CHASSIDIC PEARLS BY RABBI LAZER BRODY PARSHAS MASEI

(NOTE THIS DIVAR TORAH IS SET UP IN A DOUBLE PARSHA FORMAT PARSHAS MASEI IS ON THE BOTTOM)The Torah is neither a history book nor a biography of the Jewish people; the Torah is called "The Written Law" because it lists the six hundred thirteen commandments that govern how Jews must live their lives, as dictated from Hashem to Moses. One could therefore ask why the Torah lists every single journey. We know that the wisdom of the Torah is eternal; as such, what's the timeless message that we learn from the journeys of our forefathers in Sinai?

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches (Likutei Moharan I:25) that the klipot – the husks of impurity that surround the holiness in each spiritual level – are "the fantasies, the musings, the lusts, the confusions, and the obstacles" of each spiritual level, which one can only overcome by pondering the magnificence of Hashem. "Know," says Rebbe Nachman, "that each and every world and each and every spiritual level has its own set of fantasies and so forth; when a person progresses from level to level, then he must necessarily traverse these fantasies [confusions, obstacles, etc. – LB] in order to reach the holiness, and as soon as he ascends to a new spiritual level, then the klipot in that level are aroused to surround him; one must then subdue them and shatter them, in order to purify the place [level – LB] from the klipot."