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The Childish Impatience We All Should Have

Although road trips are fun, long drives can take their toll. Even adults get fidgety after some time in the car, but children are notoriously impatient about these things. “When are we there yet?” is a common complaint I hear from my kids all the time, but yesterday my four year old daughter took it to a new level. “I wish we could be home right now!” she pouted and I realized her outburst expressed a profound life lesson we can learn from this week’s parsha.

This week we conclude reading the Book of Numbers with the parsha of Masei which opens with an accounting of the 40-year long Israelite journey in the desert to the Promised Land. It started in Egypt and culminated on the bank of the Jordan River near Jericho with a total of 42 stops along the way.

Torah is very efficient with its words and the fact that 49 verses are dedicated to a detailed accounting of the Israelite itinerary indicates that this information is not only interesting to history buffs, but relevant to us all. Here are some points to consider.

The precise wording of the opening verse of the parsha gives the impression that all 42 journeys are directly related to the exodus from Egypt, which means that all 42 journeys were part of the redemption process that culminated near Jericho. What is the message here?

First, some translation is necessary. The Hebrew word for Egypt is “Mitzrayim” which means boundaries or limitations. Mitzrayim was not just the nation that enslaved our forefathers. It represents the underlying human condition which is the source of all our problems: the internal and external limitations that deny us from realizing our true potential to make our world a divine paradise of peace and tranquility. These limitations are the symptoms of a world devoid of G-d consciousness.

The Hebrew word for Jericho (Yericho) is etymologically linked to the Hebrew word for smell (rei’ach).  Our tradition explains that smelling salts are used to revive someone from a faint because the sense of smell is linked to the essence of the soul. When this essential soul level is revealed, its G-d consciousness transforms everything around it into a divine paradise of peace. The purpose of “leaving Mitzrayim” - breaking out of our egotistical tunnel vision - is in order to “reach Yericho” - achieve the revelation of the ultimate level of G-d consciousness for all humanity.

Our ancestors’ itinerary from Egypt to Jericho is the blueprint of the journey every individual experiences through life and the journey of humanity at large. Every individual life and the arc of history are both journeys destined to culminate in a redemptive state of peace and tranquility achieved through G-d consciousness. Every choice we make as individuals and as a society brings us closer to the ultimate redemption.

But it’s taking too long for it to happen and we ought to have my four-year old daughter’s childish impatience and declare “We wish we could be there already!” Here’s the catch: while she couldn’t do anything about getting home sooner, Maimonides declared we have the power to hasten the era of redemption with one more positive thought, spoken word or action.

 

The Ultimate Arms Race

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Nations competing with each other to develop deadlier methods to destroy people and property is a nightmare for humanity. Often when peace seeking nations engage in these arms races it is primarily to gain supremacy at the negotiating table rather than the battlefield. Or so we would hope.

In this week’s parsha we read a fascinating diplomatic exchange where each side presented their secret weapon as a negotiating tactic. As they neared the Promised Land after a forty-year sojourn in the desert, the Israelites sent the following message to the kingdom of Edom, descendants of Yaakov’s brother Eisav.

"You know of all the hardship that has befallen us. Our fathers went down to Egypt, and we sojourned in Egypt for a long time. And the Egyptians mistreated us and our forefathers. We cried out to the L-rd and He heard our voice. He sent an angel, and he took us out of Egypt… Please let us pass through your land… we will turn neither to the right nor to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

Edom replied to him, "You shall not pass through me, lest I go out towards you with the sword!"

On the surface it seems like a reasonable request and a rude response, but according to tradition an intense exchange was going on here. Each side was brandishing the respective powers they inherited from their ancestors Yaakov and Eisav. Yitzchok had blessed Yaakov with the power of prayer and Eisav with the power of the sword.

The Jews emphasized their salvation from Egypt happened because they “cried out to the L-rd,” reminding the Edomites that they had the secret power of prayer on their side. The Edomites in turn warned them that they would obstruct their progress with their hereditary power of the sword.

G-d instructed the Israelites at the time to avoid the confrontation, but the diplomatic exchange characterizes our long history of religious persecution. Our enemies always seek to destroy Judaism with brute force, and we consistently outlived them with the power of prayer.

This Shabbat marks the ninth Yahrtzeit (anniversary of passing) of my grandfather Rabbi Moshe Greenberg. Born in the Soviet Union in 1927 he sacrificed everything to study Torah in the underground Chabad schools and was sentenced to 25 years of harsh labor in the Siberian gulags at age 20. The communists tried to break him with brute force, but he stubbornly kept to his principles of Shabbat and Kosher observance under the worst circumstances. Miraculously, he was released early, married and raised a family and immigrated to Israel in 1967.

This photo is so illustrative of his character and life story. Here he is sitting at his dining room table reciting Tehillim (psalms) against the backdrop of a clock with a photo of his children and clocks for seven different time zones in which they serve as Jewish leaders and activists. While his enemies sought to rob him of his Judaism by the sword, he outmaneuvered them with his prayers and raised a tribe of committed Jews making their mark around the globe.

History proves that in this arms race, the winners are a foregone conclusion.

 

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