Jewish Transitioning

This week’s Parsha teaches us the protocol which governed the traveling itinerary of our people’s 40 year trek through the desert before entering the Land of Israel. The governing principle was “by the Word of HaShem they traveled and by the Word of HaShem they encamped… by the Word of HaShem they encamped and by the Word of HaShem they traveled.” The redundancy seems out of place. Once it says they traveled by HaShem’s Word and they encamped by HaShem’s Word, what is added by reversing it?

Let us analyze the nature of their encampments as follows. Was the period of encampment a default state or was it a conscious deliberate state? Was there purpose in our encampment and when we finished the job we traveled to the next location but there was no purpose in the traveling. Or perhaps there was purpose in our traveling and the stops were merely resting stops for the people to catch their breath. What was the primary purpose to encamp or to travel. Or perhaps both the traveling and the encampments had their intrinsic purpose?

I would like to posit that both their traveling from place to place as well as their encampment in every place were both inherently necessary. If we accept this notion then it is understood why both expressions are stated. By stating “by HaShem’s Word they encamped and by HaShem’s Word of HaShem they traveled” it could be understood as the encampment was by HaShem’s Word until HaShem’s Word told them to stop the encampment and move on. The implication of this would be that HaShem’s Word was primarily for the encampment and when the encampment accomplished its goal they would move on. The second “Word of HaShem in the verse was simply stating that the first Word of HaShem was terminated. There would be no indication that there was purpose in the traveling. The same in the reverse. By stating “by HaShem’s Word they traveled and by HaShem’s Word they encamped” the implication is certainly that the traveling was the primary purpose but maybe the encampment was merely the end of that travel and the encampment was just a rest before their next traveling. Therefore the Torah states that both the encampment and the traveling were done with specific purpose.

We are now left with the question; What was the purpose of their travelings and their encampments? There is no mention of what transpired at each of the locations nor is there any mention of what transpired by each of the travels. If the Torah finds it important to teach us that there was significance in each endeavor why isn’t the significance expressed?

Perhaps the answer lies in the very verse itself. The purpose of each encampment was that they should encamp by the Word of HaShem. That was the purpose. The purpose of each travel was that they should travel by the Word of HaShem. That in its own right was the purpose.

While we can be certain that there was much more to be accomplished with each endeavor but that is not relevant to us. That falls within HaShem’s purview. What is relevant to us is that Hashem wants us to encamp in this location – then that is the goal of our encampment. Our goal is to encamp by His Word. The same applies to our travels. If HaShem wants us to travel that is our goal is to travel by HaShem’s Word – to do so because that is what HaShem wants us to do.

Behold! The entire 40 year trek, the encampments and the travels were one long training session that HaShem trained us in the childhood of our nation to know that throughout our history we will be guided to encamp and to travel. We will be evicted from one host land to the next. The Torah wants us to know that each eviction and each encampment is the Word of HaShem. It is our responsibility to travel and encamp because this is the Word of HaShem.

The same applies to every individual. We all transition from one location to another, from one job to another, from one role to another. Every transition and every newly established position should be done by the Word of HaShem.

Have a wonderful Shabbos.

Paysach Diskind