Parashat Masei- Where we are matters

Eileh mas’ei B’nei Yisrael asher yatz’u mei’eretz Mitzraiyim l’tziv’otam b’yad Moshe v’Aharon. Vayichtov Moshe et motza’eihem l’mas’eihem al pi A’donai v’eileh mas’eihem l’motzaeihem.

These are the stages of the Children of Israel by which they went out from the land of Egypt as their congregations under the hand of Moshe and Aharon. And Moshe wrote their goings out in stages according to the word of A’donai, and these are the stages of their goings forth. (B’midbar 33:1-2)

God commands Moshe to keep a log of the wanderings of the children of Israel. They journey from Ramses to Sukkot, and from Sukkot to Eitam, and from Eitam to Pi-Hakhirot, and so on, and so on. Sometimes we are told what happened in a place. Aaron dies at Mount Hor on the border of Edom, but mostly we were simply on the move. It is a pattern that has followed us throughout history. Avraham was a nomad, leaving his home, his parents, his birthplace. Jacob wandered from his home eventually bringing his family to Egypt. The Israelites wander for forty years. And after the destruction of the first Temple in 586 BCE, we again began to wander.

From the time Avraham purchased the land surrounding the caves of Machpelah, Hebron, we have kept a presence in the land of Israel through landmarks, such as Avraham’s wells, remarked by Isaac, and through a physical presence. However, even as we have done this, we have, as a people we have touched every corner of the globe. And wherever we go we have written. There are histories of Jews in Shanghai. There are histories of Jews in Rome. There are histories of Jews in Australia and Brazil, in Scotland and Iraq, in Ethiopia and Canada. Sometimes these histories are long giving us details about how we lived and died there. Sometimes these histories are just a knowledge of our presence.

In every place and every time we have left our mark and the places and times have left their mark upon us. This past week we celebrated Canada Day. With all of Canada we flew the colours. We wore red and white. We ate barbecue. We drank Canadian beer. We watched fireworks. Maybe we enjoyed some peace at the cottage, a definitively Canadian experience. We traveled- to Ottawa, to Montreal, to Muskoka, to Peterborough.

Every year at Remembrance Day, at Canada Day, at Thanksgiving there are those in the Jewish community who will wonder whether we should be marking these days. After all, they are not Jewish holidays. They are not collected to our homeland. The answer is simple. Yes. Celebrate. It is important to note where we are and whence we came. These places and what we do in these places make us the people we are. Especially here in Canada, where national discrimination has not been part of the government, we need to acknowledge these days in order to celebrate this place, and to mark and remember that not only does this time and place effect us, but we too have made this place, Canada, what it is today.