Parashat Beshalah--The Long Way Around

The Talmud teaches, “There is a long way which is short and a short way which is long” (Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 53b).  Yes, I think, it’s true; although, when setting off on one’s journey it’s often hard to know the difference.  I can think of times when I’ve set off on a course of action, confident that I am traveling down a short road of slim resistance, only to find myself mired in the thick of things and wondering how I got myself there in the first place.  And then there are those times, when a long view and careful planning, a tough trek anticipated ahead, is filled with sweetness and ease.  Knowing which roads we’re embarking upon, it seems to me, is the stuff of life and measurements of growth.

This week’s Torah Portion, Parashat Beshalah, begins, “Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, ‘The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.  So, God led the people roundabout, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds” (Exodus 13:17-18).

The Israelites had one short road ahead, which God feared would be too difficult and would cause the Israelites to complain and beg to return to Egypt.  So, God sent them the long way.  The irony of our people’s journey is that the long way was not actually any easier.  While traveling the long way, they spent years crying out to God and begging to be returned Egypt with just as much force as they did to be freed from it in the first place (Numbers 14:1-5, for example). 

So, I will be a little chutzpadik and suggest an addendum to the Talmud’s wisdom: There is a long way which is long and there is a short way which is long.  Sometimes, we’re blessed to find a long way which is short and, every once in a great blessed while, a short way which is actually short

What might we learn from this week’s Torah Portion?  A few thoughts:

1. Rachel Lewin, Head of School of the TIOH Day School, wrote a few months back about the importance of parents letting children experience the very natural process of learning something new, which can include feelings of frustration and challenge.  Rachel explained that learning how to cope with these feelings and moving through them are important life lessons.  For parents, it can seem easy enough to make a child’s long road shorter, but sometimes we find on the other end, that the short road missed the journey all together.
2. Sometimes, it is not until we have reached the end of a journey that we realize we have traveled the long way around.  It is often this realization and the lessons we have learned along the way that help us to take the shorter roads ahead.  
3. Most of all, this week’s Torah portion reminds us that our life’s pursuit should not be a search for short roads.  Long roads and 40 year journeys are a part of our historical memory.  Even the long roads that are long hold blessings and lessons along the way.  Torah’s promise to us is that God travels with us no matter which road we take or that the sacred is within us no matter how long the journey.

This is a Shabbat for choosing new journeys and reflecting on the ones we have chosen.  This is a time for reorientation.  What journeys are you on?  Were they expected or no?  Have they proven long or short?  What are the blessings to be gleaned from them?

*A huge thank you to Darcy Veber for pointing out this gem of a Talmud verse to me.