“May it be Your will, Eternal One, our God and the God of our ancestors, that You lead us toward peace, support our footsteps towards peace, guide us toward peace, and make us reach our desired destination, for life, joy, and peace. May You rescue us from the hand of every foe, ambush, bandits and wild animals along the way, and from all manner of punishments that assemble to come to Earth. May You send blessing in our every handiwork, and grant us peace, kindness, and mercy in your eyes and in the eyes of all who see us. May You hear the sound of our supplication, because You are the God who hears prayer and supplications. Blessed are You, Eternal One, who hears prayer.”
Traveler’s Prayer, Siddur Ashkenaz, Sefaria.org
הִנֵּ֨ה אָנֹכִ֜י שֹׁלֵ֤חַ מַלְאָךְ֙ לְפָנֶ֔יךָ לִשְׁמׇרְךָ֖ בַּדָּ֑רֶךְ וְלַהֲבִ֣יאֲךָ֔ אֶל־הַמָּק֖וֹם אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֲכִנֹֽתִי׃
“I am sending a messenger before you to guard �you on the way and to bring you to the place �that I have prepared.”
Exodus 23:20
אֵלֶּה מַסְעֵי בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אֲשֶׁר יָצְאוּ�מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לְצִבְאֹתָם בְּיַד־מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן
“These are the journeys of the sons of Israel, who went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.”
Numbers 33:1
“And they removed from Marah, and came toward Eilim. And in Eilim were twelve fountains and seventy palm trees, and they pitched there.”
Numbers 33:9, cf. Exodus 15:27
וַיִּסְעוּ֙ מִמָּרָ֔ה וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ אֵילִ֑מָה וּ֠בְאֵילִ֠ם שְׁתֵּ֣ים עֶשְׂרֵ֞ה עֵינֹ֥ת מַ֛יִם וְשִׁבְעִ֥ים תְּמָרִ֖ים וַיַּחֲנוּ־שָֽׁם׃
אלהים
4 + 6 + 4
5 + 6 + 30 + 1
“The holy name on which the Ana BeKoach prayer is based is the name of forty-two letters, corresponding to the forty-two journeys of the People of Israel in the wilderness. This name is connected with the transition from one reality to another. Hence, Ana BeKoach is recited at times that involve this kind of transition, such as during Sefirat HaOmer, which is a time when we undergo a process of change, of transition from exile to redemption and the giving of the Torah. We also recite it during Kabbalat Shabbat, at the time of transition between the weekday reality and Shabbat reality. This name is the name of “these were their stops along the way,” the name that alludes to the inner processes of the worlds.”�Steinsaltz, Adin. Talks on the Parasha, The Toby Press llc. Kindle Edition.
“Parshas Massai is always read during the Three Weeks of Bein HaMeitzarim, in which we mourn the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and the suffering of Klal Yisrael in Golus. The Kozhnitzer Maggid zt”l explains that the forty-two encampments listed in this week’s parshah correspond to the twenty-one days and twenty-one nights of the Three Weeks – symbolizing the various stages of our bitter Golus, in which we are forced to wander in search of temporary refuge from the hands of our oppressors. As we travel from place to place we find new opportunities to serve Hashem and correct what needs to be corrected across the world, just as our forefathers did as they traveled from one encampment to another in the barren desert.”
Rebbe, Biala. Mevaser Tov on the Weekly Torah Portion. Kindle Edition.
תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב
בין המצרים
17th of
Tammuz
1st of
Av
9th of
Av
Three Weeks – Bein HaMetzarim
“Between the Straights”
The 9 Days
“When the month of Av enters, �one should decrease in joy.”
Taanit 29a
The Hasidic rebbe Rabbi Chaim Elazar Spira (1861-1937), said that, though the Talmud says to “decrease in joy,” it should be read, “decrease…in joy.” In other words, though it is proper to mourn, even in that mourning, we should do so joyously, knowing that better times are ahead.”�The Three Weeks, My Jewish Learning, Matthue Roth
“Another way of understanding the dynamic of the 42 journeys is in the fact that each year, we observe 21 days of Torah-defined Yomim Tovim / festive holy days, and also 21 days of Metzarim / ‘tribulation’ and mourning for the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, the spiritual heart of the world.* These are 21 days of sweet rest and joy, and 21 days of bitterness and efforts to fix our broken world, making up 42 communal spiritual journeys of our holy tradition. This makes it clear that even when we witness destruction or when we seem to be moving backward, we are always traveling with HaKadosh Baruch Hu and moving forward.”
Pinson, Dovber. Awakenings: Drawing Life from the Weekly Torah Reading (p. 364). (Function). Kindle Edition.
“They journeyed from . . . and they camped at . . .” (33:3-49)�
“Our chapter opens, “These are the journeys of the children of Israel.” However, it then proceeds to recount not the journeys, but the forty-two encampments at which they stopped during their sojourn in the Sinai Desert! Yet these encampments were not ends unto themselves—only way-stations and stepping-stones to advance the nation of Israel in their goal of attaining the Promised Land. So the stops themselves are referred to as “journeys.”
“The same is true of the journey of life. Pauses, interruptions and setbacks are an inadvertent part of a person’s sojourn on earth. But when everything a person does is toward the goal of attaining the “Holy Land”—the sanctification of the material world—these, too, are “journeys.” Ultimately, they are shown to have been the true motors of progression, each an impetus to the realization of one’s mission and purpose in life.”
From the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, cited at Chabad.org
“All forty-two journeys—not just the first—were a “going forth out of the land of Egypt.” Each stage was a new exodus; even a single journey is a liberation from some personal Egypt.”�Lubavitcher Rebbe cited in Weisberg, Chana. Shabbat deLights: Enlightening Insights on the Weekly Torah portion (p. 392). Kindle Edition.
“When many people look at their life, they experience a malaise, and feel a strong need to make drastic changes. They then set their sights very high without giving themselves concrete, gradual, or attainable milestones to mark their progress along the way. Real change takes real work. Real work requires realistic goals. Realistic goals result from a functional understanding of our inner reality. Grandiose resolutions are not the answer, but rather, consistent, seemingly small actions.”
Pinson, Dovber. Awakenings: Drawing Life from the Weekly Torah Reading (p. 366). Kindle Edition.
“Part of the difficulty of the wilderness, which is also a perennial trial for the Jewish community and for the individual, is that if one could understand where one’s steps are leading, one would know his exact distance from the final destination, and one would know what the solution is: Everything would be simpler. The great difficulty is that just when it seems that we are going northward, we suddenly begin to move southward; just when we think that we are ascending the mountain, we suddenly begin our descent. . . ”
“This is our story, which we will be able to read and understand only at the end of time, when we reach the final station. Then we will receive the meaning of the map by which we have traveled, and this will enable us to explain our history and the events that have befallen us. he path from Egypt to the “good and spacious land” is long and arduous, a path that traversed “the wilderness of the peoples.” Only at the end of the path will we come to the point at which it will be possible to understand both the “going forth” and the “journey.” Only then will we comprehend the meaning and the content of all our experiences over the years.”
R’ Adin Steinsaltz, Talks on the Parasha, Toby Press iic. Kindle Edition
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many [a]mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”�John 14:1-3, NKJV