IN A NUTSHELL Parashat Masei gives us a list of the forty-two stopping points of the Israelites’ forty-year journey through the wilderness. Their final stop is on the plains of Moav, where they will stay until the death of Moshe. Then the parasha sets out the borders of the Promised Land, as well as highlighting which places will become cities of refuge (where people guilty of accidental murder can live safely, protected from the relatives of the person who has died).

Mattot and Masei, often read together, are the final parashot in the book of Bemidbar. This book is full of the stories of what happened while the people lived in the desert, as well as the laws that the people were taught during this time. Moshe taught them (and us) about: the laws of purity, of the Mishkan (the portable Temple), lashon hara, and future laws for the land. Sometimes the people rebelled against Moshe and against God Himself; sometimes they complained or broke the laws. Every time they made a mistake, God forgave them and Moshe tried to show them a better way to behave.

QUESTION TO PONDER

Moshe was a leader, a judge, and a prophet. Why do you think we call him “Moshe Rabbeinu” (meaning, Moshe our teacher) and not by a different title?