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JULY 16, 2020 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
From the Fire
Parshas Masei 5774 Jewish Warrior, King of Opposites By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf Note: Adapted from a speech given in 2014
I
t has been a long time since we have felt the kind of unity we have seen ever since Eyal, Gilad, and Naftali were kidnapped and murdered over six weeks ago. The subsequent rocket fire on cities all over Eretz Yisroel and the war in Gaza have brought us together so much. Outside of Eretz Yisroel, helpless as we review every scrap of news from Israel, all we can do
is daven and strengthen our learning and mitzvos in the hopes that Hashem will not allow any more of our boys in the IDF, or any of the Yiddin in Eretz Yisroel, be harmed. The upheaval at this time is tremendous. Everything is constantly changing. We are transitioning from one danger to the next. We feel like we are experiencing even more than the forty-two travels of the
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Jewish people in the desert. The Degel Machaneh Ephraim, zy”a, teaches, in the name of his grandfather the Baal Shem Tov, zy”a, that the forty-two journeys of the Jewish people in the desert correspond to the journeys each individual takes in his life. When a person leaves the womb, this corresponds to when the Jewish people left Egypt. When the Jewish people entered Eretz Yisroel, this corresponds to a person’s journey into the land of eternal life after 120 years in this world. How do we retain a sense of equanimity and centeredness when we must transition from one journey to another throughout our lives? Reb Leibele Eiger, zy”a, points out that the word “of them [Bam]” in the pasuk “And you shall speak of them,” has the numerical value of forty-two. The pasuk continues, “And you shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” We must speak of them, words of Torah and emunah, wherever we go and wherever we travel. We can thrive through every test and trial we face if we hold onto truth and faith. If we remain certain in our purpose, then we will succeed despite all of the contradictions and challenges of a world in which many people seem to have taken leave of basic human decency and morality. But the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching about the forty-two travels of the Jewish people does not only apply to people on an individual level. It also speaks to the travails of our nation as a whole as we journey on toward the times of Moshiach.
The Encampments – A Paradox of Opposites We know that the names of our stops during our journey in the desert (Bamidbar 33:5-49) have profound meaning. And as I read through the names of our encampments in the parsha with the upheaval in Eretz Yisroel in mind, I was struck by the contradictions implicit in those names and how they speak to the contradictions of life today, particularly in Eretz Yisroel. On one hand, it says we camped in Miska, from the Hebrew word meaning sweetness. Many aspects of our lives are sweet and we have much to be thankful for. But we also camped in Mara, meaning bitterness. Dozens of our brothers have been killed sanctifying G-d’s name and millions of our brothers, sisters, and friends in Eretz Yisroel are running for bomb shelters multiple times every day. Their lives are in a state of upheaval and they experience bitterness day after day. The Jewish people camped in Har Shafer, meaning “beautiful mountain.” Sometimes we are on top of the world. The view is stunning. But at other times, we camp in Tachas, meaning “low.” When we watch the parents, brothers, sisters, and wives of all of the soldiers killed protecting our people, we feel like we are living at the opening of Geihinom, at the lowest place. We camped at Refidim, which means weakness. Our Torah, mitzvos, and emunah suffer and we often do not do what Hashem expects of us. But we also camped in Midbar Sinai, where we received the Torah, attaining the highest level of prophecy and connection to G-d’s will. Today too, we have seen how even people with
