Shabbat Service tonight at 7

This week’s parashah is Mas’ei, the last of the Book of Numbers, Sefer Bemidbar.  The parashah begins with a list of the way stations during the journey of the People of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land.  Why give such an accounting?  If we travel from Austin to Dallas, we’re unlikely to tell people that we went from Austin to Pflugerville, from Pflugerville to Round Rock, from Round Rock to Georgetown, etc.  We’re more likely to mention only our final destination.  I believe though, that the Torah is teaching us a lesson.  While our destination matters, our route matters as well.  We need to pay attention to the process by which we arrive at our destinations, whatever they may be.  The People of Israel may have been bound for the Land of Israel, but it was the journey in the wilderness that made them into worthy inheritors of the Land. So too, our journeys are what make us who we are, before we arrive at our final destination.  Shabbat Shalom.