Parashiyot Masei/Matot

Saturday 11 July 2015                                                                        Tamuz 24  5775

Parashiyot Masei/Matot
Massei – “Journeys” - Num 33:1–36:13; Jer 2:4–28; 3:4; 4:1–2; John 20–21
Mattot – “Tribes”  -      Num 30:2–32:42; Jer 1:1–2:3;  John 18-19

Mattot-Masei, is all about journeys. Moshe recounts for the people all the places they made their camp, from the days of Egypt to the borders of the Land of Israel. For forty-nine verses of Bamidbar/Numbers 33, all Moshe does is recount where they’ve been before, which leaves our friend Rashi with an implied question: why do we need to read about these journeys since it’s all been recorded in earlier chapters of the Torah?

Rashi gives two answers:
1.  Moshe recalled the journeys in so that the people (including later generations, presumably) would remember God’s kindness to the Israelites in providing resting places along the long way towards the Holy Land.

Rashi shows that the middle 38 years of the journey only contained about half the number of total re-locations- i.e. most of the moving from place to place was in the first and last years of the 40, so that there really wasn’t that much “journeying” as such over the 40 years at all.

2. Rashi’s second explanation comes from an earlier sage, R. Tanchuma, who offers a parable: “It is like a king whose son became sick, so he took him to a faraway place to have him healed. On the way back, the father began citing all the stages of their journey, saying to him, ‘This is where we sat, here we were cold, here you had a headache, etc.’ ” (Rashi on Bamidbar/Numbers 33:1)

R. Tanchuma’s parable begs two questions: first, who do the characters of the story represent in terms of the Torah narrative, and second, why is it important for the son to know what happened along the way to the place where he was healed? Isn’t it enough to know that everything turned out OK in the end?

In many religious parables and allegories, the character of the “King” represents God, and if that’s what R. Tanchuma meant, then we have to understand that Moshe was following God’s instructions to review all the stages of the journey. In that case, then it seems that Rashi’s first answer and his second answer are the same:
the review of the stages of the journey is a praise of God’s kindness, both in providing for resting places along the way and in staying with the people in their times of trouble at various points.

Perhaps we can say that Rashi offers two different reasons for recounting each stage of the journey because the people had multiple thanks to give, both to God and to Moshe. If so, then the long passage at the beginning of chapter 33 is more than a log-book of campsites, but is paradigmatic of all human journeys: we take them with God, and we take them with our friends and loved ones. To God we give thanks for the blessings and goodness along the way, and if we are blessed enough to have companions and family who strengthen us, we give thanks for the amazing gift that human hearts can be loyal and loving. Remembering the stages of the journey, in this light, isn’t about nostalgia, it’s about recognizing to Whom thanks is due, both in the Heavens above and right here on earth.

My comments:

Perhaps it is appropriate in the light of this commentary to consider how far we have come on our own journeys with the Lord. In the Jewish world, how we navigate the journey is more important than arriving at the destination. Rav Sha’ul explains that while we are on this journey, we cannot get too adamant and rigid in our thinking because we all see through a mirror dimly and understand only in part (1 Corinthians 13:12). Furthermore, Shimon (Simon Peter) commands us to ‘grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord” (2 Peter 3:18).

Therefore, let’s be attentive to those whom we encounter along the way because they are sent from above and who knows whether, when encountering a stranger, “some have unwittingly entertained angels” (Heb 13:2).
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