We continue with the concept that there’s a segula to read the 42 travels of the desert in difficult times, especially during times of Magephah/plague, or in our terms, a pandemic.
Yesterday we discussed that a great Mekubal Rabbi Yaakov Ninyoh explains that
whatever lessons we are supposed to learning from this, we can learn from the travel in the desert. Whatever accomplishments they made, we can learn from them, rather then having to go through the plague, which will bring about the same accomplishments. There are two ways to get to the same goal. We want to get to that goal through studying the travels of the Jewish people in the desert.
(For a deeper understanding of this concept, there is a link attached to Rabbi Eli Mansour’s class on the 42 travels, which he gave recently for the same reasons. It’s much more in depth, and it’s worthwhile to have a better, deeper understanding. https://itorah.com/lecture/audio/rabbi-eli-mansour/42-masaot-and-plagues/12655/1 )
On a simple level, following the cloud in the desert meant that Hashem decided when and where we travel. We travel based on G-d, we camp based on G-d.
We have no idea when we’re going, and we have no idea how long we’re going to stay. That was the takeaway of “I don’t know.” We have no answers. We are just following G-d.
This is actually a pasuk in Devarim ( י״ג,ה, ) where the Torah says,
אַחֲרֵ֨י ה׳ אֱלֹקיכֶ֛ם תֵּלֵ֖כוּ
Follow Hashem your G-d.
It’s a pasuk in the Torah.
Simply speaking it means that we are supposed to emulate Hashem, but the Gemarah, in Masechet Sotah, says we can’t follow G-d, G-d is fire.
One explanation is that it means follow in His ways.
But the Ramban says, from the Sifri, that
אַחֲרֵ֨י ה׳ אֱלֹקיכֶ֛ם תֵּלֵ֖כוּ
Follow G-d means follow His cloud.
Simply speaking, that was only in the desert. We don’t have a cloud anymore. But many commentaries explain that we do have a cloud today. There’s a cloud in every generation, and every time. G-d is always with us, and G-d is directing us.
Only in the desert it was open, and apparent, while today it’s hidden.
We can follow G-d’s cloud in our lives. What’s G-d’s cloud? G-d leads us and is directing us on a daily basis. If you look back at your life, you’ll see that G-d took you to every spot you’ve been. Although we don’t see it with our eyes, we have to believe that our entire life is following G-d’s cloud. For example, there’s a story told by Rav Eliyahu Meir Bloch, a Rosh Yeshiva in Telz. There was a libel spread about him in Russia pre-WW2. He was in danger and had to leave, so he escaped to America to raise funds for the Yeshiva. Then war broke out. He ended up staying in America, but his whole family was wiped out in Europe.
Eventually, he remarried and had more children. Later on, when he dedicated his new Bet Midrash in Cleveland, he said he had thought he was being chased out of his town because of politics, but in reality it was G-d sending him to America to rebuild the Yeshiva.
We have to understand that every step of our lives, G-d is leading us. Now that we are home, we can contemplate, look back, and see that it was G-d that was directing us in all of our campings. He brought us to this spot and that one.
There’s another very important lesson on the words:
אל פי ה׳ יחנו
By G-d’s word we camped.
To explain, we have to recall that the 39 forbidden activities on Shabbat are all sourced from the activities involved in the building the Mishkan in the desert. One of them is soter/ to destroy
You can’t do that on Shabbat.
But the Gemara says that soter/destroying is only forbidden when it’s productive, when it’s for the purpose of rebuilding in its place, like erasing is for the purpose of rewriting.
The Gemarah asks: Does the intent have to be to destroy only in order to rebuild in the same spot? What if the wood was taken and then moved to a different place to build? Is that allowed?
It’s a Machloket in the Gemarah. Some say yes, that would be allowed because the melachah of Soter/ destroy is only if it’s going to be rebuilt in same spot. But others say that the whole source of the Melachot is the Mishkan, and the Mishkan was meant to be taken apart and moved. It was never rebuilt in the same spot. So if that’s the case, why would this Melachah only apply when the destroying is intended for rebuilding be in the same spot? The source for this was something that was constantly being built, taken apart and rebuilt somewhere else. They were always on the move.
But the Gemarah says that actually, in the desert, it was always “in the same spot” because
אל פי ה׳ יחנו
by the word of G-d they encamped.
Because they encamped by the word of G-d, it was considered as if they took down and rebuilt in the same spot.
That’s the end of the Gemarah and it’s very cryptic. The Sefer Zot Yaakov, in Parashat Beshalach, gives a beautiful mashal to explain: Imagine a baby who’s held in his mother’s arms. The mother goes from place to place, but the baby is always in the same spot: he is in his mother’s arms. If you asked the baby where he was, he’d tell you he is in his mother’s arms. Then 25 Minutes later, he’d still say he’s in his mothers arms. Even if his mother went some place else, his GPS never changed. That’s what the Jewish people were. They were in G-d’s arms, so to speak. They traveled based on G-d, and they camped based on G-d. Therefore they were always in the same place.
That’s what it means to follow the cloud. Follow the cloud means Equanimity. Equanimity means everything is the same. Nothing changes.
So going back to yesterday’s lesson, which was that when the Jewish people were in the desert, on one hand, they didn’t know anything.
Where were they going? I don’t know.
How long would they be there? I don’t know.
When would they move?
I don’t know.
I don’t know anything- I’m just waiting for the cloud.
On one hand, it many feel very disturbing and unsettling, to always be in a state of uncertainty. But then we flip it around and think of the baby- does he know where he is going? And he says, “Absolutely. I’m in my mothers arms.” Where are we now? In our mother’s arms. Does anything ever change? No. We are always in same place.
We have to realize nothing changed.
Three months ago, when everything was rocking and rolling, we were in G-d’s arms. Now, when we’re in a state of uncertainty, we are still in Hashem’s arms. Nothing has changed.
That’s the takeaway.
And the more takeaways we get from the lessons of the travels in the desert, the more protected we will be in our times. So let’s learn the lesson now. Why wait?
So far we have learned a two-pronged lesson:
1-I have no idea where I am...
2- On the other hand, I know exactly where I am. I am in my mother’s caring arms. I am being cared for by G-d. Nothing changed. I know exactly where I am.
Have a good day.