Separating From Physicality Lishmah

מסעיהם למוצאיהם כו' הלשונות בתחלת הפסוק וסוף הפ' מהופכים

"These are the journeys of Bnei Yisrael... according to their goings forth" (Bamidbar 33:1) — the wording at the beginning of the pasuk and at its end are reversed.

The Sfas Emes notes a textual difficulty: the pasuk opens by speaking of the journeys before the goings forth, yet closes by reversing the order, which calls for explanation.

י"ל כי הכתוב תולה המסעות ביצ"מ ונראה שאחר כל המסעות נגמר יציאת מצרים

One may explain that the pasuk makes the journeys dependent upon the Exodus from Mitzrayim, and it appears that only after all the journeys was the Exodus from Mitzrayim brought to completion.

He suggests that the Torah ties the journeys to the Exodus precisely because the Exodus was not finished at the moment of leaving Mitzrayim; it was only fully achieved through the entire course of the journeys.

כי בכל מסע נתרחקו יותר ממצרים עד שבאו לארץ ישראל

For with each and every journey they grew more distant from Mitzrayim, until they arrived in Eretz Yisrael.

Every stage of travel was a further stage of distancing from Mitzrayim, a process that reached its goal only with the entry into Eretz Yisrael.

וצריך להיות הרצון של האדם בפרישותו מגשמיות כדי להתדבק בהשי"ת שיוכל להיות בר לבב

And a person's separation from physicality must come from his own ratzon — his desire to cleave to Hashem — so that he may become pure of heart.

When a person withdraws from gashmius, the motivation must be a positive yearning for dveikus with Hashem, so that his heart becomes pure.

אבל לא מצד שנבזה בעיניו הגשמיות

But it must not come because the physical world is despised and lowly in his eyes.

His withdrawal should not be driven by contempt for the physical world, treating it as something base and worthless.

ולכך נתן השי"ת חן לגשמיות כדי שיהי' מעשה האדם רק לשם שמים

And therefore Hashem placed grace and appeal in the physical world, so that a person's deeds should be done solely for the sake of Heaven.

Hashem deliberately invested the physical world with attractiveness so that when a person nonetheless serves Him, his avodah is purely lishmah, for the sake of Heaven alone.

וזהו מוצאיהם למסעיהם

And this is the meaning of "their goings forth, according to their journeys."

This is why the pasuk ends with the goings forth preceding the journeys — the order is inverted to teach this deeper sequence.

ואח"כ כפי מה שנוסע האדם ומתקרב להשי"ת נגמר ההוצאה שהפריש עצמו מגשמיות וכל א' מהם מסייע להשני כנ"ל:

And afterward, in accordance with how a person journeys and draws closer to Hashem, the going forth is completed — that he has separated himself from physicality — and each of the two assists the other, as explained above.

As a person travels onward and draws nearer to Hashem, his separation from gashmius becomes complete; the journeying and the separation reinforce one another in a continuous cycle.

Summary: The Sfas Emes addresses why the opening pasuk of Parshas Masei lists the journeys before the goings forth at its start, yet reverses the order at its end. He explains that the Exodus from Mitzrayim was not completed in a single moment but was brought to fullness only through all the journeys, as Bnei Yisrael grew ever more distant from Mitzrayim until they reached Eretz Yisrael. The deeper lesson is that a person's separation from gashmius must flow from a genuine ratzon to cleave to Hashem and attain a pure heart, never from mere contempt for the physical world. For this reason Hashem placed grace and appeal in physicality, so that one's avodah would be entirely lishmah. The journeying toward Hashem and the going forth from gashmius thus complete and assist one another.