the Torah details these journeys is because the only people who actually physically witnessed all the miracles that took place in the Midbar were Am Yisrael. In later generations, all that happened in the Midbar will simply be a "story", retold over and over and it is possible that people may doubt the veracity of these miracles, as happens with any "story".
People may theorize that they were not miracles at all and that Am Yisrael camped in proximity to civilization where there was water and food. This is why the Torah lists all these places, which anyone can go visit today and witness for themselves that they are uninhabitable and that the only way Am Yisrael could have survived in these places in the Midbar was by a miracle.
The Abarbanel (Bamidbar 33, 1) says that the Midbar was the worst desolation known to man and Am Yisrael journeyed through it for 40 years in comfort and joy. R' Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg in his sefer הַכְּתָב וְהַקַּבָּלָה (Bamidbar 33, 1) says that not all the places listed were their geographical names, but were named after the incidents that occurred there.
The Midrashim (Tanchuma, parshat Bamidbar, 12; Yalkut Shimoni, Bamidbar; Shochar Tov, Tehillim 22, 8) describe how the journeys took place, at all times surrounded by the Ananei HaKavod.
When the trumpets sounded for the first time (תְּקִיעָה, תְּרוּעָה, תְּקִיעָה), the tribes in the camp of Yehuda would break camp. A piece of the Ananei HaKavod (over the camp of Yehuda) would extrude (like the needle of a compass) showing them in which direction to travel. Aharon HaKohen and his sons would dismantle the Parochet and use it to cover the Aron HaBrit, which would travel in front of the camp of Yehuda.
Moshe then said קוּמָה ה' וְיָפֻצוּ אֹיְבֶיךָ וְיָנֻסוּ מְשַׂנְאֶיךָ מִפָּנֶיךָ (במדבר י, לה). Sparks of fire emanated from the poles of the Aron that would eradicate all snakes, scorpions, thorns and bush that was in its path. When the goyim saw the resulting smoke, they said מִי זֹאת עֹלָה מִן הַמִּדְבָּר כְּתִימֲרוֹת עָשָׁן (תהלים ג, ו). The camp of Yehuda began to advance.
The trumpets sounded a second time and the tribes in the camp of Reuven broke camp and began to advance. At this point the families of Gershon and Merari dismantled the Mishkan structure and loaded it on wagons.
The trumpets sounded a third time and the tribes in the camp of Efraim broke camp and began to advance. At this point the family of Kehat packed up all the keilim from the Heichal, and began to carry them. The camp of Levi travelled in the center, between the four camps.
The trumpets sounded a fourth time and the tribes in the last camp of Dan broke camp and began to advance.
When the (compass like) piece of cloud detached from the main Ananei HaKavod, Am Yisrael knew this is where they would camp. The families of Gershon, Merari and Kehat began to erect the Mishkan. Moshe then said שׁוּבָה ה' רִבְבוֹת אַלְפֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל (במדבר י, לו) and then the cloud of the Shechina, which during their travels, was above the camp of Levi, relocated itself on top of the Mishkan. After the Mishkan was erected, the rest of Am Yisrael pitched their tents and made camp.
How many journeys were there?
The Kli Yakar (Bamidbar 33, 1) says that when Am Yisrael left Egypt, HKB"H originally intended for us to have only one journey – directly to Eretz Yisrael, לִשָּׂא אוֹתָם כְּעַל כַּנְפֵי נְשָׁרִים. However, since Am Yisrael sinned, it resulted in extra journeys.
The Maharal (גור אריה במדבר לג א) says that there were 42, but if you actually count them, you will only find 41. However, if you include also the places from which they travelled, not just the places they travelled to (as Rashi does), there are 42. The Sfat Emet (מסעי תרל"ה) says there were 49, if you include the seven journeys that they backtracked (journeyed to twice). The consensus, however, is that there were 42 journeys
The Zohar HaKadosh says that there were twelve journeys until they reached Har Sinai. He learns it from the passuk ...בַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה בָּאוּ מִדְבַּר סִינָי (שמות יט, א), the word זה in gematria is 12. The Zohar continues that HKB"H wanted them to complete the remaining 30 journeys in 3 days, as it says in the passuk וַיִּסְעוּ מֵהַר ה' דֶּרֶךְ שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים (במדבר י, לג), in other words 10 journeys per day.
However, since they sinned, those 30 journeys still had to be traversed, but over a longer time (38 years). Rashi's calculation (Bamidbar 33, 1) is different to the Zohar, that in the first two years Am Yisrael travelled 22 journeys and in the remaining 38 years they travelled only 20 journeys.
The Seder Olam says that of those 38 years, Am Yisrael only journeyed 19 years, while the remaining 19 years - they were in one place (Kadesh Barnea).
We are going to delve a little deeper now and try to understand the inner significance of these journeys and why it was those specific numbers.
Often, we have used the principle of R' Tzadok HaKohen from Lublin (in his sefer Pri Tzaddik) - to understand something, you need to examine the first time it is mentioned in the Torah. The first time the word מסע appears in the Torah is in sefer Breishit –
וַיַּעַל אַבְרָם מִמִּצְרַיִם הוּא וְאִשְׁתּוֹ וְכָל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ וְלוֹט עִמּוֹ הַנֶּגְבָּה. וְאַבְרָם כָּבֵד מְאֹד בַּמִּקְנֶה בַּכֶּסֶף וּבַזָּהָב. וַיֵּלֶךְ לְמַסָּעָיו מִנֶּגֶב וְעַד בֵּית אֵל עַד הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר הָיָה שָׁם אהלה בַּתְּחִלָּה בֵּין בֵּית אֵל וּבֵין הָעָי (בראשית יג, א-ג).
Incredibly, the reference is of Avraham leaving Egypt, accompanied by Lot laden with riches, travelling from the Negev (desert) in the south, to Bet El in the north. This was duplicated generations later by Avraham's descendants who also left Egypt, with untold livestock, each leading 90 Libyan donkeys laden with the riches of Egypt, accompanied by the "erev rav", travelling through the desert in the south, to Eretz Yisrael in the north.
This is the "spiritual" origin of the journeys in the Midbar and the actual word מסע implies travelling for 40 years – מ-סע. The purpose of the journeys in the Midbar was the same purpose of Avraham leaving Egypt – וַיַּעַל. It was an ascension, from a lower level to a higher level.
The method of the Sfat Emet (above, מסעי תרל"ג) that there were 49 journeys in total (including the 7 backtracks) follows in this vein, that the 49 journeys correspond to the מ"ט שַׁעֲרֵי טֻמְאָה and that with each journey, Am Yisrael distanced themselves from the impurities of Egypt and ascended to a higher spiritual level.
A similar approach is followed by the Or HaChayim (Bamidbar 33, 1) and the Shem MiShmuel (מסעי תרע"ו). The purpose of the journeys in the Midbar were to recover the "sparks", נִיצוֹצוֹת, created when Adam and Chava sinned with the עֵץ הַדַּעַת. Adam HaRishon's neshama was shattered into 288 נִיצוֹצוֹת that require tikkun in order to restore the world to its state before the sin (see shiur on parshat Naso 2024). This process began with יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם, when Moshe took the עֶרֶב רַב with them. By doing so, Moshe did tikkun for 202 of the נִיצוֹצוֹת (Ari z"l). רַב in gematria is 202.
Tikkun for some of the remaining נִיצוֹצוֹת was achieved in the 42 journeys in the Midbar.
The Shem MiShmuel says that the yetzer hara who participated in the sin of the עֵץ הַדַּעַת is basically a "dead duck". The yetzer hara's sentence has already been passed - we sing it every Pesach וְאָתָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְשָׁחַט לְמַלְאַךְ הַמָוֶת. The yetzer hara was once the most elevated angel of all, but by virtue of his participation in the sin of the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, his kedusha was diminished.
