Hello from Mitzpe Yericho in the Land of Israel!

Life is a journey. In this week’s double Torah portion which concludes the Book of Bamidbar and takes place in the 40th year of the Jewish people’s “wandering” in the desert, we’re going to hear an accounting from Moshe of the 42 different encampments that the Jewish people had during that time. Interestingly, this is one of my “favorite” sections of the Torah even though to some it might sound like a very tedious list of different places. One thing that hints to us that it’s something to pay close attention to is that there is a slightly different melody that is used when it is chanted. Our sages teach us that the names of the places that Moshe mentions are in fact hints about lessons that the Jewish people learned, or should have learned, at different places based on the experiences that they had there. Furthermore, our sages teach us that each of us is on a comparable journey throughout our own lives — a journey that has the potential to engage us in growing and deepening ourselves. The Jewish people, in fact, were not “wandering” in the desert, but rather were following G-d’s curriculum for spiritual growth through different experiences and challenges. Each step along the way, whether it was painful or pleasurable, had something to teach the Jewish people. Our lives, too, are not random but rather a path that G-d has laid out for each of us with “encampments” along the way to stop and think about what we are supposed to be learning from what is happening to us. There is a tradition to read this section of the Torah as one complete aliyah and not to break it into different sections. This tells us that sometimes our lives seem like a series of random moments that are disconnected, but that they are really all connected, purposeful, and beneficial. It’s for each of us to stop (camp) and think about what growth opportunities different situations in our lives are presenting us with. Hopefully, as time passes, we’re able to look back and see how things connected and we’ll be able to sing about the journey the our life is as its unfolding.

We’re all on the road…Safe journeys!