{"id":43973,"date":"2018-11-14T09:06:51","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T07:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=43973"},"modified":"2022-06-08T22:18:03","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T19:18:03","slug":"the-israelites-went-onward-in-all-their-journeys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-israelites-went-onward-in-all-their-journeys\/","title":{"rendered":"The Israelites Went Onward In All Their Journeys"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":50634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[442,354],"acf":{"old_id":"43973","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"90","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Judaism is a journey, not a destination","content":"<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jewish life began with two momentous journeys, Abraham from Mesopotamia, Moses and the Israelites from Egypt. \u201cWalk on ahead of Me and be blameless\u201d said God to Abraham (Gen. 17:1). At the age of ninety-nine, having just been circumcised, Abraham saw three strangers passing by and \u201cran to meet them.\u201d On the verse, \u201cJacob dwelled [vayeshev, the verb that also means \u201cto sit\u201d] in the land where his father had stayed\u201d Rashi, citing the sages, commented: \u201cJacob sought to live in tranquility, but immediately there broke in on him the troubles of Joseph.\u201d The righteous do not sit still. They do not have a quiet life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rarely is the point made with more subtlety than at the end of the book of Exodus. The Tabernacle had been made and assembled. The closing verses tell us about the relationship between it and the \u201ccloud of glory\u201d that filled the Tent of Meeting. The Tabernacle was made to be portable. It could be dismantled and its parts carried as the Israelites travelled on the next stage of their journey. When the time came for them to move on, the cloud moved from the Tent of Meeting to a position outside the camp, signalling the direction the Israelites were to take. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is how the Torah describes it: \u201cWhen the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, the Israelites went onward in all their journeys, but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel in all their journeys\u201d (Ex.40: 36-38).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a significant difference between the two occurrences of the phrase \u201cin all their journeys\u201d. In the first, the words are meant literally. When the cloud lifted, the Israelites knew they were about to begin a new stage of their journey. However in the second instance, they cannot be meant literally. The cloud was not \u201cover the Tabernacle\u201d in all their journeys. To the contrary, it was there only when they stopped journeying and instead pitched camp. During the journeys the cloud went on ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rashi notes this and makes the following comment: \u201cA place where they encamped is also called massa, \u2018a journey\u2019 . . . because from the place of encampment they always set out again on a new journey, therefore they are all called \u2018journeys.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\">The point is linguistic, but the message is remarkable. In a few brief words, Rashi has summarised an existential truth about Jewish identity. To be a Jew is to travel. Judaism is a journey, not a destination.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t Sit: Walk, Covenant &amp; Conversation, Pekudei <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(5776)<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":50329,"id":50329,"title":"dt11-journey","filename":"dt11-journey.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt11-journey.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-culmination-of-one-journey-and-the-beginning-of-the-next\/dt11-journey\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt11-journey","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":50326,"date":"2019-02-26 15:14:41","modified":"2022-08-31 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