How will we realize our lives in the country: Dvar Torah to Parashat Matot-Masaei ›

Foster Bible Pictures “The City of Refuge” | cc: wikipedia

The transition from a life of wandering demands new boundaries. Rabbi Benji Gruber sees in the State the new center of Judaism. A full life can only be realized in a state with all that this requires from us and, when we err, we should know how to take a break and enter a city of refuge to take time and also to protect ourselves - Dvar Torah to Parashat Matot-Masaei

Parashat Matot-Masaei is a double parasha, like almost every year.  I intend to deal with Parashat Masaei, with the journeys or, actually, with the end of a journey which is a beginning.

In this parasha the description of the journey (which is why it is called “Masaei” – which means “journeys”) of the people of Israel in the desert  ends and there is a kind of conclusion to the journey.  It is also the ending of the Book of Numbers (B’Midbar) and with the next parasha we enter the book of conclusions, Deuteronomy (“Devarim”).

In our parasha, there is a list of the stages on a long journey (Numbers, Chapter XXX111,Verses 1 – 49).

This  list contains almost no description of what occurred at every place and at every stop.  The names of the stops tell us the story of what happened there (Marah, Kevarot Hata’ava).  Here is part of the description of the stages:

“These are the stages of the children of Israel, by which they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings forth, stage by stage, by the commandment of the LORD; and these are their stages at their goings forth. And they journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were burying them that the LORD had smitten among them, even all their first-born; upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments. And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. And they journeyed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. And they journeyed from Etham, and turned back unto Pihahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon; and they pitched before Migdol. And they journeyed from Penehahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness; and they went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah. And they journeyed from Marah, and came unto Elim; and in Elim were twelve springs of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees; and they pitched there. And they journeyed from Elim, and pitched by the Red Sea. And they journeyed from the Red Sea, and pitched in the wilderness of Sin. And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, and pitched in Dophkah And they journeyed from Dophkah, and pitched in Alush. And they journeyed from Alush, and pitched in Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. And they journeyed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai. And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai, and pitched in Kibroth-hattaavah…

And they journeyed from Hor-haggidgad, and pitched in Jotbah. And they journeyed from Jotbah, and pitched in Abronah…

And they journeyed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom.– And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month…

And they journeyed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moabby the Jordan at Jericho. And they pitched by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth even unto Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.” (Numbers 33: 1-16, 33-34, 37-38, 48-49)

There is also an account of the same events in the form of a poem from the Merneptah Stele, widely known as the Israel Stele, which makes reference to the supposed utter destruction of Israel in a campaign prior to his 5th year in Canaan | cc: wikipedia

When I read these verses, I can almost see these people (us?) wandering from place to place in the desert for forty years.  They stop, pitch their tents and then they set off again.  I read the names of the different places: Ramases, Elosh, Yatvata (I live in Yahel, it’s very near here) and I can almost see it with my own eyes.

Parashat Masaei is a summary and a preparation for the event that this people have been waiting for not just for forty years but perhaps ever since they went toEgyptin the days of Joseph, not as a people but as a family, a tribe.

I can only imagine the faces of the people at this stage of their journey.  Is there here a tense expectation of what is to come? Is there great excitement at the end of a great journey?  Is there sorrow over those we lost on the way, and over the announcement in the previous parasha Matot that Moses would not continue with us to the Land of Israel? I suppose there were mixed feelings about this and about other things.  In the rest of the parasha, there are commands and preparations before entering:  What should be done on arrival, what are the borders of the land, the appointment of heads for each tribe and at, the end, the preparation of cities of refuge and the resolution of the question of Zelophehad’s daughters.  I want to touch briefly on cities of refuge.

A city of refuge is a city to which a man who has killed someone accidentally, unintentionally, can flee. The city of refuge will protect the killer from the family of  his victim who want to take revenge.  However,   entrance  into the city of refuge is not given to the killer to decide -   it is not only a place of protection but also a kind of prison for him, even though what he did was unintentional.

These are the matters that must be dealt with before entering the Land of Israel: Borders, preparations, cities of refuge, etc. With all the difficulties there were in the desert, it was easier.  Life in the desert is followed by a life that is more dynamic, complicated and fuller than life as a desert nomad, in Europe or in Morocco. We are already here but sometimes I feel that we are only at the beginning of our journey like the people in the parasha, who are standing at the border of their land, waiting to enter.  We are obviously in a different situation – we already have a state, institutions, etc.  But we too are dealing with border questions, not just physical ones, questions about the boundaries of democracy, questions about the relationship between different tribes in the country.

Maybe it is tempting to return to the desert, but a full life can only be realized in a state with all that this requires from us and, when we err, we should know how to take a break and enter a city of refuge to take time and also to protect ourselves.

Maybe it is tempting to return to the desert, but a full life can only be realized in a state with all that this requires from us and, when we err, we should know how to take a break and enter a city of refuge to take time and also to protect ourselves.

Shabbat Shalom