Parshas Mas'ei
By Dr. Nosson Chayim Leff
Sfas Emes, Zechuso Tagein Aleinu, Parshas Mas'ei, 5632
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.
Text Copyright © 2004 by Rabbi Dr. Nosson Chayim Leff and Torah.org.
