Are you planning on travelling over the next few weeks and summer months?
This weekend, about half the people that I know are on road trips or weekend getaways, and it seems like the other half are going away next weekend or the week after. Either way during the summer we all spend extra time travelling and relaxing as we explore new places, spend some time relaxing outdoors and enjoy some extra quality time with our families.
Personally, with camp starting on Monday, this weekend and the next few weekends we will be staying right here in Sudbury and not travelling anywhere. After that, well Cape Cod and some other places of natural beauty beckon my family and are waiting for us to come.
Interestingly enough, on this July 4th weekend, one of the Torah portions that we read tomorrow as we finish the book of Bamidbar (Numbers) is entitled “Journeys” and recounts all of the forty two journeys that the Jews took in the desert 3300 years ago. The famous Chassidic Master, the Baal Shem Tov, once explained that the forty two journeys of the Jews in the desert are actually a reflection of the many personal journeys, stages, and moments of our lives
Over the 40 year period that the Jews were in the desert, some of their journeys were successful journeys, some were challenging and full of problems, some were full of exciting drama, and some were actually setbacks and failures. Yet collectively, the forty two journeys beginning with their exit from Egypt, merged together and helped the Jewish people transition from their slavery mode into a people who began to learn to crawl, walk, run, think and act, with an occasional stumble along the way and perhaps a bad fall here and there. Ultimately this long journey brought them to the Land of Israel where the Jewish people were able to maximize their spiritual mandate and begin their job at working and improving the world around them.
In life too, we begin our first journey and our exodus from Egypt, when we are born into this world. We begin to learn to walk, learn, think, socialize, help others, connect with G-d, earn a living, raise a family and tend to our loved ones. Metaphorically speaking, the forty two journeys are reflected in the various stages and events of life. Some stages are full of excitement and some seem dull and uneventful, some are full of success and some are full of failures, some are full of happiness and some are tinged with sadness, yet collectively these multiple journeys and stages of our lives, symbolize and express our underlying spiritual journey and mission in life.
Interestingly, even the journeys that were failures are still counted in the tally of the journeys that contributed to their entry and settling of the Land of Israel. For ultimately every moment and experience in life, including those moments when we fail, can still be used out to drive us along and help us move towards our goals and missions.
Perhaps as a way of expressing this idea, we can be thoughtful of this concept as we travel around over the summer weeks and months. Perhaps we can visit a synagogue on our travel destinations, perhaps we can discover some new Kosher resources as we visit our destinations, or perhaps we can be mindful of other travelers and reach out and touch another traveler and we might even meet a Jew from another Shtetl along the way, and finally, perhaps we can use the summer as a time to take in all the beautiful nature that we see and witness, and use it as a way of appreciating the beautiful world which G-d made and we are fortunate to be in.
Good luck in the travels and vacations and remember no destination is by chance and each location will present its unique and special opportunities for us to make a difference.
Safe Travels and Good Shabbos
Yisroel
P.S If anyone would like to know more Jewish resources about your travel destinations please let me know.