Lost and Found Department
Our generation might be less spiritually sophisticated than preceding ones, but, our ability to remain faithful despite all odds makes us eminently qualified and deserving to witness and experience the last leg of the journey. LIGHT FROM THE FUTURE ESSAYS ON PARSHAS BEHA’ALOSECHA
On the Road
The Jewish people have spent most of their long history on the road.
The “wandering Jew” epithet given to us by our detractors highlights the disproportionate number of journeys that our people have made.
Our first journey took us out of Egypt. Instead of going straight to the Promised Land, which was only a few days’ journey from Egypt, we were taken through a most circuitous route, on a trek that lasted for forty years. It would not be far-fetched to say that that experience set the tone for all future journeys.
Thus, that forty-year odyssey can serve as a paradigm for all future journeys of the Jewish people and is a portent of the final journey from ESSAYS ON PARSHAS BEHA’ALOSECHA out of the present exile back again to the Promised Land with Moshiach.
Moreover, even the small and apparently insignificant details concerning that journey can prove to be instructive for us in our own personal lives.
Gatherer of All The Camps
This week’s Torah portion describes the formation of the twelve tribes as they traveled through the desert on their way to the Promised Land.
The tribes were divided into four groups or camps. The group that travelled last, “Machaneh Dan-The Camp of Dan, is described in the Torah as “M’asef l’chol hamachanos-the last or `gatherer’ of all the camps.”
Rashi explains that this camp had a special responsibility. If any of the other tribes that traveled ahead would have lost anything, the Camp of Dan would return the loss to its rightful owner.
Despite the fact that all the twelve tribes were equally Jewish, each of them serving G-d in its unique way, there were some tribes whose function and mission appeared to be more sophisticated than others.
ESSAYS ON PARSHAS BEHA’ALOSECHA
For example: The tribe of Yehudah was always looked up to as the leader of all the other tribes. Yehudah, the ancestor of Kings David and Solomon, was the “king” of all the twelve tribes. In a similar way, the tribe of Yissachar and Zevulun were looked up to as the scholars and financial pillars of the Jewish community, respectively. The Camp of Dan, by contrast, consisted of “simple” Jews, whose claim to fame, it appears, was their role as the ones who were in charge of the “Lost and Found” department of the Jewish nation.
In truth, the Camp of Dan was unique. And, precisely because of their special spiritual status, the Jews of the tribe of Dan were capable of returning the lost objects to their fellow Jews.
Returning a lost object is not restricted to a material loss. A true loss is when one loses a spiritual possession. When we lose our spiritual compass and our sense of where and why we are going there, this is a genuine loss. And if our spiritual equilibrium is not restored, there is little hope that we will reach our destination.
Simple Faith
Of all the tribes and camps, it was the group that seemed the simplest that were endowed with the ability to restore lost property – physical, ESSAYS ON PARSHAS BEHA’ALOSECHA as well as, and particularly, spiritual – to their fellow Jews. They possessed this ability because they had a strong sense of commitment to G-d and His Torah, based on simple, but steadfast, faith. While Judaism is concerned with learning and spiritual growth, we must build upon a strong foundation of faith and trust in G-d. No matter how hard the winds of assimilation and indifference blow against us, that firm foundation will keep all of us strong and resolute in our faith.
The Camp of Dan was chosen to restore lost possessions to all the other more “sophisticated” tribes, not because it was inferior. On the contrary, its members possessed a greater sense of awareness of the fact that they were Jews with one mission, to travel towards the Holy Land, in accordance with G-d’s will.
What was true about the Jewish nation in its journey towards the
Promised Land in geographic space – that the Camp of Dan was the last camp and therefore was able to restore the lost property of all the other tribes, materially and spiritually – is also true in terms of time.
Our Unique Generation
Our generation – the last of exile and the first of Redemption as the Rebbe frequently described it – is in one special way the most unique ESSAYS ON PARSHAS BEHA’ALOSECHA generation in history. Our tenacity to remain Jews despite all of the many influences to assimilate will restore and correct all the deficiencies of all preceding generations. Our generation is “the Camp of Dan” of all the preceding generations.
There may have been more spiritually sophisticated generations than ours, but our post-Holocaust generation’s ability to remain loyal and committed Jews, in spite of all that we’ve been through, and all the assaults against our Jewishness, accords us the unique role of being the “Gatherer of all the Camps.”
The above can be said as a response to the question that many have asked in recent times. How could it be that all of the preceding generations of Jews who were far more observant, learned and committed to Torah could not bring Moshiach? How can we assert that Moshiach can and will come in our time despite the fact that we seem to be inferior to our forebears?
The answer is that the entire premise of the question is wrong. Our generation might be less spiritually sophisticated than preceding ones, but, our ability to remain faithful despite all odds makes us eminently qualified and deserving to witness and experience the last leg of the journey.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Behalosecha by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
