Beth Schafer
In this week’s double portion, Matot-Masei, we are given a list —42 places where the Israelites stopped on their way from Egypt to the Promised Land. Line after line of “they set out from here and camped there.” At first glance, it reminds me of the old AAA triptychs (ok, yes, I dated myself), but really, it’s a map of becoming.
Each stop was a part of the Israelites’ story. Some were miraculous. Some were miserable. Some were just… in-between. But they were all essential. They weren’t just moving through space; they were moving through transformation. That wilderness was their proving ground. When they arrive at the door of the Promised Land, a place that they had been looking forward to for a generation, the Torah has them look back.
It is a reminder that we should do it too. We each have our own list of stops. And when life delivers us to a big moment, it is not a bad idea to trace our steps that helped us get there.
We’ve all walked through places—literal and emotional—that have marked us. Places where we’ve lost and places where we’ve loved. Places where we’ve wandered and places where we’ve found a little piece of ourselves we didn’t even know we’d left behind. And sometimes, we’re so focused on the destination that we forget to look back and bless the ground that carried us this far.
Masei teaches us to do just that.
To name the places. To honor the journey. To remember that even the hardest stops had something to teach us. That the long way around was actually the only way we could’ve become who we are now.
In my own life, there have been plenty of detours. Plenty of times I thought, “This can’t be part of the plan.” But every heartbreak, every wild hope, every unexpected reunion, every song I didn’t know I needed to write—each moment was a mile marker. And when I look back now, I see a story unfolding. Not always easy. But holy.
So maybe today’s the day to look back. To name your own places. To say: this is where I was lost… and this is where I began to find my way again. And this—this is the place I decided to live with more courage.
Because our journeys don’t just tell us where we’ve been. They show us how to keep going.
Every single stop matters. Each one has shaped us.
Shabbat Shalom,
Beth
