Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bamidbar
- Masei
The Torah study is dedicatedin honor of
Shimon Ben Mazal
Israel, who went out of the land of Egypt,
according to their organized groups, under
the guidance of Moses and Aaron.
Numbers 33:1
Malbim notes that typically journeys are marked by their destination, rather than point of origin. Therefore, it seemingly would have been appropriate for the Torah to state "These are the journeys of the Children of Israel, who went to the Land of Israel ...".
Our Sages comment that the Israelites in Egypt had sunk to the penultimate level of tum’a (impurity). Based on this, Malbim comments that the journeys were indeed from Egypt. In order to be ready to enter the Holy Land, the People of Israel had to first leave behind Egypt and its deep levels of tum’a.
The journeys were indeed from Egypt from an additional perspective, explains Malbim. Had the Children of Israel not sinned in the matter of the spies, it would have been a short journey into the Holy Land. Though the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, they had not truly left Egypt behind. Thus, the journey to the Land of Israel was turned into a forty year trip.
Perhaps the contemporary question is whether our journeys are from Egypt or to the Promised Land.
Natural Life in the Land of Israel & the Tragedy of Galut
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Av 1 5782
The Consolation Before Our Eyes
Translated by Hillel Fendel
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | Tammuz 24 5781
To Speak or Not to Speak
Parshat Matot - Masei
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5749-54
