There is a moment in this week’s double portion, Matot-Mas’ei, that makes me scratch my head every time I read it. It’s not that the text is confusing and requires volumes of commentaries and flow charts to clarify the series of events… in fact, it’s quite the opposite. When the biblical narrator retells the journey of the Israelites (starting in Numbers 33), great care is taken to chart out the course in as straightforward and deliberate a way as possible. For example: “They set out from Chatzerot and encamped at Ritmah. They set out from Ritmah and encamped at Rimon-Paretz. They set out from Rimon-Paretz and encamped at Libnah. They set out from Libnah…” (Numbers 33:18-21). You get the idea!
What I wonder about is why write in this way? Likely there is a practical purpose; in Hebrew, this section creates a particular cadence that may have helped in memorizing our oral tradition. Even the cantillation marks (the trope that allows us to sing our text in a melody) have a clear pattern! But this all seems too practical to me. Rather, perhaps our biblical authors wrote this section to be a poignant reminder for us—not just of the stages of our journey after the Exodus, but about the importance of charting our courses with knowledge of our history. As Jews, we hold our history as a memory that lives within each of us. Torah tells us, sometimes more eloquently than others, to use that memory to inform and strengthen us on our journeys—even if we don’t know exactly where we are going.