Parshat Maaseh / Num. 33:1-36:13
When I was in high school, history was one of my worst subjects. I would not say that I was not interested in the events that we were studying. It was just that when I was in school so much of learning history was remembering dates and places. This was not my forte. I was always struggling to keep the numbers straight in my head (was it the 18th century or the 1800s?!?!) and without having visited places, it was hard to remember all of the names. In addition, this kind of learning was rather dull and monotonous. Moreover, I never really understood why all of these details were so important. On the surface, the opening of this week’s Torah portion seems to be another one of those tedious history lessons.
This week, according to the traditional Torah reading cycle, we find ourselves at the end of the book of Numbers. As we conclude this parashah (portion), the Israelites are on the verge of entering the Promised Land. In fact, all that is left is Moses’ final address to the Israelites, which summarizes and repeats events from the previous books of the Torah.
The portion opens with the words, “These were the marches of the Israelites who started out from the land of Egypt, troop by troop, in the charge of Moses and Aaron. Moses recorded the starting points of their various marches as directed by the Eternal One. Their marches, by starting points, were as follows...” What, in fact, follows is a rather dry list of forty-two stations between the starting point, Rameses, and the final encampment at the Jordan. Yes, it is another list. The Torah, like high school history, is full of them. We have lists of generations of people, lists of census statistics, and lists of building materials for the tabernacle, just to name a few. Here again...another list. So, why do we need this recounting of places when we have “been there” already?
The Midrash explains that God told Moses, “Write down all the places through which Israel journeyed, that they might recall the miracles I wrought for them.” After all, God had guided them safely (and repeatedly) through many dangers. Of course, we all know that God guided them across the Sea of Reeds (The Red Sea), but he also guided them through the wilderness of Sin, where the manna first appeared; Refidim where the Israelites complained about the lack of water and Moses struck the rock; and Kivrot Hata’avah where the people angered God by insisting on having meat to eat. The Midrash compares this list of places to the situation of a king whose son is ill. The king takes him to a specialist. On their journey home, at each stopping place, the king reminds his son, “Here is where you had a headache, and here is where we stopped to rest.” In this portion, every “oasis” that welcomed the Israelites and provided them food and water is “rewarded” by being mentioned in the Torah.
Maimonides elaborates that “People would think that the Israelites sojourned in a desert that was near to cultivated land and in which man can live, like the deserts inhabited at present by the Arabs, or that it consisted of places in which it was possible to till and to reap or to feed on plants that were to be found there, or that there were wells of water in those places. Therefore all these fancies are rebutted and the traditional relation of all these miracles is confirmed through the enumeration of those stations.”
Rashi takes a more mathematical approach to understanding this litany of locales. Citing Moses ha-Darshan, he figures out that, if we omit the first and the last years when the Israelites were constantly on the move, there were only 20 stations during 38 years. It is wrong to think of Israel as constantly on the go. The list of names reminds us that during most of the 40 years in the wilderness, the Israelites were living normally at one oasis or another for years at a time. This helps illuminate each of God’s miracles as truly unique events.
Therefore, it seems that this list was not just another history lesson to the Israelites. Rather, these incidents are recalled to engender hope in the new generation. For example, remembering God’s victory over the Egyptians and over the Canaanite king of Arad could serve to encourage the new generation about to encounter the Canaanites as they enter the land. So perhaps God is in the details. The overall effect of this lengthy and detailed list of encampments is to draw attention to God’s faithfulness in bringing Israel through the long and challenging journey in the wilderness, and to inspire confidence and trust in God as the people finally enter the Promised Land.
Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Leigh Korn
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