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Parshah Mas’ei: The Stories We Tell

July 21, 2014 by Patrick Beaulier

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Finally, the indefatigable Israelites find themselves on the cusp of homecoming. They have survived 40 years of wandering towards a pledged and elusive future. Not quite lost, but lacking a fixed and known trajectory. They have endured innumerable deaths. Countless births. Love burst into life again and again, and hearts were torn to pieces. Alliances formed, shattered and were mended a thousand times over. Pacts were sealed and celebrations savored. There was indeed much rejoicing, dancing in the dust and voices lifted in lilting harmony. War and disease took heavy tolls, too. Sorrow and grief guested frequently.

In Parsha Mas’ei, the Israelites prepare to enter Canaan, their promised homeland and sacred objective of their journey. But before they can unload their beleaguered animals and settle into building a world of their own, they must remember where they’ve been.

As directed by HaShem, Moses recounts, step-by-step, the sojourn of his people. It is a detailed accounting and long, including all 42 of the camps they have made. He provides a few identifying features like drought and palm trees, to jog foggy memories. But what’s the point? Undoubtedly, the Israelites are restless. A collective sense of excited accomplishment must have been felt, as well as some anxiety about the immediate future. The lure of a settled life, a true home, must surely have pulsated fiercely within the hearts of every person present. Why wait just to hear the story they’ve all lived?

“The Israelites set out from Ramses and encamped at Succoth,” Moses begins. “They set out at Succoth and encamped at Etham which is on the edge of the wilderness” (Numbers 33:5-7).

The edge of the wilderness is a phrase raw and lonely. It is an incantation evoking deeply rooted memory. When heard by the Israelites, those who braved that edge must have recalled immediately their own experience. In that moment, they felt again the unwieldy sense of trepidation, the exhilaration of newly claimed freedom and the cautious hope in an uncertain future that fueled those early years of rambling.

As Moses continues through every encampment, each of the Israelites would have been seized by lucid recollection. “Ah,” one must have thought, “that was where my daughter was born, her face towards the sun and her cry like salvation.” Or, much sadness. “My brother, so young, died and was buried there. I still ache to think of him.” Another may have recalled glimpsing her love for the first time, or the argument that ended a friendship. Still others may have thought of secrets shared, promises kept, vows which endured and those that did not.

What Moses gives his people is not simply a list of notable points on a map. He is calling forth an array of individual lives to weave together one story of Bnei Yisrael. It is an opportunity for each present to reflect, reminisce, grieve, and let go. Moses empowers new insight, perceptive understanding, and an enormous appreciation for the journey and the tribe. It is a means of entering Canaan fully prepared for the arduous work of building a homeland sustainable for generations.

So it is with us, too. In all the years of our lives, where have we been? What have we known? How have we loved? Who have we lost? What supernova sized passions ignited our souls? We are the stories we tell. We are also the stories we refuse to speak. Much like the Israelites, we cannot know where we must go, what we are seeking, or who we can be, if we don’t fully understand where we have been.

Akiva Yael is an enthusiastic participant in all that is holy, including Torah study, powerlifting, and the beauty of our world.

Filed Under: Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud) Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, maasei, mas'ei, Matot-Massei, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier

Parshah Matot-Massei

July 8, 2010 by Patrick Beaulier

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TldXUpSB7lQ

Sometimes reading the Torah is like reading a book written by a blood thirsty thirteen year old with attention deficit disorder. This week’s portion jumps, not so elegantly, from women taking vows, to killing the Midianites and stealing their stuff, then all of a sudden we’re diving up a bunch of land. The end, next chapter please.

And you wonder why more people don’t take the Torah seriously? It’s like cut-and-paste poetry. Once the story gets really good, G-d interrupts everything with a census or some obscure set of rules that makes no sense. Or it starts off really boring, and you give up half way, only to find out the really good stuff is toward the end.

The Torah doesn’t have a good beginning, middle and end. And it’s really not meant to, either. I think there’s three basic reasons for that.

First, the Torah is a reflection of life. And life doesn’t have a real beginning, middle and end. Sure, individual lives start and finish, but the legacy of humanity lasts forever (or at least until SkyNet and the Terminators finish us off). At any rate, Torah reflects life, and life is filled with low points, high points, boring, pointless interruptions, scandals, intrigue, and everything else…and sometimes the order of those things doesn’t make any sense.

Second, the Torah is a reflection of Creation. There’s a midrash that says that G-d looked into the Torah before creating the world. I like that. The Torah is flawed at times, and frankly, so is the world. Now, I’m not calling HaShem a crummy writer or a bad creator, but the world isn’t perfect, and if you read the Torah enough, you’ll find out that the Torah isn’t perfect all the time either.

Finally, the Torah is the reflection of the human soul…sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse. This week, we’re dealing with the souls of women and warriors, liars and hinderers, revenge-seekers and oppressors. Next week, the soul may change, and go in a new direction. But the Torah does us a huge favor and lets us see all sides of the soul. Hopefully, the soul doesn’t end either.

So what’s the bottom line? Don’t let the strange ups-and-downs of the Torah, the weird jumping back and forth from women-and-their-dads-to-blood-and-guts keep you from learning. Life, Creation, and the human spirit has its ups-and-downs, and its weird moments, too.

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud), Podcasts & Videos Tagged With: bible, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, d'var, darshan yeshiva, Matot-Massei, midianites, online conversion, Parsha, parshah, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, Torah, war

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