What is the destination?
We leave Egypt so that we can enter Israel but we get “stuck” in the desert for 40 years and travel 42 journey’s during that time (can you imagine needing to move homes that many times in that many years?!).
It is the story of our lives. We leave the Egypt (narrow and limiting places) of the mother’s womb to enter into the big world with the destination being Israel – a place of purpose and communion with the Almighty. Along the way we end up with many journey’s, not all of them pleasant but all of them taxing and burdensome.
What’s it all for?
An appropriate question for this three week period when we commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem and the hope for coming of Moshiach.
The Messianic vision/ideal is the perfect harmony between the physical and spiritual. In fact, this reality exists now it’s just not visible to our eyes. In other words, if we had the tools to see that the journey is in fact the destination it wouldn’t be so burdensome. If we saw that we are already have Messianic reality around us it’s just not available to our physical eyes we wouldn’t be so taxed.
Some of you are reading this and saying; “the rabbi has gone off the deepend, he believes the Moshiach has come already”. NO! I don’t. What I am saying is that the difference between the Messianic era and the Exile era (in which we currently are) is in our perception (which G-d through Moshiach will help us experience).
If we would raise ourselves up a bit we would see that the challenges, the journey’s in our lives are really the opportunity for perfect harmony between the spiritual and physical.
When the Torah tells us about the journey’s of the Jewish people it says “these are the journey’s of the Jewish people as they left Egypt”. In fact it was only one journey to leave Egypt so why does the Torah use the plural.
The Torah is conveying the above message. It is all the same journey, it just has different manifestations along the way. But they are all the journey to the promised land.
It is our heartfelt prayer and wish that G-d removes the concealment and with the coming of Moshiach allows for us to see the deeper reality around us.
May it be speedily in our days!
