Parshas Masei
Dr. Nosson Chayim Leff
The parsha begins (33: 1 -2): "These are the journeys of Bnei Yisroel who
went out of Egypt ... Moshe recorded their departures for their journeys
(motza'ei'hem lemas'ei'hem ) ... these were the journeys for their
departures" (mas'ei'hem lemotza'ei'hem).
The Sfas Emes notes that the pasuk reverses the sequence of its key
words. First it speaks of "motza'ei 'hem lemas'ei'hem"; then it speaks of
"mas'ei'hem lemotza'ei'hem". The Sfas Emes explains the first sequence as
reflecting a basic reality: for our story to begin, we first had to get out
of Egypt. Therefore, the pasuk starts with 'motza'ei'herm' -- a word that
comes from the shoresh "Y'TZ'A", and hence, a word that irresistibly evokes
"ye'tzi'as Mitzrayim' (our exodus from Egypt). Once we had made that
break-out, we could proceed on our journeys. Apparently, our liberation
from Egypt was not a 'one shot' process in which once and for all, we moved
to a higher stage of development in our relationship with HaShem. On the
contrary, the Sfas Emes finds it relevant to observe that every 'masa'
(journey) took us further from Egypt. Evidently, escape from the cesspool
of tum'a which Egypt was known to be had to be gradual, involving many
small steps. The Sfas Emes may have inferred this point from the pasuk's
use of the word "motza'ei'hem" -- plural.
Proceeding in this vein, the Sfas Emes notes that our journeys continued
until we reached our goal -- Eretz Yisroel. The fact that we had this
objective was crucial. For, too often, people break out from a bad
situation; but lacking the right objective, go from the frying pan into the
fire. Two examples come swiftly to mind. One case is the story of many
Jews in the Shtetel. Reacting to the Shtetel's social inequities, they
broke away from Yiddishkeit, and sought social justice -- in Stalin's
tyranny. Another case involves many young Jews who broke away from the
materialism of their milieu in America to seek spirituality -- in a cult.
The Sfas Emes has presented an analysis in terms of break-out ("freedom
from" ) and journey to ("freedom to") . To conclude this paragraph, he
applies this framework in a wholly new context. Thus, he uses this
perspective to explain why HaShem has made gashmiyus (materialism) so
attractive.
HaShem has arranged things this way so that the right reasons motivate
people when they strive to come closer to Him . If gashmiyus was ugly (
nivzeh), people might break away and seek HaShem because of their disgust
with gashmiyus. But HaShem wants us to abandon gashmiyus and come closer
to Him because He is our goal and our objective in life. That is what the
pasuk means when it says: "motza'ei'hem le'mas'eihem"; that our departures
-- break-outs -- be for the sake of our goals -- our journeys toward proper
objectives. Now comes a last chidush, the Sfas Emes's reading of the word
"mas'eihem". He tells that when a person makes the effort necessary to
depart from materialism as a way of life, one person will help -- be
me'sayei'a (!) -- another.
Copyright © 2003 by Dr. Nosson Chayim Leff and Project Genesis, Inc.
