Write down all the miracles – Mass’ei
The sidra this Shabbat is Mass’ei – “Journeys”. Its refrain is vayis’u vayachanu, “and they journeyed – and they encamped”. It charts the forty year trek between Egypt and the Promised Land, enumerating all the stations at which the people encamped, sometimes for periods of years.
The Midrash Tanchuma recognises that some readers might find the Israelite itinerary boring, which is why it offers a reason for the passage. It says that Moses was told, “Write down all the places which Israel traversed in the wilderness, so that they may remember and acknowledge all the miracles which I performed for them at every station in the journey.”
Looking back over their forty-years journey, the people had so much to be grateful for. The very fact that they survived the harsh desert and were not defeated by the elements was in itself a miracle. So was the fact that somehow they always found water and food, no matter how much they
grumbled. It was a miracle that they had Moses for a leader and that he patiently bore with them and moulded slaves into people of dignity.
In every generation the advice of the Midrash Tanchuma is worth taking. We all need to look back over the years and write down or at least remember how many blessings attended each stage of our journey, and how often we were guided and protected by hashgachah p’ratit, a personal Divine providence.
Whether we recognise it at the time or not, we all have privileges and opportunities that have something of the miraculous about them. It’s amazing when you look back. It makes you grateful.
