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.