Our Sages say that there is a secret 42 letter Name of G-d that is only told over to a select few who are modest, humble, and otherwise stellar in their character traits. That name of G-d is so holy, so powerful, that they worried about publicizing it’s pronunciation, lest it be used inappropriately by those who are less careful.1
We actually allude to that special Name in the Kabbalat Shabbat service. The Ana B’Koach prayer was composed by Rabbi Nechunia ben Hakanah so that the first letter of each word would form that special Name. The kabbalists even suggest meditating on that idea when you say that prayer.
The number 42 also comes up in this week’s Torah portion. Moshe lists all 42 locations that the Israelites travelled to in the wilderness. Why did they travel to so many places? Apparently, each one had significance enough to be listed here, even though some of them were never mentioned previously in the Torah, so we don’t know what happened at them.
There is a well quoted idea that there are sparks of holiness scattered throughout the world. The Jewish people has to travel around to find and collect these sparks. We needed to collect all 42 from these places in the wilderness to bring them together and have a complete, unified Name of G-d.2 Only then, could they enter into the Land of Israel.
Over the past 2,000 years, the Jewish people have wandered, yet again, to numerous locations, from one expulsion to the next. From Turkey, to Spain, to Poland, and more. I’m sure many wondered at the time, why G-d wanted us to keep moving so many times. Perhaps we were yet again collecting the lost sparks of holiness.
We look forward to the time when we will find them all and enter into the Messianic Age where G-d will be One and His Name will be One.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi A and the JET Team
