Mase’ei and Rosh Chodesh Av: The Threshold of the Promised Land - by Zelig Golden

During this Shabbat we celebrate Rosh Chodesh Av (The new moon of Av) and we confront a great paradox. The full summer sun is passing high in the sky. Flowers are blooming; tomatoes are bursting from the vine; we are harvesting the fruits of our labors on earth. Summer is the time of greatest abundance. Yet in our tradition, we are moving through a period of darkness.

We are in the midst of a 21-day period of reflection on brokenness as we approach Tisha B’av, the commemoration of the destruction of the Holy Temple, a day of fasting and mourning our dark places. During these three weeks “between the strictures” we are invited to look deeply into ourselves and into the world and ask “what is broken?”

Deep in the psyche of our tradition is the notion that wholeness comes from brokenness, just as we learn in the first lines of the Torah that light comes from darkness. (Gen. 1:1-3). Thus, this time of dark reflection serves to enable us to bring light from within ourselves into the world. As Rabbi Eliezer teaches, just as this period of darkness from the 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Av lasts 21 days, the almond tree blossom flowers for 21 days. (Lamentations Rabbah, Prologue 23). From Rabbi Eliezer, we learn that tragedy and mourning are ephemeral blossoms, leading to greater experience and understanding, and eventually opening us to joy and celebration.

This week’s Torah portion, Mase’ei (the marches), epitomizes why we must explore our brokenness in the heat of the summer and resolves for me the paradox of Rosh Chodesh Av. In Mase’ei, we reflect on the 40 years of marching and wandering through the b’midbar – the ‘wilderness’, the ‘desert’, the expansive place of reflection and learning – with Moses as our guide from Egyptian liberation to the threshold of Canaan, the ‘promised land’. This Torah portion also finishes the book of Numbers and marks the end of our physical journey with Moses. Here at the boundary of Canaan, our people will finally arrive in the ‘promise land’ – but Moses will not enter. We will do it on our own, independent of our father, guide and leader of over 40 years.

Rosh Chodesh Av and Mase’ei together teach that we must explore the b’midbar of our lives and reflect on our brokenness so that we can fully step into our wholeness as individuals, and as a nation. Only then can we step across the threshold into our ‘promised land.’ Read the rest