|
Torah Portions
The Weekly Torah Portion of Matot Masei
These Are the Journeys of the
Children of Israel
From the
teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
And they
journeyed from... and they camped at... (33:1-49)
Our
chapter opens, "These are the journeys of the children of Israel." However,
it then proceeds to recount not the journeys but the forty-two encampments
at which they stopped during their sojourn in the Sinai Desert!
Yet these
encampments were not ends unto themselves -- only way-stations and stepping
stones to advance the nation of Israel in their goal of attaining the
Promised Land. So the stops themselves are referred to as "journeys".
The
same is true of the journey of life. Pauses, interruptions and setbacks are
an inadvertent part of a person's sojourn on earth. But when everything a
person does is toward the goal of attaining the "Holy Land" -- the
sanctification of the material world -- these, too, are "journeys."
Ultimately, they are shown to have been the true motors of progression, each
an impetus to the realization of one's mission and purpose in life.
|
