Matos Masei

by Rabbi Yaakov Menken

The last reading in Bamdibar [Numbers] is called "Masei", meaning travels or journeys. This reading begins with an enumeration of the various stops that Israel made between Egypt and the Land of Israel during 40 years in the desert.

Many commentators discuss why they are listed here, especially because the trips are also recorded in the Torah at the appropriate places. Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki) and the Ramban (Nachmanides) both offer an interesting insight [in the name of Rabbi Moshe the speaker, in Medrash Agada]: this list displays G-d's kindnesses towards Israel.

Because of the episode of the spies, G-d decreed upon Israel that they should wander for 40 years in the desert - and all of the travels were indicated by a pillar (a cloud during the day, a pillar of fire at night), that led them when G-d commanded them to move. The image generated is a group forced to wander across the hot desert, stumbling from place to place, offered little rest until, at long last, the last of the first generation passed away and the 40 years came to an end.

The image is quite mistaken, as Rashi demonstrates with a simple bit of subtraction. The total count of the journeys is 42. Take off the first 14 from this number, which were all made during the first year before the spies were sent into the Land of Israel. Also subtract the final 8, which occur during the last year, following the death of Aharon, as Israel finally moves forward to occupy its homeland. Thus the intervening 38 year period was marked by only 20 moves, close to two years, on average between trips. This is a clear demonstration how even an evil decree is tempered by G-d's kindness.

The Ramban also quotes the Rambam [Maimonides] in his Guide to the Perplexed, where the Rambam indicates that there is a "great need" to recount the journeys, related to the Manna that the Jews ate in the desert. He says that these journeys delineate where the Jews travelled, in order that doubters in future generations could go and see for themselves that the locations are not fit for agriculture or even basic survival. These doubters, he explains, might think that the Jews lived in "a place where people go, like those deserts which the Arabs settle today," in order that they might offer an alternative to belief in the miracle of Manna.

This struck me as a practical lesson in "the more things change, the more they stay the same." In our era, people consider it a sign of modernity and sophistication not to believe in miracles. [As I mentioned when we began BaMidbar, I received mail a few months ago offering a theory that the Manna was actually a certain hallucenogenic mushroom.] Without debating miracles or their validity, it is worthwhile to note that Maimonides dealt with the issue some 700 years ago - and asserts that the Torah predicted it several millenia before. In the words of our wisest Sage [King Solomon in Koheles Ecclesiastes], "there's nothing new under the sun!"

The author is the Director of Project Genesis.

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