S
itting is the new smoking. So goes
the new health mantra. Spend too
much time at a desk or in front of
a screen and you are at risk of significant
danger to your health. The World Health
Organization has identified
physical inactivity as the
fourth greatest health haz-
ard today, ahead of obesity.
In the words of Dr James
Levine, one of the world’s
leading experts on the sub-
ject and the man credited
with coining the mantra,
says, “We are sitting our-
selves to death.”
The reason is that we were not made to
sit still. Our bodies were made for move-
ment, standing, walking and running. If
we fail to give the body regular exercise, it
can easily malfunction and put us at risk
of serious illness. The question is: does
the same apply to the soul, the spirit, the
mind?
It is fascinating to look at the sequence
of verbs in the very first verse of the book
of Psalms: “Happy is the man who does
not walk in the counsel of the ungodly,
or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in
the seat of the scornful” (Ps. 1:1). That
is a picture of the bad life, lived in pur-
suit of the wrong values. Note how the
bad man begins by walking, then stands,
then sits. A bad life immobilizes. That is
the point of the famous verses in Hallel:
“Their idols are silver and gold, the work
of men’s hands. They have mouths, but
do not speak, eyes but do not see, ears but
do not hear, noses but do not smell. They
have hands but cannot feel, feet but cannot
walk, nor can they make a sound with
their throats. Those who make them will
be like them; so will all who trust in them”
(Ps. 115:4-8).
If you live for lifeless things — as in the
bumper sticker, “He who dies with the
most toys, wins” — you will become life-
less.
JEWISH JOURNEYS
Except in the House of the Lord, Jews
do not sit. Jewish life began with two
momentous journeys, Abraham from
Mesopotamia, Moses and the Israelites
from Egypt. “Walk on ahead of Me and
be blameless” said God to Abraham (Gen.
17:1). At the age of 99, having just been
circumcised, Abraham saw three strangers
passing by and “ran to meet them.” On the
verse, “Jacob dwelled [vayeshev, the verb
that also means “to sit”] in the land where
his father had stayed” Rashi, citing the
Sages, commented: “Jacob sought to live
in tranquility, but immediately there broke
in on him the troubles of Joseph.” The
righteous do not sit still. They do not have
a quiet life.
Rarely is the point made with more sub-
tlety than at the end of this week’s parsha
and the book of Exodus as a whole. The
Tabernacle had been made and assem-
bled. The closing verses tell us about the
relationship between it and the “cloud of
glory” that filled the Tent of Meeting. The
Tabernacle was made to be portable. It
could be dismantled and its parts carried
as the Israelites traveled on the next stage
of their journey. When the time came
for them to move on, the cloud moved
from the Tent of Meeting to a position
outside the camp, signaling the direction
the Israelites were to take. This is how the
Torah describes it:
“When the cloud lifted from above the
tabernacle, the Israelites went onward in all
their journeys, but if the cloud did not lift,
they did not set out until the day it lifted.
So the cloud of the Lord was over the tab-
ernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by
night, in the sight of all the house of Israel
in all their journeys” (Ex. 40:36-38)
There is a significant difference between
the two occurrences of the phrase “in all
their journeys.” In the first, the words are
meant literally. When the cloud lifted, the
Israelites knew they were about to begin
a new stage of their journey. However,
in the second instance, they cannot be
meant literally. The cloud was not “over
the Tabernacle” in all their journeys. To
the contrary, it was there only when they
stopped journeying and instead pitched
camp. During the journeys the cloud went
on ahead.
A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION
Rashi notes this and makes the following
comment: “
A place where they encamped
is also called massa, ‘a journey’ . . . because
from the place of encampment they always
set out again on a new journey, therefore
they are all called ‘journeys.’”
The point is linguistic, but the message
is remarkable. In a few brief words, Rashi
has summarized an existential truth about
Jewish identity. To be a Jew is to travel.
Judaism is a journey, not a destination.
Even a place of rest, an encampment, is
still called a journey. The patriarchs lived,
not in houses, but in tents. The first time
we are told that a patriarch built a house,
proves the point: “Jacob traveled to Succot.
There he built himself a house and made
shelters [sukkot] for his livestock. That
is why he called the place Succot” (Gen.
33:17).
The verse is astonishing. Jacob has just
Don’t Sit: Walk
SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH
Rabbi Lord
Jonathan
Sacks
RABBISACKS.ORG
36 | MARCH 3 • 2022