Friday, March 11, 2016

Parshas Pikudei - Life’s but a Journey

~ Thoughts on the Parsha ~
Parshas Pikudei

Life’s but a Journey
By: Daniel Listhaus

כִּי עֲנַן ה' עַל הַמִּשְׁכָּן יוֹמָם וְאֵשׁ תִּהְיֶה לַיְלָה בּוֹ לְעֵינֵי כָל בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּכָל מַסְעֵיהֶם

“For the cloud of Hashem would be on the Mishkan by day, and fire would be on it at night, before the eyes of all the House of Yisroel in all their journeys.”
 -Shemos 40:38

            Throughout the B’nei Yisroel’s travels through the midbar (desert), we as a nation were far from alone. Hashem protected us through the wilderness and provided us with miraculous accommodations. One of the most comforting gifts that Hashem gave us at that time was the clearly visible constant protection of the cloud guiding and guarding the mishkan during the day and the pillar of fire filling that role at night. The passukim (verses)[1] describe that whenever Hashem wanted B’nei Yisroel to travel, the cloud would go up and start moving. When it did so, B’nei Yisroel would pack up the mishkan and obediently follow. When the cloud stopped, B’nei Yisroel knew that it was time to camp.

            The last Rashi[2] in the parsha, and of all sefer Shemos, points out a slight discrepancy in the passukim. As mentioned earlier, when the cloud moved, B’nei Yisroel did as well, and when the cloud rested over the mishkan, then B’nei Yisroel knew that it was time for them to camp. The problem is that the last passuk says, “For the cloud of Hashem would be on the mishkan by day, and fire would be on it by night, before the eyes of all Beis Yisroel in all their journeys”. Rashi is bothered how the Torah could use the word “journeys” in referring to the times that the cloud would be on the mishkan by day? The cloud only settled on the mishkan once they were camped, not while they were journeying?

            Rashi offers the following answer. The reason that the encampments, as symbolized by the cloud resting on the mishkan, are also referred to as “journeys” is because it is from the place of encampment that they picked up and travelled again.

            This Rashi seems to dance right around the issue, without clearly explaining the reason. If one would point to a man working and say that he is sleeping, it would be ludicrous to justify such a weird statement by explaining that since it is from sleep that he must awaken from in order to work that he is considered to still be sleeping. Following Rashi’s logic flow, going is stopping and stopping is going, making noise is being quiet and being quiet is making noise, after all, one could only recognize an opposite relative to its lack of being present before doing it. Is it okay to refer to light as darkness since it was necessary to have lack of light in order to have light? How is Rashi answering the question? If he is bothered how could the cloud resting on the mishkan be referred to as a journey, then how could the answer be that that was the starting point of each journey? Of course it was! Just as sleeping is the starting point of awakening, and sneezing is the starting point of stopping to sneeze, so too camping is the start of the next journey. How could we understand how Rashi is answering the question?

            Perhaps Rashi is teaching the following lesson. It is not simply because they traveled from the place that they were camped that the encampments are referred to as travels, but rather because the encampments were just as essential to the traveling as the traveling itself was. After all, the goal of traveling through the midbar was to eventually reach Eretz Yisroel. Every stop along the way commanded by Hashem was therefore a necessary aspect of the journey. Just as us receiving the Torah was necessary and considered a part of the journey even though we all stood in place as a nation and listened, so too the commands to B’nei Yisroel to camp at particular points of the journey were all tzivui Hashem (commandments from Hashem) and were therefore inherently an essential facet of the journey to Eretz Yisroel. Perhaps this is what Rashi means when he writes that the encampments were called journeys because it was from those encampments that they returned to traveling. Had they been detrimental encampments against the word of Hashem or encampments that fostered rebellious behavior that would hinder the ultimate goal, indeed those would not be part of the journey. However a productive encampment on the other hand, whether one needed in order to be physically able to move forward, or one needed because it is inherently necessary as a tzivui Hashem, are without a question considered part of the core journey itself.

            An extension of this idea is the importance of breaks and rest. In order to be productive, people need breaks and need to rest. However, at the same time we must be careful about what occurs during such “down-times” when we have a free moment or need to take a break from our daily routine. If it is something productive in the sense that it will be a neutral ground that will provide a sturdy platform for one to be able to pick oneself back up and return to the main goals at hand then by all means, the break itself is considered an essential part of the journey. However if the hobbies or activities we choose are destructive or inappropriate and don’t provide a sturdy platform that allows us to get back to where we left off, but instead present themselves on a shaky stand which distracts us and makes it easier to slide down than climb up, then such diversion could certainly not be characterized as part of the journey forward.

            May Hashem guide us with a cloud during the day and guard us with a pillar of fire at night in order to help us during our own personal times of encampment that they should not be destructive diversions on shaky surfaces which push us to give up instead of driving forward, but rather be productive ones which are viewed as necessary to continue our own personal journeys of growth forward.



[1] Shemos: 40:34-38
[2] Shemos 40:38

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