Parshiyot Mattot-Mase 5786

Looking Back on the Journey

A D’var Torah for Parshiyot Mattot-Masei

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz

 

Parashat Masei, the final reading in the book of Numbers, begins with these words:

אֵלֶּה מַסְעֵי בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר יָצְאוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם…

“These are the journeys of the people of Israel who set out from the land of Egypt… (Numbers 33:1)

The text then goes on to name each of the forty-two places where the Israelites stopped during their forty-year journey, up until they arrived at the river Jordan across from Jericho.  There is a pattern in the way the journey is described: each stopping place has its own verse, and each journey from one place to the next is described using the same verbs, vayis’u (“and they set out [from]”) and vayahanu (“and they encamped… [at]”). The cantillation of this part of the text enhances the experience of repetition: while there are exceptions, most of the occurrences of vayis’u and its place name are chanted using tipha-etnahta, and almost every time we read vayahanu and its place name, it appears at the end of the verse with tipha-sof pasuk.

Two verses from the middle of the listing of place names illustrate this (Num 33:18-19):

וַיִּסְע֖וּ מֵֽחֲצֵרֹ֑ת וַֽיַּֽחֲנ֖וּ בְּרִתְמָֽה:

וַיִּסְע֖וּ מֵֽרִתְמָ֑ה וַֽיַּֽחֲנ֖וּ בְּרִמֹּ֥ן פָּֽרֶץ:

They set out from Hazeroth and encamped at Rithmah

They set out from Rithmah and encamped at Rimmon-perez

We tend to read through this seemingly endless list of names with little or no contemplation, for the placenames are for the most part unknown to us as modern readers.  In fact, we might have gotten through this section of the narrative more quickly had the text simply listed the names of the stopping places. But that’s not what we have here. The repetition of the verbs “and they set out” and “and they encamped” invites us to consider that to the ancient Israelites who lived through it, these were more than mere placenames.

My personal understanding regarding this point comes out of the wanderings of my own childhood in a foreign service family. Borrowing from the language of our text, we “set out from Washington DC, and encamped in Paris. I was three years old…and we set out from Paris and encamped in Cambridge outside of Boston…” Ours was a series of seven settings-out and encampments over ten years.  When I think of the various place names of my childhood, each evokes a particular time in my life along with associated memories of people, events both small and significant, insights connected with my time there.

Similarly, it might have been that our biblical ancestors took some time as they sat on the banks of the Jordan to reflect back on their journey and the stops along the way.  Imagine perhaps: “Hazeroth, yes that’s where my oldest daughter was born… Mitkah, oy my sister and I had such a fight, thank God we reconciled finally, on the way to B’nei Yaakov…I’ll never forget Punon, that’s where we buried my husband…”

When there is geographical movement, location is a way to measure the milestones of one’s life. The journeys of the Israelite people, each with their own story, might also serve as an invitation for us to reflect upon our own, metaphorical, journeys. What were the steps that led us to choose to become clergy (or other profession)? Looking back on certain long-term relationships, how have they developed and progressed over the years of our lives?  What were the events that led to where we now stand in our personal spiritual journey?

In the second verse of this parashah, we read that “Moses recorded the starting points of their various marches as directed by God” (Numbers 33:2). Inspired by Moses, we too might find value in taking note of the steps along the journey of our life so far.

As we imagine the Israelites reflecting on the journeys of their lives, we recall that from a Torah perspective they faced an unknown future both as individuals and as a people; for we know that when the story ends at the close of Deuteronomy, they will have not yet entered the promised land.

Just as the Israelites faced an unknown future, we too cannot know what lies ahead in our own lives.  When we look back at our journeys and consider significant moments along the way, we may draw strength, and perhaps even insight or inspiration, as we continue to move forward in life.