“The vineyard is such a beautiful addition… you know it used to be a dusty old parking lot. And see that breathtaking mural? When I first got here, the paint on the side of that building was chipped and worn. It’s amazing the difference that just a few years have made.”
It was alumni weekend up at URJ Camp Newman, in Santa Rosa this weekend. Though I never attended as a camper, I spent several years up there on staff and over the course of my time there I saw the facility grow into its rolling hills and redwood trees. As my husband and I walked the grounds, I couldn’t help but reminisce… “I remember when you tripped walking down this path – now I see they’ve paved it over,” and “I once ran an amazing program in that room… I had 40 fourth graders laughing as they played a life-sized board game about being a mensch (good person).”
As I walked through this stunning, vibrant space, I barely saw the camp that was in session before me. Instead it was as if I was looking backward, watching scenes from my past unfold in my mind’s eye.
The Israelites have a similar experience in this week’s parasha. As the book of Numbers comes to an end, the reader approaches a long, dry directory of names and places. The Etz Hayim commentary points out that this is far from a boring list. Rather, “The Midrash compares this list of place-names to the situation of a king whose son was taken ill. The king took him to a specialist. On their return journey, at every stopping place, he reminded his son: ‘Here is where you had a headache, here is where we stopped to rest.’ Indeed, every oasis that welcomed the Israelites and provided them with food and water was rewarded by being mentioned in the Torah.”
It is important to note that the parasha moves quickly from the point of reminiscence to next steps. In one breath they remember, and in the next they receive further instructions about how they will move from this point to the next.
As we begin to ruminate on what it means to be ‘home’ this High Holy Day season, there is an important lesson to learn from the Israelites. It is important, fulfilling and meaningful to look back. To remember what a space or place has meant to us, what we learned from that time or moment in our lives. We ought to think about the successes that we’ve had, or the lessons we learned from the challenges we had at earlier moments in our lives.
But Torah teaches us about the crucial next step: to turn our mind’s eye forward, bringing the insight of our past into our present and our future. When I remembered to look both forward and back, I saw all the lives that are changing at this moment at my former summer home. A new generation of children and staff are building on the lessons I learned and taught there, finding their own home that will stay with them until they day they move on, and beyond.
Parashat Masei challenges our concept of home. It shows us that as the notion of ‘home’ changes throughout our lives, it is enhanced by all the ‘homes’ we have had. ‘Home’ changes as we change, becoming what we need at the time that we need it. As we stand on the brink of the promised land, we look back. Then, we take the next step, moving on and finding home again.
Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin
Thank you for the wise words, Rabbi. They are particularly poignant as my youngest gets ready to go off to college at the end of August. 'Home is where the heart lies' never had so much meaning.
Posted by: Ellen Isaacs | July 27, 2011 at 10:24 PM
Rabbi Sara, This is lovely. It is so relevant in the life of my family.
Posted by: Caryn Oderberg | July 27, 2011 at 06:29 PM