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John Steinbeck was one of the first writers I fell in love with. Starting with shorter books like The Red Pony and The Pearl, I ultimately made my way through his longer, more challenging works like East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath. One of Steinbeck’s more interesting works – and for all intents and purposes his last – was Travels with Charley, published in 1962, just a few years before his death.
Setting out from Sag Harbor, on the east end of Long Island, Steinbeck took his dog Charley on a trip around the United States. He felt that, after living exclusively in Europe and on the east coast, he had lost touch with what America was really about. Travels with Charley is Steinbeck’s compilation of all the places he visited and how, collectively, these helped him understand the land in which he had spent so many years.
The second portion for this Shabbat, portion Massei, is simply a list of all the places the Israelites encamped during their forty years in the desert. The classic question is – why do we need this list? Isn’t this simply a case of, to use modern abbreviations, “TMI” (that’s “too much information”, for the uninitiated)? Our sages believed that no word in the Torah was superfluous. If so, how did they understand the recitation of 42 places where the Israelites encamped appearing at the portion’s outset?
The sages, in Bamidbar Rabbah 23:3-4, (12th century), offer two explanations:
- "These are the stages of the Children of Israel": [The matter] is comparable to a king whose son was ill. He brought him to a certain place to heal him. When they returned, his father began recounting the stages, “Here we slept. Here we cooled off. Here you had a headache.” Similarly, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe, "Recount to them all the places where they provoked Me." It is therefore stated (in Numbers 33:1), "These are the stages...."
- Another interpretation: Why did all these stages (places) merit to be written in the Torah? Since they received (accommodated) Israel, the Holy One, blessed be He, will give them their reward in the future.
In other words, two possible reasons are advanced for this excessive verbiage. First, it serves as a reminder that despite numerous instances of Israelite complaint against G-d, they survived thanks to G-d’s kindness. On the other hand, the places themselves were vital to sustaining the people during their wanderings; they would never have made it into the land of Israel a generation later without their presence.
Massei, which chronologically takes place at the end of the desert wanderings, is a reminder that to know where you are going – you need to understand fully where you have been.
- Rabbi Scott Hoffman
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