Devar/5770/Matot-Masei
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And Moses wrote their goings forth, stage by stage, by the commandment of the LORD; and these are their stages at their goings forth. (Num 33:2)
We already know that the Children of Israel travelled for forty years in the wilderness, on their way from Egypt to the Land of Israel. What is the use of giving us a long list of place-names where they stopped en-route during those years?
One reason is that the Torah desired to silence the scoffers, who say that Moshe wandered aimlessly in the wilderness, without any idea of the path he should take -- since after all, it is possible to walk from Egypt to Israel in far less than a month. Therefore the Torah notes each and every place they stopped in the wilderness, with great diligence: to inform us that each place was a known location, and by God's will they stopped at each one.
But there is another reason, which is more relevant to us. Moshe our Teacher, of blessed memory, so desired to enter the Land, that each step he took was imbued with utmost devotion, with the goal of leading the people to its inheritance. He did not rest, nor did his strength slacken, until God took his soul from him at the conclusion of that long and arduous journey. And in our times, when all that is needed to reach the Holy Land is to purchase a ticket and get on a plane -- requiring neither effort nor even sweat -- what excuses can one possibly make not to come? And when he reaches the World of Truth (after 120, of course), and is asked "why did you not come to your inheritance?", what will he answer and how will he justify himself?
The journey began over three-thousand years ago. Isn't it time to finish it?
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