B"H
Moses and a Bush
An angry and frustrated President Bush is reflecting one morning in his Texan farm how to rid the world from the terror disease, when he suddenly observes Moses strolling through the fields. Assuming that the best advice on the subject can be obtained from this great teacher and leader, he calls out to Moses, only to be disregarded.
Bush begins to run after Moses, pleading that he turn his face to him. But to no avail: Moses simply ignores him.
Bush's ire increases. "Moses," he exclaims. "Do you know whom you are ignoring? The President of the United States! Why would you not have the decency to talk to me for a moment?"
"Listen to me," Moses tells the President. "The last time I spoke to a burning bush, I was stuck in a desert for forty years."
The Voyage
In the beginning of the second Torah portion of this week, Massei, the Bible summarizes the entire route followed by Israel from its Exodus from Egypt, in the year 1313 B.C.E, until it stood poised to cross the Jordanian River and enter the Promised Land, forty years later. In all, the Jewish forty-year sojourn through the Sinai wilderness included forty-two encampments, each one enumerated by name in this week's portion.
The Torah portion opens with the following statement: "These are the journeys of the Children of Israel who went forth from the land of Egypt. Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys at the bidding of G-d; and these were their journeys according to their goings forth."
The Torah now proceeds to describe the route taken by Israel -- from the Egyptian City Ramses, to Succoth, to Etham, to Marah, to Elim, to Yam-Suf, to Sin, to Dafkah, etc.
Four questions
A simple reading of the biblical text brings to mind several questions.
Firstly, why does the Torah single out this particular part -- the story of the Jewish journey in the desert -- stating that it was written by Moses at G-d's bidding, when in truth Moses wrote the entire Torah at G-d's instructions (1)! Why doesn't the Torah state, for example, that "Moses wrote the story of the splitting of the sea at the bidding of G-d"?
Second, what is the meaning of the words "Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys, and these were their journeys according to their going forth"? And what is the difference between "goings forth according to their journeys," and "journeys according to their going forth"?
Thirdly, the beginning of the verse makes mention of G-d's role in the process: "Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys at the bidding of G-d." But when the verse repeats itself to describe the actual journeys -- "and these were their journeys according to their goings forth" -- mention of G-d is omitted in the repetition!
This seems to indicate that the transcribing of the journeys was Divinely ordained while the journeys themselves were humanly decided. Yet this is contrary to the reality that G-d designed the entire route of the Jewish people throughout the wilderness: "according to the word of G-d would they encamp and according to the word of G-d they would journey (2)". If so, why does the Torah not write here, too, "And these were their journeys according to their goings forth at the bidding of G-d"?
Finally, as we have discussed numerous times, the entire Torah is a blueprint for life, a road map for life's journeys. But how does this entire episode, which occurred some 3300 years ago in a distant wilderness, apply to our lives today?
It's not supposed to be easy
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephrayim of Sedlikov (d. on 17 Iyar 1800), a grandson of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (3), was one of the great spiritual masters of his age. In his Chassidic work Degel Machne Ephrayim he discusses a beautiful idea taught by his saintly grandfather.
The route followed by the Jewish people in their trek from Egypt to Israel, including all forty-two encampments on the way, says the Baal Shem Tov, represent the journey of every human being throughout his or her life, beginning in Egypt and culminating in the "Promised Land."
We begin our voyage by leaving Egypt, by departing the narrow passageway of our mothers bodies' ("Mitzrayim", the Hebrew term for Egypt, means "narrow constraints," representing the narrow channels through which a fetus emerges). We then slowly become exposed to the wilderness of the world, to the confusion and turmoil that life imposes on each of us. As we continue to mature, we learn that life was never meant to be easy, but it was designed by our creator as a journey through a challenging and arduous desert, that could nonetheless lead us to a transcendental terrain of holiness, symbolized by the Promised Land.
Our personal journeys through our individual deserts -- just like the journey of our forefathers 3,000 years ago -- include forty-two major "encampments." Although no two people live the same lives, each of us in his (or her) own way encounters, during his life, forty-two singular experiences made up of particular psychological and emotional "ingredients." These 42 experiences are represented by the names of the 42 places where the Jewish people camped during their journey through the Sinai desert and become part of our voyage to our own Promised Land.
All of the circumstances we encounter -- the may range from a quarrel with your spouse to the loss of a job, from the birth of a child to the buying of a new home -- can be utilized by us as a tool for emotional and spiritual growth and productivity, or, conversely, as a source to demoralize and debase us, plunging us into despair. They can bring us closer to our inner Holy Land, or they can drive us from our spiritual destination. The choice must be made by the traveler himself.
What type of burial?
