The Ingathering of the Exiles: Jews Returning Home to Israel - Parshat Masei - Rabbi Yaakov Sinclair

The Reby's carriage sped through the swirling mists of a Russian morning. Inside the carriage, the Rebby and his shamas's equiry sat in silence. All that could be heard was the dull thud of hooves canering on thin turf. Suddenly the rebby told the shamas to stop the carriage. The carriage came quickly to arrest. The horses snorted and winned, pouring the ground with their hooves. Then they came up from the field the most beautiful sound, the distant song of a shepherd singing. The rebby listened intently. His brow was creased as though he was trying to remember something. Suddenly his eyes narrowed, his mouth widened with a smile. "Please ask that shepherd to come here," he said to the shamas. When I heard you, said the rebi to the shepherd, I thought a beautiful song you were singing. Would you mind singing it for me again? Sure, why not? said the peasant. He began to sing the tune again. Beautiful, said the rebi, and the shepherd had finished singing it. Now, let me see. It goes like this. And the rebi began to sing the tune note fornotee precisely as he'd heard it. Yes, that's it exactly, said the peasant. I wonder, said the rebi, would it be asking too much of you if you could sing it for me just one more time? All right, said the peasant. And he opened his mouth to sing. Nothing came out. He closed his mouth and tried again. Nothing. Politely, the rebi wished him good morning, climbed back into the carriage. The rebi and his shamus sat in silence in the carriage for a good few minutes. And then the shabas couldn't contain himself anymore. What happened back there? When I heard that peasant singing, said the rebi, I realized he was singing one of the songs that the Levim, the Levites, sung in the holy temple, the beta mikdash. For 2,000 years, that tune has been in exile, passed from one stranger to the next, wandering from one country to another. That present was like a a shell containing a precious spark of holiness. As soon as the spark had been returned to its owners, the Jewish people, there was no further need for him to remember the tune. And so he forgot it. At the beginning of this week's Torah portion, may the Torah lists the 42 places where the Jewish people camped in the desert on their way to Erit Israel. What is the reason for these 42 stops in the desert? There's a mystical concept that there are sparks of holiness in this world that are trapped in the desert's emptiness. The purpose of the Jews wandering in the desert for so long was to release and gather these sparks. Each of the 42 places they stopped corresponds to a letter of the great name of Hashem of 42 letters. And so by gathering the sparks from each place, a little more of God's name, his presence, his revelation in this world was revealed. 3,000 years later, the Jewish people are still wandering. A 100 years here, 200 years there, on our journeys through Spain, England, China, America, the Jewish people free the sparks of holiness that are trapped throughout the world. And when this process is complete, the Messiah, the Messiah, the anointed one, will gather all the Jewish people to the land of Israel. And on that day, Hashem will be one and his name one. And all the songs of holiness will be heard once again.