Matot/Ma'asei

The Bible can be boring. 

“These are the marches of the Israelites who started out from the Land of Egypt, troop by troop, in the charge of Moses and Aaron.  Moses recorded the starting points of their various marches as directed by God.  Their marches, by starting point, were as follows…”  (Numbers 33:1-2).  I will spare you the long list of place names.  Like the interminable “begats,” this is a list that feels empty, purposeless.  Why are they included in the Torah?  What is sacred about them?  Who cares?

Answering this question, the midrash tells the story of a king whose son became sick.  Since medical care in his kingdom was insufficient, the ruler takes his boy to a distant land for treatment.  On the way back, the father recounts tenderly what happened at each place where they stopped:  “Here you had to rest.”  “Here you had a headache.”  “Here you could not sleep.”  To an outsider, the places mean nothing.  To one who loves, they mean everything.

I have lived in Los Angeles, Madrid, Los Angeles, Boston, Cairo, New York, Key West, Los Angeles, Mallorca, Los Angeles, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, Auckland, and Tempe.  And in each one of them, I have learned, encountered, suffered, and evolved.  To anyone else, this list is merely a sequence of place names.  To me, it is my life.

What are the places of your life?  What makes them special?