ואְׁצָּׁי רֶׁשֲא לֵאָּׁרְׁ שִי יֵנְׁב יֵעְׁסַמ הֶ
לֵאמֵאֶרֶ ץ מִצְׁרַ יִם לְׁצִבְׁאֹּתָּׁם ב ְׁיַד משֶׁה וְׁאַהֲרֹּן...
These are the travels of the children of Israel that left the land of Mitzrayim in their multitudes, by the hand of Moshe and Aaron.
The Medrash tells us that whenever the Torah uses the expression of אֵלֶ ה - these, the intent of the possuk is that these, and only these, are the important and relevant members of the list. All others have no importance. How are we to understand this? The Torah did not end with another list of travels in the previous Parsha, and we do not find any list of travels anywhere else in the Torah. What is this possuk attempting to exclude from this important list?
The Ohr Hachaim continues with his line of questioning. Not all of the travels in this parsha were that positive and important. Some were quite negative. We would have been happier had they not taken place, but the aveira of the spies caused them to spend another 38 years in the desert, and there is nothing good about them. Even those travels that took place prior to the aveira of the spies were not necessary for their entry to Eretz Yisroel. Hashem did so in order that they not end up fighting a war with the Plishtim, causing them to wish to return to Mitzrayim. Another Medrash tells us that at every encampment, Klal Yisroel squabbled with each other. The possuk (Mishlei 3:17) says דְּרָּׁכֶיהָּׁ דַרְּ כֵי נֹּעַם וְּכָּׁל נְּתִיבוֹתֶיהָּׁ שָּׁׁלוֹם – it’s ways are the ways of pleasantness and all of its roads are peace. When they encamped at Har Sinai, they encamped with peace, and the squabbling ended. Now they were ready to receive the Torah. None of these travels can be considered positive, why does the Torah use the language of אֵלֶה?
The Ohr Hachaim attempts to explain this by dividing the travels into two. Some of the travels were prior to the aveira of the spies and some were afterwards. When Klal Yisroel left Mitzrayim, they were supposed to travel directly to Eretz Yisroel through Midbar Sinai. Hashem planned on each of the steps along the way. The travels that took place after the first two years, when they sinned with the spies, were not part of the original plan. These two lists of travels are not the same as each other. Although even the first list was not perfect, they had their problems; the second list is worse. The Torah is saying that these are the travels of Klal Yisroel, only these first places, until the aveira of the meraglim, are to be considered important. These were the planned steps of Klal Yisroel on its way to its coveted land. The other ones are punishments from Hashem for Klal Yisroel’s stiff neck.
The Ohr Hacham then offers another explanation. The possuk tells us the ‘travels’ of Klal Yisroel. Would it not make more sense to call this list, the ‘encampments’ of Klal Yisroel? The Medrash uses a story to explain our possuk, ‘this is comparable to a king whose son was sick, and he brought him to a center for healing. On their way back home, the king began to list out all of the places that they had stopped at on their way – “Here we slept, and it was here that you became cold, or hurt your head. So, too, Hashem told Moshe to enumerate all of the places that they angered Him.’ This is why it says ‘these are the travels.’ This teaches us that the encampments were the point of the list, not the travels. Why does the Torah call them travels?
Another Medrash says that the reason the travels were mentioned was to affix their reward in the future. The possuk (Yeshaya 35:1) says יְּשֻׂשוּם מִדְּבָּׁר - the desert shall make them happy, because each of their steps in the desert would be a reason for future reward. This, too, is a reason to enumerate the encampments, not the travels.
The Ohr Hachaim quotes the Zohar that says that the purpose of Klal Yisroel’s travels in the desert was to sort out and separate the sparks of holiness that had been scattered by the evil ones in the desert, where snakes, scorpions, and serpents lived. When Klal Yisroel stepped on them, they repaired them and removed them from their trap of evil. Every time Klal Yisroel arrived somewhere and left, they were occupied with the redemption of these sparks. The only way to sort out these holy sparks and redeem them from the desert was through the entire powers of holiness that include the 600,000 holy souls of Klal Yisroel, and Moshe Rabbeinu who was the tree from which the 600,000 received their spiritual sustenance.
These sparks could only be captured while Klal Yisroel were actively journeying not while they were passively encamped, and this is why the Torah focuses on the journeys, not the encampments. The word אלה is in sharp contrast to any other journey ever described anywhere, as never before had there been a journey accompanied by so many elements of sanctity.
While it is true that our forefathers have also been described as journeying, and they too had rescued lost sparks of sanctity during their journeys, the possuk is teaching us that these journeys were more important than the ones of our forefathers. The Torah itself explains the superior nature of these journeys by telling us that they occurred as an aftermath of the Exodus from Egypt, which is after Klal Yisroel had been refined in the iron crucible called Mitzrayim. Now they were ready to isolate and organize sparks of sanctity wherever they would encounter them. The Torah adds another explanation to the powers of Klal Yisroel to redeem these sparks. The Torah describes these journeys as having taken place לצבאותם – in their multitudes, when they were a complete unit, with the Shechina resting on these 600,000 holy souls. We have described repeatedly that the definition of wholeness and completeness is not applicable to fewer than 600,000 such souls.
Chazal tell us that Hashem did not give the Torah to our forefathers was because we did not have sufficient numbers. The Torah can only be given to the entirety of Klal Yisroel, which includes no less than 600,000 souls. Now Klal Yisroel and Hashem could be one, and that is why this happened בְּיַד משֶׁה וְּאַהֲרֹּן – in the hand of Moshe and Aaron. They were the wedding entourage of Klal Yisroel and Hashem, joining them as one forever, and granting them the ability to redeem the sparks as they should.
