Life, the Universe and Everything

It is not really as complicated as it seems.  The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is, in fact, quite simple. 

It is 42.

This is familiar to fans of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy created by Douglas Adams.  Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC in 1978, it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon.  It was later adapted to other formats including a "trilogy" of five books, a  TV series, a computer game, a feature film, and two series of towels.

42 is also the same number of masa’ot, journeys, the Jews traversed during their 40 years in the desert.  While I do not know whether Douglas Adams knew of this connection or not, the 42 stops along the Israelite journey do prompt a search for meaning.  What exactly is the travelogue needed for?

The classic mefarshim, commentators, suggest various approaches.  Rabbi Moshe Ha-Darshan explains that recounting the travels in the desert is meant to evoke gratitude towards God for His many kindnesses throughout the journey.  The Rambam sees the masa’ot as an opportunity to reinforce faith.  The miracles of the desert can be verified and evaluated since we know the locations in which they happened.  Ramban views the enumerations of the locations more mystically.  They represent various elements of the human spiritual condition and religious development.

While the masa’ot may not actually answer the ultimate question to our full satisfaction, they do represent three meaningful insights as we travel down the road of life.

1.  It is important to remember where we have been.  

To this day, I have strong memories from visiting my grandparents’ home.  To this day, I remember the smell: the slight odor of cigarette smoke (my grandmother smoked for 40 years before quitting cold turkey) combined with bath soaps and laundry detergent.  I can also vividly picture the furniture: the three piece coffee table, the dining room chairs with a floral design on the seats, a large TV that she has had for at least 25 years, and an ancient top-loading VCR.  I recall Shabbat meals that featured chocolate mousse for dessert and my grandmother would clean up using a crumb sweeper; the annual screening of Annie and Superman II; and looking for my father’s “missing” Mickey Mantle rookie card that he swore would be found in the basement unless it had been thrown out.

Most of us can recall some past event that makes us happy.  Researchers at Loyola University have confirmed what many of us have found to be true for ourselves: A stroll down memory lane can give our spirits a significant lift.  According to psychologist Fred Bryant, most people spontaneously reminisce when they're alone or feeling down - or both - which suggests that we reach for pleasant memories as an antidote to feeling blue.  Thinking of good memories for just 20 minutes a day can make people more cheerful than they were the week before, and happier than if they think of their current lives. Since memories often star important people in our lives, they may give us a comforting sense of belonging.

Vayis’u…va’yachanu – The Torah provides a stroll down memory lane.  

2.  It is important to appreciate the specifics of the journey as much as the destination.

The Torah is not succinct in its presentation of the travelogue even thought i could very well have condensed the masa’ot narrative.  Each location is mentioned twice.  “Vayis’u mi’yam suf, va-yachanu b’midbar tzin.  Vayis’u mi’midbar tzin, va’yachanu b’dafkah.”  It is crucially important to know each step of the journey in addition to just the destination. Nowadays, people are much less connected with where they are and much more focused on where they are going.  Canadian psychologist Colin Ellard has written a book entitled You are Here: Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon but Get Lost in the Mall.  It describes how people today sacrifice their deep connection with physical space in exchange for a more diffused existence.  In a way, destinations have become much more important than the journey to get there.

A telling example of this attitude is how we rely so extensively on devices for directions.  From Google Maps to GPS devices, we worry so much about getting there that we ignore how we get there.  Sometimes at our own peril.  Several years ago, a British driver was found guilty of what they call in the U.K. “driving without due care and attention.”  The driver followed the orders of the soothing voice of his GPS…as he drove down a narrow, unpaved, cliff-side lane and became stuck at the edge of a 100 foot drop.  As the prosecutor noted, “[The driver] slavishly continued to follow the satnav system…to such a degree he was not exercising proper control of the vehicle.”

This is a real-life example of the dangers of overly focusing on the destination.  The Torah’s response to such an approach is 42, the detailed delineation of each start and stop of the journey. Each one of them is significant, and each stage in our lives is important in helping us reach our destination, our goal and purpose.

3.   It is important to create experiences and not just let them happen.

The Torah states that Moshe recorded the Jewish journey as, “motza’eihem l’ maseihem.”  Literally, this translates as “their experiences according to their journeys.”  The Torah then delineates the stops along the journey, “maseihem l’motza’eihem, their journeys according to their experiences.”  What is going on here? Are the journeys listed according to their experiences or were the experiences listed according to the journeys?

The Toldos Aharon Rebbe explains that Moshe wrote their experiences according to their journeys.  He wrote the various events, traumatic and otherwise, that occurred as a result of the journeys. After all, as a result of their journeys certain events occurred.  To our human eye that is what happens in life.  We go places.  We do things.  Events occur.  But the Torah itself announces these journeys with a twist.  It does not precede the events saying this is what happened as a result of the journeys.  Just the opposite!  It tells us “These are the journeys according to the experiences.”  The journeys were secondary to the experiences; the journeys were listed according to the experiences.

The Rebbe gives an analogy to reinforce the lesson.  It is one thing to graciously thank God by making a fervent blessing over an apple.  If we are to have a more robust religious outlook, however, we should go out and search for the apple to then make a blessing on.  Similarly, in life, we need to seek out experiences and create opportunities that will make our lives more fulfilling. Do we bless to eat or do we eat to bless?  Do we mark our experiences according to where we travel, or do we mark our travels according to where we have had our experiences?  The lesson of the masa’ot is, in effect, to create and seek out meaningful opportunities that will form the travelogue of our life’s experience.

The 42 stages of the journey delineated in great detail afford us an opportunity to reminisce about the past, to focus on where exactly we are in the present, and to seek out the opportunities that will have a formative impact on our lives in the future.  It is no coincidence that we read of these journeys during the Three Weeks, a period that reopens old wounds and painful memories.  It is the collective journey of the Jewish people that shapes who we are and how we will ensure our survival.

While 42 may not satisfactorily provide the meaning to life, the universe, and everything throughout the galaxy, it does give us a framework and perspective in our own individual, national, and communal voyages.

Travel safe!