Shabbat Shalom

Shabbat Shalom, my beloved friends around the world, with warm blessings from the hills of the Galilee and the mountains of Jerusalem, from the Land of Zion.

There are people who left Egypt, yet Egypt has not yet left them.

A person may leave a place of bondage and still remain bound by fear. A person may begin to believe and yet not reach his calling. A person may start the journey and become used to stopping at a station instead of continuing toward the destination.

Parashat Masei is not merely a list of places in the wilderness. It shows us that the journey itself is written before Heaven. Not only the miracles are recorded, but also the stations, the places where the people feared, complained, fell, rose again, and learned to keep walking.

“These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.”
Numbers 33:1, KJV

“And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out.”
Numbers 33:2, KJV

What a deep truth. If Moses wrote the stations by the commandment of the LORD, then no station is meaningless. Even a place that looks like delay, pain, or wilderness can become part of the way in which God builds a person.

What looks to man like a lost station may, before Heaven, be a chapter of building.

The Torah teaches us not to erase the journey. Therefore it is also written in Deuteronomy:

“And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness.”
Deuteronomy 8:2, KJV

We are not called only to remember the moment of rescue, but the whole way: the hard nights, the thirst, the tears, the questions, and the mercy that slowly becomes visible in the wilderness.

But this portion carries an even sharper message: it is not enough to leave Egypt. We must reach the destination. The Exodus was a mighty miracle, but it was not the end of the road. God did not bring Israel out of Egypt so that they would remain in the wilderness forever. He led them toward the Land, toward the covenant, toward responsibility, and toward their calling.

Leaving without a destination is movement. Leaving with a destination is redemption.

Every person has an Egypt. Sometimes Egypt is fear. Sometimes it is pride. Sometimes it is an old wound. Sometimes it is a habit that weakens the soul. And sometimes Egypt is too much comfort, until the heart forgets that it has a calling.

A community also has a journey. A people also has a journey. And the people of Israel have a unique journey: from Egypt to the wilderness, from the wilderness to the Land, from the Land to the exiles, and from the exiles back to Zion.

Here I speak with love to my brothers and sisters from the nations, believers who love the God of Israel and the people of Israel. Your connection with Israel is not only a political matter. It is a connection with the faithfulness of God, with the words of the prophets, with Jerusalem, and with the people into whose hands the living words of God were entrusted.

You are not called to replace Israel. You are not called to erase Israel from the story. You are called to stand in humility, prayer, love, and good deeds beside the people whom God is still leading on His journey.

“We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”
Zechariah 8:23, KJV

After the journeys come the borders of the Land. The Torah does not leave the Land as a spiritual idea only. It speaks about a land, borders, inheritance, and order.

“When ye come into the land of Canaan; this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance.”
Numbers 34:2, KJV

The Land of Israel is part of the covenant. This does not cancel the duty to act with justice and mercy toward every person created in the image of God. Yet we cannot erase from Scripture the covenant of the Land and the faithfulness of God to His oath.

When God leads through the wilderness, He also knows where He is leading.

That is why order matters. Blessing without order can become confusion. Order without heart can become dryness. The way of the LORD joins vision, holiness, responsibility, and action.

I take three questions from this portion:

From which Egypt do I still need to come out?

At which station have I remained too long?

And what is my part in the great journey of God with His people Israel and with the world?

In the full article I expand on the journeys, the destination, the borders of the Land, the covenant, and the meaning of the relationship between the people of Israel and the believers from the nations who love Israel.

Those who would like to receive the full article are welcome to write to me:

sabrafund@gmail.com

My Prayer and Blessing

May our Father in Heaven, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, bring each one of us out of his own Egypt, strengthen the people of Israel, protect the soldiers of Israel, comfort the grieving families, and place in the hearts of Israel’s friends among the nations faithfulness, humility, love, and courage to stand with Israel in these days.

May we not be satisfied with leaving, but continue toward the destination God has set before us.

At the conclusion of each of the Five Books of the Torah, in many Jewish communities it is customary to say aloud:

Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek.
Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened.

This Shabbat, as we complete the Book of Numbers, we say it with a full heart. After the wilderness, after the falls, after the stations, and after the long road, we do not only say, we have finished. We say: let us be strengthened, let us rise, let us continue, and let us walk with the God of Israel toward the destination.

Am Yisrael Chai

“Hodu LaShem ki tov, ki le’olam chasdo.”
“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
Psalm 118:1, KJV

It is always good to give thanks to the Master of the Universe.

May the blessing of the Most High be upon you, your family, and your community.

From the House of Good Deeds, Beit Sabra, from the Land of Zion and the City of Jerusalem, and from the hills of the Galilee.

Your brother in Israel,
Mordechai ben Yaakov