Masei

Traveling on Multiple Levels

Adapted from a teaching by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky

Parshat Masei, Travels, begins by enumerating the various stops along the Israelites' forty-year trek through the desert. Torah says:

Moshe wrote their goings-forth according to their journeys at the bidding of Hashem, and these were their journeys according to their goings-forth. (Bamidbar/Numbers 33:2)

The word translated as "goings-forth" is motzaihem, which also means "their existence," "how they found themselves," or "their experiences." Thus, the verse could be translated in a less literal, more spiritual way:

Moshe wrote about their existential experiences according to their journeys at the bidding of Hashem, and these were their journeys according to their existential experiences. (Bamidbar/Numbers 33:2)

On one level, Torah is summarizing the geographical destinations of the Jews as they wandered. On another level, Torah is presenting the spiritual, ethical, and historically meaningful implications of each rest-stop. Torah tells these two stories simultaneously by using Hebrew place-names that have multiple meanings. As readers of Torah, we can trace the Israelites' journey on either level.

As "readers" of our own lives, we can also recognize multiple levels at work. Every meaningful experience is comprised of temporal circumstances as well as spiritual, philosophical or ethical ramifications. At which level do we find the most important lessons? Where do we look to find the inner guidance we need? When does one level break through above all others and lead us to make life-changing commitments? What are the important peaks and pauses on our own personal or collective ethical and spiritual journeys?

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