Times are tough right now. The pandemic still rages in Ontario, grinding the health system to a crawl. Unexpected tragedy occurred in Meron, leaving dozens of young healthy people dead. Rockets fly over Israel and riots march in it’s streets. We have to get out of all this mess somehow.
The book of Bamidbar that we begin this week shares many similarities with the book of Shemos. Both involve a census. Both involve people complaining about food and water. Both involve the Israelites committing a major sin (the golden calf and the sin of the spies respectively). Both involve traveling on a journey.
One might even ask why we should have the same types of stories all over again. We’ve already seen these challenges.
But there are differences. The tone is noticeably grimmer in Bamidbar. The rebellions are more serious.
All of this despite the fact that this is later in the journey. They are closer to the finish line, of reaching their destination in the promised land. They’ve already escaped the slavery of Egypt and the strongest army around. They’d already defeated their arch enemies the Amalakites. This should be the easy part of the journey. What’s going on?
The reason for the distinction is that one part is traveling from, while the other traveling to. While traveling to is what finally leads to the ideal solution, it is the more difficult part of the road to walk.
There was a very clear goal in Shemos – escape Egypt. Fleeing from danger comes naturally to us. The most instinctive part of us controls our fear and gives us the power to get out of harm’s way quickly and powerfully. Not just physical danger, but even social awkwardness or other ephemeral dangers we flee from without a second thought. Traveling from is easy.
Bamindbar on the other hand, is traveling to something. A trek to the Land of Israel. Counter intuitively perhaps, going towards something is much harder. Starting a new job, moving to a new house, bringing a new child into the world. These things offer such promise of reward, yet they are ranked among the most stressful things people experience. Traveling towards something often means envisioning new paradigms or giving up developed skills and starting from scratch. It’s scary. We have to intentionally push ourselves to set new goals and pursue them.
Yes, times are tough right now, but I challenge you to consider how you are thinking about those challenges. Do you just want to escape from them and that’s it? Will you remove your trial but end up the same person you were before? Or will you use those challenges as a jump off point for accomplishing something productive? Will you strive forward and emerge from the gloom as a stronger person than you ever were before?
Don’t just travel from. Travel to.
Good Shabbos,
The JET Team
