Rabbi Roodyn

This week’s epic Sedra includes an account of the 42 stations that the Jewish people journeys through on their way to the Promised Land. Although they were sentenced to wander for forty years, this decree was mitigated in some way. Rashi points out that fourteen of the stops took place before the sin of the spies and eight took place during the fortieth year after the death of Aharon. A simple calculation means that there were only twenty journeys during thirty eight years. In fact they even remained in one place, Kadesh for nineteen years straight!

When mentioning these journeys the pasuk says the following:

(וַיִּכְתֹּב משֶׁה אֶת מוֹצָאֵיהֶם לְמַסְעֵיהֶם עַל פִּי ה’ וְאֵלֶּה מַסְעֵיהֶם לְמוֹצָאֵיהֶם (במדבר לג:ב

Moshe recorded their starting points for their journeys according to the word of Hashem, and these were their journeys with their starting points.

The commentaries all note the apparent disparity between the first and the second clauses of the verse, we begin with ‘starting points for their journeys’ and end with ‘their journeys for their starting points’.

Rav Hirsch interprets this in a timeless and relevant fashion. Whenever Hashem ordered them to break camp and start travelling, His intention was in order for them to attain a new goal. His educative guidance would seek out a resting place that would be suitable for the attainment of that goal. Each מסע ‘starting point’ entailed progress and the purpose of that progress was to reach the next stage. Therefore the journey is referred to as ‘starting points for their journeys’.

However, the people had a different perspective entirely. They were dissatisfied with where they were and whenever the call came they were more than happy to leave. They journeyed forward simply in order to leave the previous location and it did not matter to them where they were going to. Thus we have ‘their journeys for their starting points’.

One who is dissatisfied with his lot will be more than happy to run away. Many times however the problem is with the state of mind rather than the circumstances. The Jewish people therefore repeated the same process forty two times, failing to learn the lesson each time.

The message here is obvious, we can spend time complaining about our circumstances, we can even run away, but unless there is an attitude shift, we are more than likely to encounter a similar situation in the next place too. The only way to create that shift is to view life from a different perspective entirely.  If we are able to realise that we are being guided by a Higher Power from station to station to achieve our potential then we can make the most of each stage in our lives before we move on to the next one.