RABBI WEIN ON PARSHOS MATOS AND MASSEI

(PLEASE LEARN THIS FOR THE REFUA SHELAMA OF Rav Shteinman - Aaron Yehuda Leib ben Gitel Feiga, Rav Weiss - Yitzchak Tuvia ben Rikal, Rav Belsky - NAME ADDDED Chaim Yisroel ben Chana Tzirtel, Rav Yosef - Yaakov Chai ben Margalit Harav Shlomo Leib Ben Miriam - HaRav Shlomo Brevda Harav Yeshaya Yaakov Ben Raizel - HaRav Yeshaya Yaakov Portugal Harav Meshulem Fish Ben Tziril - The Toshe Rebbe Rav Yerachmiel Shlomo Hakohen ben Raizel. -Rav Yerachmiel Shlomo Rothenberg, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva of Mountaindale Rav Shaul ben Pasha-Gavaad Zurich, Switzerland and rav of Beis Medrash Agudas Achim for a refuah shleima b’soch kol cholei am Yisrael.)(AND L"N RAV YOSEF SHALOM BEN RAV AVRAHAM(RAV ELYASHIV ZT"L)

The narrative of the experiences of the people of Israel in the desert of Sinai concludes with the parshiyot of this week. All of the occurrences, successes and failures that marked this forty year trek in a wasteland wilderness are alluded to in the count of Israel in last week’s parsha - and in the listing of all of the way stations of that excursion. The Torah seems to be determined to remind all later generations of Jews of the experiences in the desert. Moshe, in his final oration in the book of Dvarim, will once again review the events of the desert for a new generation of Jews distanced in time and circumstance from Egyptian bondage. The Torah is aware of human forgetfulness. It will take only one generation to forget Egypt and even Mount Sinai. History is boring and quite irrelevant to new generations. Yet forgetting the Jewish past is the ultimate betrayal of Judaism and Jewish hopes. All of us, as we become older, begin to feel a psychological and spiritual need growing within us to be remembered. The Baal Shem Tov is reputed to have said: “Forgetting is the true exile.” Of course it is obvious that ignorance is the true partner of forgetfulness. In fact, if one never knew anything then one cannot be accused of having forgotten it. The Torah emphasizes the repetition of all the facts and experiences of Jewish life in the desert of Sinai so that this knowledge will enable and strengthen the powers of national remembrance.