Dvar Torah: Parshat Behalotcha "On the Road Again"

Parshat Behalotcha 2012/5772

“On the road again…”

Rabbi Neil A. Tow©

On the road again -
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is making music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again.

Thank you to Willie Nelson for inspiration.

This song is one of the anthems of a free spirit, as it focuses on doing the things we like to do, not following a set plan, enjoying the moment without making deep connections beyond the strains of music – for sure, a noble and creative activity.

And once again – we are living out the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness, walking with them, thinking with them:  making their journey our journey as well.

Their journey, our journey, though is one in which God sets the itinerary and timeline.  God directs movement, when to stop, when to go, and how long to settle in between.  It is a direct journey as of now, a direct journey at a time when traveling was slow, difficult, and dangerous. A direct journey with God’s guidance is, then, the best of all possible situations, the most comforting and hopeful situation for the mass of our people.

But what does it feel like to not know where we are going next, not knowing whether we will need to pack up the very next morning or whether we will be staying for many months? 

We plan differently for an overnight visit or an extended stay of many months. 

Ovadiah Sforno (1470-1550) notices the way that we behave differently when we have a short stay or an extended stay.  When the Torah explains, “By the word of God they would camp, and by the word of God they would travel,” he reacts, “[They camp] also when time is limited and they cannot arrange themselves (comfortably)” and, “[They travel] also as the cloud (of God’s Presence) lifts after a long time when they have already settled in.”(Sforno to 9:23)

Sforno recognizes just how difficult it is to pick up quickly right after we stop and stay the night, and how difficult it is to move once we become accustomed to a place and fall into a routine.

He speaks to the seemingly tentative nature of human dwelling, the sense of dis-ease that accompanies a quick exit, with the hope that we might rest longer and set down roots, and the equal unease of pulling up tent stakes after developing a connection with a place. 

What makes our connection to a place?  What comprises the feeling – the land, the society, the people, the institutions, a mixture of all these things?

But the underlying question – the one that animates the wisdom of Sforno, is the question of what is the value of our connection to place?  Why do we need it?

With connection there can be peace, predictability, routine, familiarity, comfort, a home base – a safe haven. 

The Israelites yearn for this, we yearn for it.  Every refugee yearns for it, including the ones who risk their lives to cross into Israel, those who try to escape the fighting in Syria, and us as well – as we were forced to leave or chose to leave our homes across the centuries.  

No one wishes to be in the place of the refugee, we want to be settled and safe, but the Torah reminds us that sometimes we might become too safe, too secure, that we need to think about who we are, where we are, refresh our viewpoint so that we can be constructive and helpful, to see the injustice in the world and respond to it, to see where there are needs and fill them.

It is good for us to think about getting on the road again.