For example, one of the stops of the Jewish people in the desert was named Kevros Hatavah, which means the "graves of craving." On the simple level it was named thus because this was the location where the people who succumbed to gluttonous cravings died from excessive consumption and were brought to burial (4). Yet on a deeper psychological level, a defining moment in every person's life emerges when he or she is granted the opportunity to "bury" and subdue immoral cravings and lusts, elevating oneself to an entire new level of consciousness.
But that very same experience presents an equal opportunity for man to create a "grave" for himself and bury himself therein. It is ultimately he himself who must make the choice of how to define the reality of this "encampment" -- an opportunity for growth or an invitation to disaster.
The choice
In light of this perspective, the Degel Machane Ephrayim explains the meaning of the above mentioned cryptic verse: "Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys at the bidding of G-d; and these were their journeys according to their goings forth."
The journey per say is predetermined "by the bidding of G-d," who has meticulously designed the forty-two stations each and every person must encounter during his or her voyage on planet earth. Our challenge is to "go forth" according to the "journeys." This means, to utilize each and every situation in life as an opportunity to heal, grow and become better human beings, reaching the destination G-d has in store for us.
But what happened in reality was something entirely different: "And these were their journeys according to their going forth." The Jewish people allowed themselves to be bogged down by the circumstances they encountered at certain locations in the desert and lose their sense of direction. Thus, the original forty-two journeys as they were defined by G-d, were sadly redefined according to their own poor and sometimes immoral choices, "according to their going forth" in the wrong direction.
G-d writes the script of your life. You decide weather the script is a blessing or a curse. You make the choice of whether you will go forth according to G-d's planned journey for you, or you will redefine the journey based on your own condition at any given moment.
So the next time you are confronted by an event, encounter, or circumstance that challenges you deeply, don't allow it to shake you up and throw you off the beaten track. Instead make an attempt to view it as one of those forty-two encampments that grant you the opportunity to discover a deeper place within yourself, allowing you to come one step closer to the holy soil embedded in your soul.
~~~~~End~~~~~
Footnotes:
1) See Talmud Bava Basra 15a; Rambam introduction to Mishnah Torah. The fact that Moses wrote the entire Torah is mentioned in Deuteronomy 31:9.
2) Numbers 9:18.
3) The founder of the Chassidic movement (1698-1760).
4) See Numbers 11:34.
Moses and a Bush
An angry and frustrated President Bush is reflecting one morning in his Texan farm how to rid the world from the terror disease, when he suddenly observes Moses strolling through the fields. Assuming that the best advice on the subject can be obtained from this great teacher and leader, he calls out to Moses, only to be disregarded.
Bush begins to run after Moses, pleading that he turn his face to him. But to no avail: Moses simply ignores him.
Bush's ire increases. "Moses," he exclaims. "Do you know whom you are ignoring? The President of the United States! Why would you not have the decency to talk to me for a moment?"
"Listen to me," Moses tells the President. "The last time I spoke to a burning bush, I was stuck in a desert for forty years."
The Voyage
In the beginning of the second Torah portion of this week, Massei, the Bible summarizes the entire route followed by Israel from its Exodus from Egypt, in the year 1313 B.C.E, until it stood poised to cross the Jordanian River and enter the Promised Land, forty years later. In all, the Jewish forty-year sojourn through the Sinai wilderness included forty-two encampments, each one enumerated by name in this week's portion.
The Torah portion opens with the following statement: "These are the journeys of the Children of Israel who went forth from the land of Egypt. Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys at the bidding of G-d; and these were their journeys according to their goings forth."
The Torah now proceeds to describe the route taken by Israel -- from the Egyptian City Ramses, to Succoth, to Etham, to Marah, to Elim, to Yam-Suf, to Sin, to Dafkah, etc.
Four questions
A simple reading of the biblical text brings to mind several questions.
Firstly, why does the Torah single out this particular part -- the story of the Jewish journey in the desert -- stating that it was written by Moses at G-d's bidding, when in truth Moses wrote the entire Torah at G-d's instructions (1)! Why doesn't the Torah state, for example, that "Moses wrote the story of the splitting of the sea at the bidding of G-d"?
Second, what is the meaning of the words "Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys, and these were their journeys according to their going forth"? And what is the difference between "goings forth according to their journeys," and "journeys according to their going forth"?
Thirdly, the beginning of the verse makes mention of G-d's role in the process: "Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys at the bidding of G-d." But when the verse repeats itself to describe the actual journeys -- "and these were their journeys according to their goings forth" -- mention of G-d is omitted in the repetition!
