We must never stop marching forward
Just as the people of Israel arrived at the border of the Land of Israel, in the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho, the Torah in Parashiot Matot-Masei that we read this week presents a summary list of all the marches—totaling 42—through the desert, including the points of departure and of encampment. The question, of course, is, why was this summary list necessary?
According to one of the approaches presented in Rashi’s commentary, the point of this list is to declare God’s benevolence toward His people. Although the entire generation was meant to traverse the desert for 40 years as a punishment for their sin, God didn’t require them to wander constantly from one stop to the next. For most of that period they only had to move 20 times (Rashi argues that 14 of the 42 stops occurred in year 1 prior to the sin, and another 8 in year 40 afterwards) which means that God, in His goodness, allowed them to rest most of the time.
One problem with this approach is that the Torah devotes a full 49 verses to the record of these marches which leaves the impression that the Torah is trying to highlight the extent of the marches and not their limitation. A second problem is that if the Torah’s intent is to emphasize God’s kindness towards His people, then why does one of the verses (Numbers 32:14) mention the fact that, in Rephidim, there was no water to drink without simultaneously informing us that God provided them with water?
Thus, it seems more likely that the truth lies with Sforno who claims that this list is not coming to praise God but rather the people of Israel for their willingness to follow God, through thick and thin, “in the wilderness, in a land not sown” (Jeremiah 2:2). Some stops along the way, such as Rephidim, were difficult, but they encamped there nonetheless (although according to Exodus 17:1-3 they complained about it quite a bit) whereas other stops, such as Elim where the Torah informs us “there were twelve springs” and “seventy palm trees” (Numbers 33:9), were quite good but they were willing to leave there and continue the journey ahead at God’s behest. In other words, they understood and internalized the fact that, in their journey to the Promised Land, there were going to be many ups and downs but that they are never to look back, never to stay put, and never to lose sight of the final destination.
The horrific attack of October 7, followed by the war against Hamas and the ongoing hostage crisis, has been one the most difficult periods in our 76-year history. Yet our response to these events internally including the fighting spirit and heroism of our soldiers despite almost 10 months of war, our ongoing material and emotional support for them, for the families of the hostages, for the bereaved and for the tens of thousands who have been forced to evacuate their homes, and the solidarity we have shown in declaring “yachad nenatze’ach—“together we shall be victorious”— throughout this time, has been one of our most remarkable achievements during this same period. Lately, however, as the war and the hostage crisis linger, the bonds that have kept us together have begun to fray, exemplified most recently by the forceful (and shameful) infiltration by far-right Israeli politicians and other extremists into the IDF detention facility at Sde Teian in protest of the investigation of 9 reservists over their alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee. Yet, just last night, in a stunning and joyous (yes, joyous! See my article) reversal, we learned of the assassination of Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran and of Hezbollah’s top military officer, Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
Thus, it appears that today we too have our ups and downs that can last days, weeks, months or even years. And just as the people of Israel did thousands of years ago, we too cannot allow ourselves to take the good for granted and remain stagnant nor can we sulk and become paralyzed when things are bad. Regardless of what happens along the way, we too must be prepared to continue marching forward until we have arrived at our final destination in the Promised Land.