However, a small fraction of kedusha remains in him and this gives him a face and a measure of חֵן. It is this face and חֵן that attracts people to the yetzer hara and causes them to sin. Part of the tikkun is extracting this remaining kedusha before HKB"H gets rid of him.
It is not by chance that Am Yisrael sinned with their various sins in the Midbar. The specific places that they journeyed through had residual נִיצוֹצוֹת of the yetzer hara that predisposed Am Yisrael to sin. By journeying through all these places, Am Yisrael extracted the fragment of kedusha that remained in the place and did tikkun for the נִיצוֹצוֹת.
By clinging to HKB"H and doing tshuva for their sins in these places, Am Yisrael did tikkun for the נִיצוֹצוֹת. For this reason, Am Yisrael remained in some places only a short time while in others, longer - 1 year, 19 years – each dependent on the time necessary to extract the kedusha and do tikkun.
The Or HaChaim says that although the Avot (see Avraham above) also travelled to some of these places, they were not able to complete the tikkun for the נִיצוֹצוֹת, because they did not attain the level of Am Yisrael after they had been forged in the furnace of Egypt and received the Torah.
R' Bachyei (Bamidbar 33, 1) says that the length of the journeys to a place was dependent on מִדַּת הַדִּין or מִדַּת הָרַחֲמִים. The time that it took to do the tikkun was dependent on the severity of Am Yisrael's sin.
According to the Kli Yakar (above), Am Yisrael, had the possibility of shortening the journeys to Eretz Yisrael if they would not have sinned. They would have traversed all 42 journeys, but in an accelerated time, instead of forty years. In our passuk above (Bamidbar 33, 2) the words מוֹצָאֵיהֶם and מַסְעֵיהֶם are repeated twice, in reverse order. The Kli Yakar says - this teaches us that some journeys were forwards, while other were backwards (requiring backtracking, to fix the נִיצוֹצוֹת).
The Sfat Emet says that Am Yisrael tried to escape visiting some of these places, but HKB"H would not allow them to. This teaches us that to bring about tikkun, one should not run from the מֵיצַר, but rather search for a way to transcend the מֵיצַר, to work through it and find a solution. This is why, says the Sfat Emet, we read this parsha in the period of בֵּין הַמְּצָרִים.
The fact that there are 42 journeys is not incidental, it corresponds to the name of HKB"H that has 42 letters, שֵׁם מ"ב (which are present in the tefilla אָנָּא בְּכֹחַ). Each of the journeys contains one letter of the 42 (Shem MiShmuel). The parsha of the מַסָּעוֹת contains highly elevated significance, related to the realm of Kabbala, which is beyond the scope of this shiur. For this reason, we read this parsha from the Torah with a special tune, like we read Shirat HaYam.
R' Bachyei (ibid.) brings an incredible concept –
וְעוֹד יִכְלֹל סִפּוּר הַמַּסָּעוֹת תּוֹעֶלֶת אַחֶרֶת כִּי יְרַמְּזוּ לֶעָתִיד, שֶׁהֲרֵי דִּבְרֵי הַנְּבִיאִים כֻּלָּם מוֹכִיחִים שֶׁהַגְּאֻלָּה הָאַחֲרוֹנָה כְּדִמְיוֹן הָרִאשׁוֹנָה, וּכְשֵׁם שֶׁיָּצְאוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּגְאֻלָּה רִאשׁוֹנָה מִמִּצְרַיִם אֶל הַמִּדְבָּר כֵּן בַּגְּאֻלָּה הָאַחֲרוֹנָה עֲתִידִים שֶׁיָּצְאוּ הַרְבֵּה מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל אֶל הַמִּדְבָּר וְיַעַבְרוּ בַּמְּקוֹמוֹת הָאֵלֶּה, והקב"ה יְכַלְכְּלֵם וִינַהֲלֵם שֵׁם כְּמוֹ שֶׁעָשָׂה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל בַּמִּדְבָּר... וְהַכָּתוּב זֶה יִרְמֹז זֶה מִמָּה שֶׁהִזְכִּיר כָּאן ב' פְּעָמִים לְשׁוֹן מוֹצָאֵיהֶם, "וַיִּכְתֹּב מֹשֶׁה אֶת מוֹצָאֵיהֶם", וְחָזַר וְאָמַר "וְאֵלֶּה מַסָּעֵיהֶם לְמוֹצָאֵיהֶם", כִּי הָאֶחָד הוּא יְצִיאַת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרַיִם, וְהַשֵּׁנִי יְצִיאָתֵנוּ מִן הַגָּלוּת הֵחֵל הַזֶּה... (בַּמִּדְבָּר לג א)
Our passuk (above) repeats the word מוֹצָאֵיהֶם twice. R' Bachyei says that this refers to two redemptions, יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם and also הַגְּאֻלָּה לֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא. That the future Geulah will resemble that of יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם and will be accompanied by a series of miracles, like it was back then (but greater) and also – by 42 journeys that Am Yisrael will have to take before the Geulah will arrive. During these journeys HKB"H יְכַלְכְּלֵם וִינַהֲלֵם, will take care of us just like He did with Am Yisrael in the Midbar.
It is unclear if these journeys that R' Bachyei is referring to are yet to take place, or have already taken place during our years of galut.
We see, therefore, from the above, that the parsha of the מַסָּעוֹת is not just some historical rendition of journeys past. It encompasses profound principles of how the world works and how to live our lives.
Perhaps the most profound of all is using the journeys as a parable for our own life.
Our lives resemble the journeys of Am Yisrael through the Midbar. Each of us has our own purpose and destiny in life and the journeys we travel to achieving that purpose and destiny depend on our choices and actions. Just like back then, we have the possibility of travelling the journey in a comfortable, less painful way, or to invoke unnecessary pain and suffering.
Each of us has our specific, unique, individual tikkun to do in the world. If we cling to HKB"H and focus all our energies solely on our tikkun, we can travel the journey and reach the destination in a much shorter time. This explains why some people die at a younger age than others. They are highly spiritually elevated people who achieved their tikkun, getting less sidetracked along the way.
Since we are all human, it is inevitable that we will get sidetracked to varying degrees. The Torah teaches us that when we fall, escapism is not a solution. To ascend, we need to directly address the reality, take responsibility and work to fix the reality, not ignore it or pretend it doesn't exist.
The lesson of the מַסָּעוֹת is that throughout, Am Yisrael were enveloped by the Ananei HaKavod and witnessed continual miracles on a daily basis. This has not changed. HKB"H is still there looking out for us, every step of the way and every day we experience untold miracles. All we need to do is to open our eyes and see what is in front of our faces, cast our eyes upwards and reconnect with HKB"H and clearly see the "compass" pointing us in the right direction. To recognize we are not free agents, but part of a "camp", part of a whole that needs to move and function together in formation.
We are now in the month of תַּמּוּז. The word תמוז is an abbreviation for זְמַנֵּי תְּשׁוּבָה מְמַשְׁמְשִׁים וּבָאִים. We are also now beginning the period of the 9 Days. It is a time for increased introspection, examining our own personal lives, our role as part of a nation. To work through the problems, to "own" them, to take responsibility for them and not ignore them or pretend they don't exist. To find solutions, both on a personal and a national level, to do tikkun.
If we do, then the destination, the Geulah promised by our prophets, that is extremely close, will approach even quicker and with less pain and suffering.
I will end with the tefilla of R' Yehuda ben Teima (Pirkei Avot 5, 20) –
שֶׁיִּבְנֶה בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ בִּמְהֵרָה בְּיָמֵינוּ וְתֵן חֶלְקֵנוּ בְתוֹרָתֶךָ
By striving to achieve the second half, we will bring about the first half.
Shabbat Shalom
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Machon Lechem Hapanim
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