~
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment