A man is traveling with his family to a resort in the Catskills. The highway is clear and his spirits are high. Out of nowhere, there are flashing lights, and a police car pulls them over. The patrol officer walks over and asks the driver, “Sir, do you know you’re missing your rear license plate?” The man gets out and goes to the back of his car and begins to sob uncontrollably, “Oy vey! I can’t believe it!” The officer softens and says, “Okay, okay, it’s a first offense. Look—I won’t give you a ticket this time!” The man is still crying. “What’s going on Sir?” asks the officer, “it’s just a license plate.” “No, it’s my trailer!” wails the man, “and my kids in it.”

* * *

Masei: Travels of the Missing Yud

The portion of Masei enumerates the forty-two journeys of the Jewish People between the Exodus from Egypt and the entering of the Promised Land.

They journeyed from the Wilderness of  Siyn and encamped in Dafkah. They journeyed from Dafkah, and encamped in Alush. They journeyed from Alush and encamped in Refidim,

…but there was no water for the people to drink. They journeyed from Refidim and they encamped in the Wilderness of Sinai.[1]

A few questions come to mind:

1.) The word Refidim should have two Yuds (), but in this passage it has only one (). According to the Minchas Shai, the word Refidim actually lacks the second Yud everywhere in the Torah, except for two places: in the portions of Beshalach[2] and Yisro.[3] Why, here, in Masei, does Refidim lack a Yud?

2.) Parshas Beshalach also tells of journeys in the Desert. There, the Torah omits Dafkah and Alush, the encampments linking the Wilderness of Siyn to Refidim. Thus, in Beshalach, it appears as if the Jews traveled directly from Siyn to Refidim.[4] This is a hint that the spiritual experience they had in Siyn continued until they were encamped in Refidim. What did they experience in Siyn?

3.) We have a general rule:[5] if a letter is missing from a word, it teaches us that there is some form of incompleteness in the concept. Either someone’s actions were incomplete, or the actions perpetrated in a certain place were incomplete. What then was the sin, the incompleteness, of the place named Refidim?

WEAKENING OF THE HANDS
The Talmud [6] says the word Refidim means “weakening of the hands.” This means that in Refidim they were weak in studying Torah. This caused a lack in mitzvos, holy actions,[7] as it is written, “For great is the study of Torah which leads to action.”[8] This is why in Parshas Masei, the word Refidim lacks the second Yud.

How could the Jews be weak in studying Torah before they even received the Torah at Mount Sinai? The answer is, they had received part of the Torah already, in Marah. They were already given the laws of Shabbos, the Red Heifer, and some civil laws. In Refidim, an incompleteness appeared in the Jews’ performance of these laws.

COMPLETENESS
The portion of Yisro says, “the Jews left Refidim and approached Sinai.” Rashi explains: just as the Jews came to Sinai with teshuvah, repentance, so too they left Refidim with teshuvah. This tells us why, in Yisro, Refidim has two Yuds, hinting to completeness: they had accomplished teshuvah for the weakening of their hands–they were spiritually complete at that time. Furthermore, Yud has a gematria of ten, alluding to the Ten Commandments. Therefore they came to Sinai ready to receive the Ten Commandments from G-d.

Why then is the word Refidim complete in Beshalach? Just like in Masei, Beshalach mentions that there was no water for the people to drink, and the people complained. This doesn’t seem to express completeness. How does Beshalach find a positive interpretation of the events in Refidim?

MANNA FROM HEAVEN
The portion of Beshalach says that in the Wilderness of Siyn, the Jewish People began to receive manna, food from Heaven, as it is written, “They ate this manna for forty years.”[9] The Talmud says, “G-d gave the Torah specifically to those who ate the manna.” Eating manna was therefore a preparation for receiving Torah.

Rabbeinu Bachaya says, “The level of the Jews in the Desert was equivalent to that of the holy supernal angels (enclothed) within physical bodies.” Therefore, by eating the manna==in quantities of a tenth of an eifah–they were elevated to the tenth (and most complete) level (of the supernal angels). They were then prepared to receive and internalize the supernal wisdom of the Torah at Sinai. Like angels with human bodies, they now understood the deepest mysteries of the universe, as it is written, “…And they saw G-d and they ate (manna) and drank (Torah wisdom).”

Therefore, their thirst for Torah was also highly positive. It was an elevated desire for Torah study. This is why the spelling of ‘Refidim’ is complete, with two Yuds.[10]

KABBALAH OF THE YUD
Graphic Design: The letter Yud looks like a small dot. A dot alludes to the Tzimtzum, the cosmic contraction and concealment of G-d’s overwhelming light. This contraction allows G-d to create the world, and also to reveal Himself through the Torah.

The smallness of Yud also represents human self-nullification to the will of G-d and Moses His servant.

Gematria: Yud equals 10. Through the Ten Commandments, G-d begins to reveal His Light to the world. The amount of manna that the Jews gathered each day was one tenth of an eifah.

Meaning: Yud means yad, “hand”. It also means Yid, a Yehudi–a Jew. The purpose of the hands of a Jew is to prepare the world so that G-d may dwell here.

When a Yid lives the ‘Yud’ (the Ten Commandments), he causes the ‘Yud’ (G-d’s light) to dwell in this world.

THE THREE WEEKS
Masei is one of the parshas that is always read during the Three Weeks. As we mentioned in previous chapters, the Three Weeks is a period of mourning for the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Hamnuna says the Temple was destroyed because young students ceased learning Torah.[11] Therefore, the way to rebuild it is through the study of Torah. The Lubavitcher Rebbe instituted the study of “Beis Habechirah”–the Rambam’s codification of the laws of building the Temple=–throughout the Three Weeks.

A STORY
A well-known businessman and philanthropist was having some difficulties with his business. He decided to write to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and ask for a bracha, a blessing. The Rebbe wrote back, “Establish fixed times for daily Torah-study.” The businessman immediately set up a daily morning study session with a colleague. From that very date, his business became–and remained–very successful.

ACTION:Accept upon yourself at least one mitzvah that our rabbis have asked us to strengthen. Strengthen your yearning for the coming of Moshiach. Through his coming, the Three Weeks will be transformed into a time of great joy.

FOOTNOTES
[1] Numbers, 33.12-15
[2] Exodus, 17.1
[3] Exodus, 19.2
[4] However, Ramban says that Parshas Beshalach (Exodus 17:1) hints at these two omitted encampments with the word maaseihem. See also the Baal HaTurim.
[5] Lekutei Sichos
[6] Talmud: Sanhedrin, 106a
[7] HaYom Yom, 13 Adar II
[8] Talmud: Kedushin, 40b
[9] ‘Forty’ represents transformation.
[10] Asking for water in Refidim was not a sin in itself–it was the way they asked that was wrong, as it states, “They quarreled and said, ‘give us water to drink.’” They should have requested it respectfully: ‘Our teacher, please give us water to drink.’ Alternatively, water is a metaphor for Torah. When they began to eat the manna in the Wilderness of Siyn, they developed an unquenchable thirst for Torah, for as yet “there was no water for the people to drink.” However, they disrespectfully demanded Torah from Moshe. Our sages oppose this attitude, saying, “Ethics and respect must precede the study of Torah.” This mistake made the Jews vulnerable to the attack of Amalek in Refidim, as it says in Exodus, 17:8, “Amalek came and battled Israel in Refidim.”
[11] Shabbos 119b; see also Nedarim, 181a.