Parshat Matot-Masei

Desert miracles

are meant to be remembered

in our desert life

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There's a thought on Mas'ei that I've been "saying over" at this time for many years. Some times I think about the pros and cons of remembered Torah thoughts that are repeated and re-repeated. A friend of mine calls it taking a dvar torah out of the freezer. But I think it's good to have a well stocked freezer. And you can do amazing things after defrosting.

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I remember first discovering and publicly sharing this thought in the Morasha Kollel; summer of 1981. I could go on about some of the details, but what would be the point? What matters is that that I've had this in my head and hopefully my soul for long time.

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One key question on Ma'ei is: what's the idea behind listing all the places where the Jews traveled? Rabeinu Bachai suggests that the list serves as a reminder of what happened in each place where they stopped. In a word, what happened in each of their desert stops were miracles. The lists of encampments bring to mind the myriad miracles that occured at each stop.

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Rabeinu Bachai notes that the Hebrew word for nature and the word for drowning share the same root (Teva). This is because the natural events of life, can - G-d Forbid - drown a person. We need to see the miraculous momentum in every moment of our lives. Just as we look back and recall how G-d kept us alive and cared for us in the desert, we should see and appreciate this in our own lives.

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As Rav Samson Rafael Hirsch points out, this is one of the ideas behind the Sukka. The Sukka reminds us that G-d cared for every individual in the desert. We leave our homes and camp out on Sukkot to remind ourselves that it is G-d who cares for each of us today, just as in the days of the desert.

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May we be blessed to see and feel the hand of G-d in our lives. May G-d encircle us all with his Sukka of peace. May we and all of Israel and all the world be blessed with peace.

Shabbat Shalom