Matot-Masei: Our Ongoing Journey

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Parshat Matot-Masei recounts Bnei Yisrael’s forty-year journey through the desert as they approach their ultimate destination – the Land of Israel. Many commentators ask why the Torah repeats the list of masaot (journeys) when they have already been described. Their answers offer wisdom and hope for the Jewish people’s own journey today.

The Midrash Tanhuma likens this to a parent who takes a sick child from place to place in search of healing. Afterwards, the parent recounts each stop along the journey, recalling the hardships endured and the healing that followed. So too, God reminds Bnei Yisrael of the challenges they overcame, so they may draw strength from the past and face the future with confidence. Rambam, in the Guide to the Perplexed, explains that recounting the places where Israel traveled preserves the memory of the miracles through which God sustained the Jewish people in the wilderness. By remembering these miracles, future generations will be inspired with faith and trust in God. Sforno understands the repetition as praise for Bnei Yisrael. The journeys are recorded, he writes, “in order to praise the Jewish people,” who faithfully followed God through a vast and dangerous desert.

We may have arrived at our promised land in 1948, but the Jewish people, in Israel and the diaspora, are still on a journey filled with achievements, loss, miracles, challenges and victories. The biblical repetition of the masaot provides a template for successfully navigating the current journey of the Jewish people: draw strength from the past, recognize the small miracles along the way, appreciate our resilience, and keep our eyes fixed on the ultimate destination – a secure, flourishing Israel and a redeemed future for the Jewish people. Chazak chazak ve’nitchazek. Shabbat shalom -Karen Miller Jackson

Bo: Living Memory

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What is the difference between history and memory? The command to remember the Exodus in Parshat Bo teaches that Jewish memory is not passive recollection, but active internalization – shaping our identity and ensuring the Jewish future.

Shemot chapter 12 opens with the divine command to prepare for Pesach Mitzrayim: the Israelites are instructed to take and guard the korban Pesach, a lamb designated for sacrifice. Yet, even before they carry out this command, God tells them why this day will matter forever: “For on this very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages…for all time.” The people have not yet experienced redemption, yet they are already commanded to commemorate it. Even before leaving Egypt, they are asked to imagine themselves as a free people, already shaped by the meaning of their experiences.

In chapter 13, after the command of the Pesach offering is fulfilled, the focus shifts to the transmission of this memory. The Jewish people, in every generation, are instructed to remember the Exodus by telling it to their children. Yet, the Torah uses strikingly personal language: “It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.” Each Jew – past, present, and future – tells this story in the first person. The word “me” demands that each generation ask: What does this story mean now? How does it shape who I am and how I live?

Today too, we are living in historic times for Israel. The Exodus teaches us how to turn our living memory into responsibility. By telling our children both our biblical story of freedom and our modern story of national independence and rebuilding, we shape a confident Jewish and Zionist identity rooted in responsibility for the future of our people and our land. Shabbat Shalom -Karen Miller Jackson