Parshat Masai: Protecting the Land and the Soul

This Parsha is overlooked many times due to it being connected to the previous one in most years. What most know about it is what its name has to offer, “These are the travels [of the] sons of Israel…” We can dig in deeper into the names of the stops they made in order to learn the deeper meaning of each of them, but rather, let’s focus our attention on later on in the Parsha. The borders of the land of Israel. Without getting into detail describing the territory, let’s understand the definition of borders.

Would it be right to call a gate a door? What about the mouth, would we call that a door too? Would it be right to call a gate a border? What about the mouth, would we call that a border too? As you see, borders are anything that stops the flow of the world in, and keeps the sanctity of its place within. Unlike a prison, you can exit these borders but there are a set of rules you must follow in order to provide you with safe entry on your return. In order to keep criminals out we watch what comes in, and in order to keep criminals out we watch what is in. 

Sovereignty requires a border. Sovereignty of a country, nation, person and of a person’s mind must be protected properly. The borders and boundaries of the land of Israel are as important as the border and boundaries one places on their heart and mind. We must protect and cherish what we hold dear and not allow intruders in or the last best hope out. We must keep track of what we hold within these boundaries to assess its value and determine if it warrants protection. I contend that safeguarding oneself is equally, if not more, crucial than defending the land of Israel. I say that since we see how Hashem clearly punished the woods and the stones of the land and preserved us. The land will die down for many years and it will learn to grow again, so too you, sons of Israel, you too will learn to grow once more.

The challenges we go through as humans are inexplicable. Everybody has their own little bag of memories that becomes easier to carry when we have someone helping us on the side. Having the Creator at our side throughout it all gives us a sense of courage and bravery to pursue what He has commanded us to pursue. Much like the land of Israel has Hashem’s eye over it at all times, as the Pasuk states in Devarim 1:12, “A land that Hashem your Lord inquires in her constantly, the eyes of Hashem your Lord on her from the beginning of the year[s] until the end of years.” Much like the land, we too have his constant attention and are looked after.

We want to be able to live with Him throughout our toughest times. We don’t want to forget Him when we are in bad times and surely not in good times. Would we do anything to push Him away from our midst, or would we disrespect Him in any way? We need our border surrounding us at all times and should be driven by that cause to pursue goodness in our lives. When we go through hard times we are told to look at our sins and transgression in order to determine what steps we need to take forward, we look at what had happened and we go through every detail until we see a clear correlation between our actions and the punishments we’ve received, as the Gemara states in Brachot 5a.

It is through these reflections that we learn to set new boundaries for ourselves so that we shouldn’t get ourselves into such predicaments again. Just as we see the world work through cause and effect and we understand that when one pushes the first domino there will be an understandable effect that will follow, the same is with our misdeeds, we get punished in kind. I don’t want to scare you, since I know that we are all trying to become better people and we would love nothing more than to be one with the One. Remember that just as the reward for our good deeds is a kindness of Hashem, since he owes us nothing. He gave us our beating hearts and every breath we take, he gave us life and food until today and has given us so many more blessings that we will get lost trying to keep track. Just as His reward is kindness, we must see His punishments as kindness too.

The land was split by raffle, which means, each person gets their own share of excitement in their life according to the will of their Creator. No one can escape this fate and we all have to learn to live within our borders in peace. Once we understand the concept of us being individual worlds of our own, we will come to realize that we have been endowed by Him with a life unique from anyone else’s, a property line that distinguishes one’s life from another’s. We get to bring people into our lives so they can help us carry our burdens and us theirs, we learn to grow together as a nation that sees His direction as kindness.

We teach our children to follow this path, for we see that this has kept us alive for centuries. We don’t need the flow of the rest of the population to determine our next move, we don’t progress with their progression and we don’t modernize to their fad of the day. We are an eternal nation that has endured hardships, exile and suffering and we still do until this day. Today when our borders of sovereignty are being attacked by the ‘oppressive victims’ of society, we see clearly how our borders are being breached with the noise of the outside world. 

What do we do in such situations? Do we take the hits and remain quiet as we learn our lessons, or should we have learned our lessons to know how to fight back. Do we know how to fight our addictions and urges, our dark side and Yetzer Hara? Do we need more tragedies to befall us and hope for another chance when we will hopefully be smart enough and ready to take a stand, or are we bracing ourselves with our faith in Him and are walking tall and proud with our way of life? Will we protect our spiritual borders just as much as we fight to protect our physical ones? Can’t the leadership of our Holy land today see that we are in the midst of a battle we have yet to win for centuries? Don’t they understand that it is high time to change the strategy?

Focus on spiritual borders of yourselves, of your communities and of your nation as whole. Let them see the light and feel the pride of their Creator within their hearts. Let them remember to stride happily into the dark world and not run from the things that seemed hard to overcome just mere days ago. Be the people your fathers Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov dreamed you would be, follow their path through the flames of the furnaces, as you are set on the altar for sacrifice and through the pains of lost love. Gain confidence in your true God and see His kindness protect you as you protect your soul’s borders. With belief in Him we will be the few who are victorious against the many and the righteous who destroyed the face of evil.

David Lemmer is an Orthodox Jewish Author and Hypnotherapist out of NJ. He can be reached at LemmerHypno@gmail.com