Fateful Setbacks – Merging of the “Journey” and the “Encampment?”

“Behold a people that rise up as a Lavi (lioness) and as an Ari (lion) does he lift himself up” (Balaam’s narrative to the Israelites: (Num. 23:24).

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“When the Lord will return the exiles of Zion, we will have been like dreamers. Then our mouth will be filled with laughter and our tongue with songs of joy; then will they say among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for these. The Lord has done great things for us; we were joyful.’ Lord, return our exiles as streams to arid soil. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He goes along weeping, carrying the bag of seed; he will surely return with songs of joy, carrying his sheaves” (Psalms 126)

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You probably never thought you’d see the day when worthy Torah lessons might be gleaned from raw political culture, but is it not said that “Life is stranger than fiction?” Perhaps it’s a sign of the times; the Messianic era has long been described as an age of contradiction. Be that as it may, there is at least one valuable lesson that seems to mimic politics:

In the world of politics, every notable incident; good or bad, is seen as an “opportunity” – a fresh chance to advance a given political ideology or agenda. Even colossal mishaps and cosmic disasters are not off limits to the tenacious politician and his desire to achieve maximum political mileage of every newsworthy event. Hence the popular adage: “No good disaster should ever go to waste!”

While the degree of credence which ought to be placed in a given political claim is best left to the individual, the notion that every occurrence, even failure and mishap, plays a crucial role in man’s perpetual climb towards self-improvement and perfection, is an important ideology to be adopted by all.

It would be fabulous if the road to paradise were as straight as a die – as clear as the azure sky, but it’s simply not the case. The path to righteousness and salvation is rather steep, rugged and winding, fraught with formidable obstacles. There are curves called failure, intersections called confusion, bumps called challenge and potholes called danger.

The reality is that most of the travelers on the rocky road of life will at some point take a wrong turn – putting them face to face with a dead end sign, or perhaps on the complete opposite side of the road. On the rocky road of life one is bound to find himself, at some point, physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually at a place he has no interest or desire to be.

Such setbacks are no doubt extremely frustrating, discouraging and, at least outwardly, destructive. But are there any redeeming qualities to the twist and snarls into which our lives tend work their way? Are they really as useless as they appear? Parsha’s Massei, the second of the two which are read this week, addresses this very question.

Following the opening words “Eileh Massei Bnei Yisrael – these are the journeys of the Children of Israel,” our Parsha proceeds to list every single location where the Israelites encamped during their forty year sojourn in the desert – forty two encampments in all.

But why would the Torah introduce the discussion as the recounting of the “journeys” and then focus its intention on the “encampments”? By focusing on the resting points rather than on the actual journeys, the Torah inevitably seeks to stress the value of the encampment and retreat.

It is this very conception that prompts the Alshich to query why the verse states: “These are the journeys,” rather than “These are the encampments,” especially since Israel spent the majority of her 40 year sojourn encamped, rather than in travel.

Moreover, few of these places are actually recognizable today. For the most part we have little or no idea as to what these names refer, or whether they still exist. What little we do know of these encampments, as noted by Rashi, they do not represent the proudest and most glorious moments of our history.

So, what is the purpose of this long catalogue of names; why all the detail in the Torah’s account? Do we really need to know exactly where the Jews slept every night while they were wandering in the desert?

Given that the Torah never wastes a single word, and that one redundant word or letter warrants pages of commentary, we must reconcile the seeming superfluous nature of what amounts to an entire chapter. How is this information relevant to our lives? Why is this needed?

The answer is that there is far more to the narrative of these travels than meets the naked eye. Indeed, according to Maimonides, our ancestors’ forty year sojourn in the desert incorporated, microcosmically, the entire subsequent history of our people. Hence, by recounting the travels, the Torah inexorably imparts crucial insights regarding the complex and painful odyssey, with all its inherent fluxuation in fortune and spirit.

The foremost lesson to be derived from the detailed recounting is that there was nothing random about it. By taking the pains to recall each of the 42 travels along with its encampment, the Torah attests to its providential nature and significance.

