Spiritual Journeys And Battles

בפסוק אלה מסעי כו' מוצאיהם למסעיהם כו' מסעיהם למוצאיהם

On the verse, "These are the journeys (of Bnei Yisrael)" (Bamidbar 33:1), the Torah writes "their goings out according to their journeys" and then "their journeys according to their goings out" (Bamidbar 33:2).

The Sfas Emes opens on the double phrasing of the opening verses of Parshas Masei, which list the journeys of Bnei Yisrael in two orders.

כי הנה האדם נקרא מהלך וצריך תמיד לילך ממדריגה אל מדריגה אחרת

For behold, a person is called a "goer" (one who walks), and he must constantly travel from one level to a higher level.

He sets out the foundation: a person is meant to be in constant motion, always climbing from one spiritual level to the next.

ואותן הגדולים שבדור המדבר הלכו תמיד ממסע למסע וכל מסע הי' מלחמה חדשה כדכתי' בנסוע הארון כו' ויפוצו אויבך כו'

And those great ones in the generation of the Wilderness were always traveling from one journey to the next, and every journey was a fresh battle, as it is written, "When the Aron would travel... and Your enemies were scattered" (Bamidbar 10:35).

The great figures of the generation in the Wilderness modeled this, and each new stage of travel meant facing a new spiritual battle, as hinted by the Aron's traveling that scattered enemies.

משנאיך הם הסט"א שמשניאין לאדם העול תורה ומצות

"Those who hate You" are the Sitra Achra (the side of impurity), which makes the yoke of Torah and mitzvos hateful to a person.

He identifies those "enemies" as the Sitra Achra, the force of impurity that works to make Torah and mitzvos feel hateful and burdensome to a person.

וכמ"ש ואהבת את ה' שיהי' שם שמים מתאהב על ידך כן להיפוך הרשעים גורמים הסתר כבוד שמו ית'

And just as it is written, "And you shall love Hashem" (Devarim 6:5) — meaning that the Name of Heaven should become beloved through you — so too the opposite: the wicked cause the concealment of the honor of His Blessed Name.

Just as a Jew can make Hashem's Name beloved in the world, the wicked do the reverse and bring about the concealment of His honor.

וזה הי' שליחות נשמת בנ"י בעוה"ז לברר ולהעד על השי"ת

And this was the mission of the neshamah of Bnei Yisrael in this world: to clarify and to bear witness to Hashem Yisbarach.

The very purpose of a Jew's neshamah being placed in this world is to reveal and testify to Hashem's presence.

והעוסקים במלחמה זו לשם לשמים הקב"ה מסייע להם

And those who engage in this battle for the sake of Heaven — the Holy One, Blessed is He, assists them.

When a person fights this spiritual battle purely for Heaven's sake, Hashem Himself helps him win it.

ויש מחלוקת לש"ש וכניסי' לשם שמים

And there is a "machlokes for the sake of Heaven" (a contention for the sake of Heaven), and also an entering-in for the sake of Heaven.

There is a mode of struggle for the sake of Heaven and a mode of restful entering-in for the sake of Heaven — two complementary avodos.

והם ימי המעשה ויום השבת

And these correspond to the days of the week (the workdays) and the day of Shabbos.

These two modes map onto the structure of time itself: the workdays of striving and the day of Shabbos of rest.

וכן כ' ויסעו ויחנו ויסעו ויחנו

And so it is written, "And they traveled and they encamped, and they traveled and they encamped."

The repeated Torah pattern of traveling and encamping reflects this same rhythm of exertion followed by repose.

וכמו הנ' שבתות השנה שבודאי בכל שבוע צריך להיות מלחמה חדשה ואח"כ בשבת קודש מנוחה וכניסי' לש"ש כמ"ש ובנוחה יאמר שובה ה' רבבות אלפי ישראל שהוא הכניסי' של בנ"י

And this is like the fifty-two Shabbosos of the year, for certainly in every week there must be a fresh battle, and afterward, on the holy Shabbos, rest and an entering-in for the sake of Heaven — as it is written, "And when it rested he would say, 'Return, Hashem, to the myriads and thousands of Yisrael'" (Bamidbar 10:36), which is the entering-in of Bnei Yisrael.

He likens it to the weekly cycle: each week demands a fresh battle, and Shabbos brings the rest and "entering-in," as the verse describes the Aron coming to rest among Bnei Yisrael.

וכן לעולם הצדיקים אין להם מנוחה כדכ' ילכו מחיל אל חיל דרשו חז"ל מבהמ"ד לביהכ"נ

And so it is forever: the tzaddikim have no rest, as it is written, "They go from strength to strength" (Tehillim 84:8), which Chazal expounded to mean from the beis midrash to the beis haknesses.

Yet tzaddikim never truly rest — even their "rest" is movement from one holy place to another, going from strength to strength, beis midrash to beis haknesses.

וכפי מלחמות האדם להיות טהור שלא להתדבק בהבלי עולם כן זוכה אח"כ למנוחה ולהתקרבות להקדושה

And according to the battles a person wages to be pure, not to cling to the vanities of the world, so does he merit afterward to rest and to drawing close to the kedushah.

The reward is measured: the harder a person battles to stay pure and detached from worldly vanities, the greater the rest and closeness to kedushah he earns.

וכמו כן כפי התקרבות האדם להתדבק בתורה ומצות זוכה לטהרה

And likewise, according to a person's drawing close to cling to Torah and mitzvos, he merits to purity.

Correspondingly, the more a person draws himself close to cling to Torah and mitzvos, the more purity he merits.

וזהו מוצאיהם למסעיהם מסעיהם למוצאיהם

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

This mutual relationship is precisely what the double verse expresses: goings out lead to journeys, and journeys lead back to goings out.

וכן לעולם אלה הדרכים אין להם הפסק:

And so it is forever: these pathways have no cessation.

He closes that this dynamic is eternal — these pathways of striving and ascent never come to an end.

Summary: The Sfas Emes reads the double language of the opening verses of Parshas Masei — "their goings out according to their journeys" and "their journeys according to their goings out" — as a description of the spiritual life of a Jew, who is called a "goer" and must constantly ascend from level to level. Each journey is a fresh battle against the Sitra Achra, which seeks to make Torah and mitzvos hateful and to conceal Hashem's honor; the very mission of the neshamah in this world is to clarify and bear witness to Hashem, and when one fights for the sake of Heaven, the Holy One, Blessed is He, assists him. This avodah has two complementary modes — the striving of the workdays and the restful "entering-in" of Shabbos — mirrored in the Torah's rhythm of traveling and encamping and in the weekly cycle of battle followed by Shabbos rest. The two directions feed one another: the battles a person wages to stay pure earn him rest and closeness to kedushah, and his drawing close to Torah and mitzvos earns him purity. Even tzaddikim never truly rest but move from strength to strength, and these pathways of ascent have no end.