Parshas Masei recounts the travels of the Jewish People. There were 42 stops/stations along our journey, and we recount them by name.
In each case, the Torah says, “They traveled from Place X and camped in Place Y; and they traveled from Place Y and camped in Place Z.”
The reason it doesn’t merely say, “They traveled from Place X to Place Y, then to Place Z,” is because the Torah isn’t merely recounting the route we took in the Wilderness.
Each stop was a place to learn something about Hashem, the world, or ourselves. We didn’t pass there by chance; there was a lesson there for us. Only once we acquired the message did we move on.
Sometimes it merely took overnight for us to progress, and other times it took years. Not only our forefathers in the Wilderness lived this way, but we live this way too.
In our lives, we are taught lessons. The longer it takes us to learn them, the more Hashem repeats the classes for us in different ways.
When we approach the month of Av with no Bais HaMikdash, it means we haven’t learned the lessons of the destruction thousands of years ago. But now we have another chance to do so, to right the wrongs, and be able to move on.