This is true of the “travels” – the tangible and positive forward movement – as well as the “encampments” – the seeming stagnation and even regression, i.e. the various perceived voids, quarrels and rebellions that occurred during the encampments. No part of the journey was insignificant – something which could not be utilized in their “Journey,” towards the “Promised Land”– otherwise the Torah would not include it as part the “Journey.”

The Ba’al Shem Tov takes the precursory quality of the 42 historic travels a step farther. According to the Ba’al Shem Tov the fingerprint or “soul-print” of each individual lies within the 42 ancestral journeys as much as that of the nation as a whole. This is to say that the 42 journeys discussed in our Parsha, serve as a blueprint and outline of our individual journey, from our first to our final breath.

Our Parsha’s lesson hence applies to the individual as much as to the nation. Much as our every journey and encampment as a nation has meaning in the eyes of G-d, so too with the individual. Nothing in our personal life; our moments of progress, enlightenment and growth, as well as our seeming setbacks and failures, is without purpose, since nothing is outside the realm of G-d’s will. There is purpose to our encampments – our trials and tribulations – as there is to our moments of growth and achievements – our journeys.

Does this mean that our failures and possibly transgressions are part of G-d’s Divine scheme and desire? Well, no and yes, depending on whether it is before the occurrence – while there is still free choice – or whether it is post factum.

Without getting in over our heads (deeper than we already have), the general rule of thumb is that everything that happens in this world is by Divine will. That is to say that, “post factum,” everything, good or bad – our “Journeys” and our “Encampments,”– must be perceived as part of the Heavenly master plan and hence for a greater Divine purpose.

Before a thing happens, or “Prospectively” speaking, it is obviously much different, since there is far more latitude and free choice involved, but that’s outside the purview of this discussion.

In his famous discourse, “Baruch Hagomel,” one of three delivered in Kostroma after his liberation from Soviet prison, the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rayatz), made the following poignant, if not mindboggling, declaration: “If a person has not realized his true potential, then he is challenged and aroused from above. This is the meaning of the blessing we make when surviving danger: ‘He who has bestowed good upon me,’ for our Sages declared, ‘Good is none other than Torah,’ i.e. He bestowed upon me Torah – the antidote to evil.

“G-d confronts the Jewish people through the veil of history. In each era they are beset by adversaries that threaten their very existence. This, in turn, awakens new spiritual qualities hitherto dormant within their souls. These qualities are awakened and actualized, resulting in an intensified commitment of Torah and Mitzvos. Thus G-d, by means of these confrontations ‘Bestows good’ upon us, creating a sequence of events that brings about a more intense dedication to Torah: ‘Good is none other than Torah.’” (This discourse, whose theme is thanksgiving, was delivered on the 13th of Tammuz, 5687/July 13 1927, just before the Rebbe Rayatz was released – after ten days – from Kostroma, the city to which he had been exiled for three years.)

Our very Torah reading is the origin of the aforestated bold ideology. Massei – the Parsha whose title means journey – emphasizes that when it comes to growth, the frustrating stationary moments and setbacks are as positive and fateful – as much part of the journey – as the most forward movement.

The Torah herein teaches that we are not meant to fret the past, but rather to transform it! It underscores that the journey is as crucial a component as the destination itself. For the ultimate achievement of man’s journey upon this earth is not where or what he gets, but rather what he becomes.

It is interesting to note that when we chant the last chapter of Devarim; as we finish reading the entire Torah, the Israelites are still to be found in the desert, never having gotten over the journey. Is the Torah a book without an ending – is Judaism a journey without a destination? Heaven forbid! The Torah is a book with the ultimate ending and Judaism provides the ultimate destination; the end that lies within the journey itself.

The Parsha of Massei, which always coincides with the season of sorrow – the period of mourning over the destruction or the Holy Temple – contains a fundamental message of hope and consolation. It teaches that each event, no matter how negative, wasteful or stagnant it may seem, plays a role in achieving individual, as well as universal, elevation and redemption. Each journey, static and agonizing as it may appear, is a step closer to the fruition of G-d’s ultimate and grand scheme – a time when the ultimate journey will become manifestly one with the final cosmic destination.

Is there any clearer proof of G-d’s cosmic scheme and guiding hand in history; of the providential “Journeys” and “encampments,” than the survival of the Jewish people in graveyards of the exile and in our return to the Land of Israel? Has there ever, in the entire annals of mankind, been something as incredible as a nation to have survived the sword and the stake, the racks of the Inquisition and the crusading lance, the cross and the crescent, the killing fields and the gas chambers, to be returned home? Only by the mercy and providence of G-d, were we able to survive with our identity and message intact.

In 1948, two millennia after the Roman emperor Hadrian burnt our Temple, razed Jerusalem, sold the Jews into slavery and arrogantly declared ‘Judea capta! (Judea is captured), the Third Jewish Commonwealth was established. After centuries of oppression and persecution, crusades and pogroms, Inquisitions and Holocausts, the Jewish people miraculously returned to the land of their forefathers. Has this “Encampment” not lead to the highest glorification of The Heavenly creator?

When the Romans crushed the Jewish rebellion in 70 CE and destroyed the Temple, they carried out the majority of the Jews into exile. They built a huge victory arch in Rome showing the Temple utensils being taken as spoil. The Romans minted coins depicting a conquered mourning Jewess, along with the words ‘Judea capta’. In their minds, the Jewish people had been crushed.

The Roman Catholic Church, which became the official religion of Rome, taught as doctrine that the Jews had been replaced and rejected by G-d, never to return to Israel. The Church, along with the scholars of Islam, mocked the Jews and taunted them over their abasement, claiming that their continued exile was proof of their replacement in G-d’s eyes. Yet, while the Roman Empire today is nothing but dust, Jews are once again living in the Jerusalem, the city of King David. Has this Encampment not resulted in the ultimate sanctification of His holy name?

The nation that has for so long felt like a sheep among wolves has suddenly arisen like a lion. While the European furnace had not yet ceased to smolder; while the stench still rises from its ghastly crematoriums, the dry bones of its victims roar to life, is this not proof of the merging of the “Journey” and the “Encampment?”

After clawing our way out of the burning ashes of Europe, we founded our own country within 10 years. In its first few hours the barely established tiny Jewish State was attacked by seven Arab nations who declared war all at once. We won that war with less than nothing – 650,000 Jews against the vast Arab world – no mighty Air Force, just a determined bunch of Jews with G-d on their side. Is this not . . .?

20 years later we fought the three strongest armies in the Middle East and crushed them in six days. Ever since, we’ve fought against various coalitions of modern Arab armies with masses of Soviet weapons and, despite the odds, were victorious. Is this not . . .?

The country the UN gave us 60 years ago was 65% desert. We made the desert flourish, selling oranges and vegetables to the world. Is this not . . .?

Today we have a vibrant and modern democratic state, one of the best and most powerful armies in the world, a strong air force, a hi-tech economy exporting millions. The fledgling state is already a world leader in science and technology contributing disproportionately to high-tech, medicine and science worldwide. Intel, Microsoft and IBM all develop their technology there. Our doctors win world prizes for medical developments. Is this not . . .?

Together with the US, Russia, China, India, France and England, Israel is today part of the world nuclear power community. We sit proudly with the US, (250 million people), Russia (200 million people), China, with (1.1 billion people), and Europe – France, England, Germany (350 million people), the only countries in the world to launch something into space. Is this not . . .?

The above is only a tiny fraction of Jewry’s present mammoth resurgence and miraculous recovery – the ultimate “Journey” following the ultimate “Encampment,” – which has inevitably and incontrovertibly achieved the ultimate sanctification of His Holy name and realization of His Divine will and purpose.

We have indeed experienced the final encampment and are in the midst of the ultimate journey. Nu Moshiach, where are you?