Rabbi Jaech's Blog

For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, many people decided to travel on vacation this summer.

I like to travel, but I hate to pack.  Putting stuff in suitcases is the easy part.  Having to decide what I should pack is considerably more difficult.

I have read that most people tend to over-pack for their travels. How many times have you lugged full, heavy bags on your trips and then, upon returning home, discover that you schlepped items you never used? 

That is one of the reasons for the travel advice offered by experts:  Place in your suitcase what you think you need, and then remove half of what you packed.

It is also quite common to forget essential items like your toothbrush or your charger for your phone. Most of us travel to places where we can easily replace these items, but sometimes we can find ourselves without something important.

Why is it such a struggle to figure out what to pack?

Perhaps we worry too much about having what we need to address all the things that may happen on our journey.  What if we need a band-aid or antibiotic ointment? What if we run out of dental floss? What if we get invited somewhere fancy and do not have the right clothing to wear?

We may not know what we will really need on our journey. But we are not alone.

The Torah contains a narrative about the Israelite’s forty-year journey through the wilderness. Forty years is a long time, so it seems that the Israelites would be pretty good at traveling.  So, what did the Israelites pack to take on their long journey?

The Torah does not give us a lot of detail. But it is curious that in Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the Israelites that they did not have to pack food for the journey because God provided manna for them.  According to this narrative, the Israelites did not even have to pack clothes.  As Moses reminded the Israelites, “the clothes on you did not wear out, nor did your feet swell these forty years.” (Deut. 8:2)  

So the Israelites did not have to worry about packing what they needed to meet their physical needs.  They did not have to pack snacks or clothing, and that made things considerably more convenient.

The Torah does say a lot about something the Israelites did pack with them.  Fully one-quarter of the book of Exodus is devoted to the command to build the mishkan, the portable Tent-Sanctuary, and the description of the how the Israelites carried out this command.

The mishkan represented the Israelites’ means of connecting to their God on their long journey through the wilderness.  The Israelites thought that it was important to attend to their spiritual needs on their long journey.  They did not have to worry about their physical needs.  They did have to worry about their spiritual needs.

As we approach the High Holy Days, we are called to consider our own spiritual needs. We spend our entire lives learning how best to live. The High Holy Days are meant to provide the opportunity to gain perspective and insight as we journey through our lives.

This is the time in which we might consider, what should we pack for our life’s journey?  What will help us make the most of our limited time on earth?

Each of us may answer this question in a different way.  It’s like packing for a trip.  Items that one traveler may consider to be essential may not be considered so by another.

So there are no easy, general answers to offer. It is really the questions themselves that merit our consideration.

Consider your own journey through life. What are you “packing” for this journey? Are you attending to the needs of your spirit? Are you making room for the essential things in life?  

And if not now – when?