Dear Friends,
This week, we come to the end of the Book of Numbers with the double portion Matot-Masei. And unlike a movie that wraps everything up with a dramatic finale, the Torah ends with… an itinerary.
Forty-two places. Camp after camp. Journey after journey.
It’s the Torah’s version of someone insisting on showing you every vacation photo. (“Here’s where we stopped for manna. And here’s another place we stopped for manna. Oh, and don’t miss this great campsite…”)
At first glance, it seems like an odd way to end a book. But the Torah isn’t really just giving us a travelogue. Before the Israelites can cross into the Promised Land, they’re invited to remember where they’ve been. Every stop tells part of the story. Some places were filled with celebration. Others held grief, mistakes, conflict, or uncertainty. Some camps lasted a single night; others became home for years. Looking back, they could begin to see that even when the path felt winding or unclear, they had never traveled it alone. They could see that each step on the journey was a necessary piece of the transition from slavery to the next chapter in the story.
That resonates with me this year.
As a congregation, we’re in a period of transition. There is excitement in that, but if we’re honest, there is also uncertainty. Transitions have a way of stirring up all kinds of emotions. They ask us to hold gratitude for what has been while making room for what is still unfolding. They invite us to trust before we can see the whole path.
One of the things I appreciate about Judaism is that we are not taught to pretend that transitions are easy. We don’t rush through them. We mark them. We bless them. We tell the stories that brought us here because those stories become the foundation for wherever we’re going next.
This week, we have an opportunity to stop, make camp, and mark a stop along our way.
July 1 is a special day in Jewish professional life. It is the day that contracts begin. For us this year, July 1 is the day we gained a new senior rabbi! Tonight, as we gather for Shabbat, we will have a moment to mark that moment, to bless that moment, and to welcome that moment. I hope that many of you will get to join us tonight as we raise a glass and toast our new senior rabbi and our next chapter.
Shabbat actually gives us an opportunity to pause and look back at our own travelogue every week. It allows us to stop striving for just a little while. To put down the endless to-do list, silence the news alerts (or at least ignore them for an hour or two), gather with people who know us, and remember what really matters. In a world that always wants us to hurry to the next thing, Shabbat gently reminds us that holiness often happens in the pause.
As we prepare to turn the page—not only in the Torah but also in the life of our congregation—my hope is that we embrace the journey, not just the destination, with our whole hearts. May we find strength and hope in the next chapter we get to write together.
Shabbat Shalom, and I look forward to seeing you at services!
Cantor Rebecca Moses