Shabbos Parashas Maasei - 5776

Shabbos Parashas Maasei - 5776

Rabbi Hal Miller

These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went forth from the land of Egypt

[Bamidbar 33:1]

The first 49 verses of this chapter and this parsha, aside from sounding like the opening

of Star Trek, list the journeys of the people from Egypt to Moab. We have seen some of this

information before, although not all. Most of these verses state the place the people left and

the place they arrived. Only a few offer anything more. Why do those few verses repeat

something of what happened in those locations, but nothing is repeated for the other locations?

Was it just to remind the reader of a couple things that occurred?

Nechama Leibowitz cites Rashi's explanation that the travel itinerary was "in order to

publicize the mercies of the Almighty and demonstrate how He remembers His compassion

even in the midst of anger." This is a good reason for including the verses in the Torah,

but does it also answer our question?

Rambam says, "miracles are only convincing to those who witnessed them." Again, this applies

to the entire list rather than just those few verses. Nachshoni writes that when we see a place

where a miracle was performed, we recite a blessing. While other commentators tell us that

each stop along the way was full of such miracles, perhaps Nachshoni meant that these few

additional comments in the Torah are somehow more important places with more important

miracles, requiring greater awe on our part.

Once the Israelites are finally out of Egypt, the verses with some bit of extra information

are 9, 14, and 37 through 40. Verse 9 tells that "in Elim there were twelve springs of water

and seventy date palms, and they encamped there." Verse 12 says that in Rephidim, "there

was no water there for the people to drink." Verses 37 through 40 take place "at the edge of the

land of Edom", and involve the death of Aharon.

These items provide a short summary of Jewish history to date. First, there are twelve tribes,

whose job it is to provide water, meaning Torah, to the seventy nations. The people later rebelled

against G-d, rejecting the Torah, thus had no water to drink. This led, at the border or hand of

Edom, which is the Roman/present exile, to the loss of our national leadership and standing as

an independent nation.

At the same time, these verses teach us something more. How could a dozen small springs

in the desert, which are likely to be pretty minimal in content, provide enough water for the

entire 2.5 million person nation? How could seventy palm trees provide enough food for

all those people? These were clearly miracles of the most obvious order. The nation was in

total reliance on miracles at this point.

When there was no water, G-d instructed Moshe to get involved and draw enough

water for the nation from a rock. Clearly also a miracle, but this one was brought on, at least

in part, through human involvement. The nation was one step closer to weaning itself from

total reliance on miracles for survival.

Upon arrival at the place of the non-Jewish world, with the loss of Aharon and pending

loss of Moshe, the people began to realize that they would themselves need to be

actively involved in doing something other than walking and eating. The nation took

another, larger step away from total reliance on miracles.

What did Israel gain from this? We know we must rely totally on G-d, so isn't this in the

wrong direction? No. What it teaches is that we are responsible for doing our part. While

believing in and relying on G-d, we must also act as though our survival depends on our

own effort. This is understandable to the nations around us, a good example for them to

follow, since as Rambam said, those who do not witness miracles are less likely to believe

in them. It is also the step that makes us partners with G-d in His world.