Rabbi Ackerman's Blog
07/17/2009 - Parashat Matot-Masei
The description of Israel's wanderings that occupies the bulk of Sefer B'Midbar comes to an end this Shabbat. The wanderings themselves, of course, continue to this very day. Mas'ei - the second of this week's two parashiyot - opens with a detailed itinerary of the ancient journeys that form the founding story of our people. Teachers of our tradition, ancient and modern, have puzzled over the detailed list that fills the 33rd chapter of the book of Numbers. Many have noted that the Israelites' journeys cover 42 stops or stations. Why the detail and why that number?Midrash Tanhuma offers a parable by way of explanation: "It is to be compared to a king with an ill son. The king brought his son from place to place in search of healing. Upon their return the king began to recount each of their journeys saying: 'Here they gladdened; here they honored; here you suffered a head-ache.' Thus God said to Moses: 'Enumerate for them all the places where they angered me.' Therefore the Torah says: 'These were the journeys of the Israelites [Numbers 33:1].'" Tanhuma's parable can serve to remind us that we all seek healing in our lives and that our individual life journey is meant to seek out wholeness.
Building on that motif, the Baal Shem Tov claims that just as the journey of the people of Israel covered 42 stops or stations, so too the journey that each of us as an individual undertakes in the course of our lives. 42 distinct stages "from birth to death," in the Baal Shem's words, mark and map the way. The Baal Shem's disciple, the Maggid of Medzerych, goes one step further. Noting that the specific stops are directed by God, the Maggid intuits that the task at each stop and stage along the path is to locate, reclaim and redeem the divine sparks that God has spread out for us along the way.
Wherever you are on your journey, heeding the Maggid's advice strikes me as a good idea. Holiness is to be rooted out at every stop and stage. Pursuing that course from birth to death is bound to lead to healing, to wholeness, and to the Promised Land.
Shabbat Shalom.
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08/05/2009 - Tu B`Av [The 15th of Av]
07/24/2009 - Shabbat Devarim-Hazon
07/17/2009 - Parashat Matot-Masei (Current display)
07/10/2009 - Parashat Pinchas