At the beginning of פרשת מסעי we read about the 42 places Klal Yisrael journeyed to during the 40 years they spent in the desert. the Passuk says:
ויכתוב משה את מוצאיהם למסעיהם
Moshe wrote the places they left from and the places they journeyed to. Why does the תורה emphasize the places they left from? Obviously if you journey to a new place, you’re leaving the previous place. Yet the תורה emphasizes each and every place they left from as they continued their journeys on the desert.
The נתיבות שלום explains: We find in the תורה, that at different points in the desert, when things got difficult, כלל ישראל yearned for מצרים. When complaining about the מן, they said זכרנו את הדגה אשר אכלנו במצרים. They remembered the good food they enjoyed in מצרים. And when the מרגלים gave their negative report on ארץ ישראל, they said נתנה ראש ונשובה מצרים.
We see that although כלל ישראל had left מצרים, they still retained a connection to that land. As long as they was still connected to מצרים, they were not able to enter ארץ ישראל. To cut off that connection, they needed the 42 מסעות. At each place that they stopped, they built themselves up a notch, till, after 42 stops they finally were completely disconnected from the טומאה of מצרים and were now prepared to enter ארץ ישראל.
We can now understand why the תורה highlights the places they journeyed to, and the places they left from. Each and every stop was a build-up, and when they left it, they were on a higher level than when they had arrived. They utilized these opportunities to grow and become better.
The בעל שם טוב says, that just like כלל ישראל had to journey through 42 מסעות before entering ארץ ישראל, so to every single person in his lifetime has his own 42 מסעות. Every person goes through periods and stages in his life to prepare him for עולם הבא. And our role is to try to utilize each stop and journey in our life to come closer to הקב”ה, and to live a full life. Every day of our life and any situation we find ourselves in, is another an opportunity for growth, as long as we utilize it in the proper way.
We’ll conclude with a story highlighting this point. The Gerer Rebbe the Sfas Emes, passed away at age 57. After returning from the לויה, his son and succeser, the אמרי אמת, remarked to his brothers” At least our father had אריכות ימים.” The brothers were astonished.” He died at such a young age, how can you call that אריכות ימים?” The Rebbe answered ” I did not say he had אריכות שנים-long years. Rather he had אריכות ימים, long days. He lived and utilized each and every day to the fullest!”
May we all merit a long and full life in our journey in this world. Good Shabbos.
Weekly Parsha Shiur 