Drash on Matot-Mas’ei 2024

Rabbi Moshe Givental

North Shore Temple Emanuel

Parshat Mattot-Mas’ei is a double Parshah, recounting the laws of vows, a brutal war that the Israelites wage against the tribe of Midian (the tribe of Moses’s wife), and a summary of the 42 steps of Israelites’ journey from the enslavement of Egypt to the freedom and responsibility of the Promised Land. It is easy to want to skip over this latter part with its long list of names and focus on the juicier parts earlier in this double Parshah. However, our tradition teaches that these 42 steps in the journey of the Israelites parallel the many steps, challenges, and opportunities, we must all traverse in our personal lives, in each and every generation. Just like that journey in that Wilderness, our lives confront us with suffering and joy, with miracles and mystery, with devastation and hope.

I think of these steps in conversation with those of chapter three of Ecclesiastes, “there is a time for everything, for every experience under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot that which is planted…a time for weeping and a time for laughing, a time for wailing and a time for dancing…” Unfortunately, we rarely know the purpose of any particular step, how it will fit into the bigger picture of our lives, our family’s life, or the life of our community, as it happens.

Purpose and meaning is often only understood in retrospect. However, our tradition provides us with these journeys as scaffolding and reminders, that each step can be taken with community, rooted in the struggles and wisdom of our people, and the same yearning for purpose and connection as that of our ancestors.