This seems to indicate that the transcribing of the journeys was Divinely ordained while the journeys themselves were humanly decided. Yet this is contrary to the reality that G-d designed the entire route of the Jewish people throughout the wilderness: "according to the word of G-d would they encamp and according to the word of G-d they would journey (2)". If so, why does the Torah not write here, too, "And these were their journeys according to their goings forth at the bidding of G-d"?
Finally, as we have discussed numerous times, the entire Torah is a blueprint for life, a road map for life's journeys. But how does this entire episode, which occurred some 3300 years ago in a distant wilderness, apply to our lives today?
It's not supposed to be easy
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephrayim of Sedlikov (d. on 17 Iyar 1800), a grandson of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (3), was one of the great spiritual masters of his age. In his Chassidic work Degel Machne Ephrayim he discusses a beautiful idea taught by his saintly grandfather.
The route followed by the Jewish people in their trek from Egypt to Israel, including all forty-two encampments on the way, says the Baal Shem Tov, represent the journey of every human being throughout his or her life, beginning in Egypt and culminating in the "Promised Land."
We begin our voyage by leaving Egypt, by departing the narrow passageway of our mothers bodies' ("Mitzrayim", the Hebrew term for Egypt, means "narrow constraints," representing the narrow channels through which a fetus emerges). We then slowly become exposed to the wilderness of the world, to the confusion and turmoil that life imposes on each of us. As we continue to mature, we learn that life was never meant to be easy, but it was designed by our creator as a journey through a challenging and arduous desert, that could nonetheless lead us to a transcendental terrain of holiness, symbolized by the Promised Land.
Our personal journeys through our individual deserts -- just like the journey of our forefathers 3,000 years ago -- include forty-two major "encampments." Although no two people live the same lives, each of us in his (or her) own way encounters, during his life, forty-two singular experiences made up of particular psychological and emotional "ingredients." These 42 experiences are represented by the names of the 42 places where the Jewish people camped during their journey through the Sinai desert and become part of our voyage to our own Promised Land.
All of the circumstances we encounter -- the may range from a quarrel with your spouse to the loss of a job, from the birth of a child to the buying of a new home -- can be utilized by us as a tool for emotional and spiritual growth and productivity, or, conversely, as a source to demoralize and debase us, plunging us into despair. They can bring us closer to our inner Holy Land, or they can drive us from our spiritual destination. The choice must be made by the traveler himself.
What type of burial?
For example, one of the stops of the Jewish people in the desert was named Kevros Hatavah, which means the "graves of craving." On the simple level it was named thus because this was the location where the people who succumbed to gluttonous cravings died from excessive consumption and were brought to burial (4). Yet on a deeper psychological level, a defining moment in every person's life emerges when he or she is granted the opportunity to "bury" and subdue immoral cravings and lusts, elevating oneself to an entire new level of consciousness.
But that very same experience presents an equal opportunity for man to create a "grave" for himself and bury himself therein. It is ultimately he himself who must make the choice of how to define the reality of this "encampment" -- an opportunity for growth or an invitation to disaster.
The choice
In light of this perspective, the Degel Machane Ephrayim explains the meaning of the above mentioned cryptic verse: "Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys at the bidding of G-d; and these were their journeys according to their goings forth."
The journey per say is predetermined "by the bidding of G-d," who has meticulously designed the forty-two stations each and every person must encounter during his or her voyage on planet earth. Our challenge is to "go forth" according to the "journeys." This means, to utilize each and every situation in life as an opportunity to heal, grow and become better human beings, reaching the destination G-d has in store for us.
But what happened in reality was something entirely different: "And these were their journeys according to their going forth." The Jewish people allowed themselves to be bogged down by the circumstances they encountered at certain locations in the desert and lose their sense of direction. Thus, the original forty-two journeys as they were defined by G-d, were sadly redefined according to their own poor and sometimes immoral choices, "according to their going forth" in the wrong direction.
G-d writes the script of your life. You decide weather the script is a blessing or a curse. You make the choice of whether you will go forth according to G-d's planned journey for you, or you will redefine the journey based on your own condition at any given moment.
So the next time you are confronted by an event, encounter, or circumstance that challenges you deeply, don't allow it to shake you up and throw you off the beaten track. Instead make an attempt to view it as one of those forty-two encampments that grant you the opportunity to discover a deeper place within yourself, allowing you to come one step closer to the holy soil embedded in your soul.
~~~~~End~~~~~
Footnotes:
1) See Talmud Bava Basra 15a; Rambam introduction to Mishnah Torah. The fact that Moses wrote the entire Torah is mentioned in Deuteronomy 31:9.
2) Numbers 9:18.
3) The founder of the Chassidic movement (1698-1760).
4) See Numbers 11:34.