Why do we like to travel? Is it to visit new places? To just not be stuck in one static location or situation? To be mobile? What is it about the human spirit that drives it to take flight?
While the FAA and other international airlines (except El Al) place restrictions on flights to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, we read in this week’s portion about another journey to the Promised Land. A journey that took place over 3300 years ago and included the entire spectrum of life’s ups and downs — from first leaving G-d forsaken Egypt, where the Jews were enslaved for 210 years, to resting at Mt. Sinai and experiencing the greatest event in history, the giving of the Torah, which changed the world forever, to their arrival, 40 years later, at the east bank of the River Jordan. Their journeys — forty two to be exact — included many twists and turns, high points and low ones, battles and celebrations, as they slowly made their way through a desolate wilderness leading them to the Holy Land. What can we learn from these journeys today? As we travel during this summer season, what deeper meaning do our travels disclose? And above all: Where are we headed and what is our final destination?
Please join Rabbi Jacobson in this timely Israel/Massei/Three Weeks workshop, addressing both the collective journey of Israel today and our own personal journeys — and how they mirror each other. Learn the reason your soul craves to fly. Discover new ways to look at your own voyages, and how to discern the deeper patterns in the trajectory of your life.