Continuing on this sacred journey, we will now focus on the fourth parsha beginning with the letter “aleph”: "אלה מסעי בני ישראל"—these are the journeys of Bnei Yisrael. In the past, we have pointed out in the name of the Megaleh Amukos (Masei) that the first letters of these four words allude to the four primary exiles: א'דום, מ'די ב'בל י'ון—Edom (Rome), Madai, Bavel, and Yavan (Greece).
In light of this, we will refer to the following Mishnah (Avos 4, 14): "הוי גולה למקום תורה"—exile yourself to a place of Torah. Regarding this, the Shela hakadosh writes (Masei): “These are the journeys of Bnei Yisrael etc.” The journeys are like exiles, and they afford atonement. Also, someone who moves his feet and transports himself to a place of Torah and goes to study, then his journey is ordained by Hashem. Therefore, the early sages would leave their homes to go study Torah; this was particularly true of Rashbi, his colleagues, and his students.
This phenomenon is evident from the fact that after the churban, Yisrael were exiled to Bavel. There, they divulged the Talmud Bavli; it illuminates the eyes of Yisrael with the chochmah of the Torah throughout all the periods of darkness in galus. This is the message conveyed by Chazal (Sanhedrin 24a) expounding on the passuk (Eichah 3, 6): "במחשכים הושיבני כמתי עולם, אמר רבי ירמיה זה תלמודה של בבל." “He has placed me in darkness like the eternally dead.” Rabbi Yirmiyah said: This alludes to the Talmud of Bavel. This teaches us that HKB”H gave us the Talmud Bavli to illuminate the darkness of galus for us.
Similarly, Yisrael were exiled from one place to another, from one galus to another, to reveal portions of the Torah concealed and buried in those places. This is true of our sacred, early sages, who resembled malachim—Rashi and all the French Tosafists who revealed wonderful insights and portions of the Torah in France; also, the early Spanish Rabbis and scholars such as the Rif, the Rambam, the Ramban, the Rashba, and the Rosh. We drink from the wellsprings of their Torah with avid thirst; we will follow the guiding light of their Torah until the coming of the righteous redeemer—swiftly, in our times!
