They journeyed from Refidim, and they arrived in the desert of Sinai, and they encamped in the desert, and the Jewish people encamped there opposite the mountain. (Shemos 19:2)
Why did it have to repeat and explain from where they had journeyed? Did it not already state that they were encamped in Refidim? It is known that they journeyed from there. It is to compare their journey from Refidim to their arrival in the Sinai desert. Just as their arrival in the Sinai desert was with repentance, so was their journey from Refidim with repentance. (Rashi)
Annnnnnd, therefore?
Agreed, the information in the verse seems repetitive and requires explanation. But, what does Rashi’s answer tell us? Did it have anything to do with the receiving of Torah that was about to happen, and why connect it to Refidim?Just tell us that before they received the Torah, they did teshuvah, and we would have been satisfied.
Ahhhhh, but that is PRECISELY the point, a really IMPORTANT point, and one that could have been easily overlooked if not for this verse. And that would have been too bad, because it is a REALLY important lesson, definitely one for the ages.
On one hand, the war against Amalek should not have happened. It was the result of a lack of trust in God, and asking, “Is God among us or not?” Rashi even uses an interesting parable to make the connection and the point. If they hadn’t asked, Rashi implies, Amalek wouldn’t have attacked.
On the other hand, why WERE the Jewish people put into a situation of test like that, causing them to ask about God’s involvement in their lives? Like so many times in Jewish history, it almost seems like a setup, as if they were not only tested, but pushed to react as they did so that … What? So that Amalek WOULD attack? Why?
Because, the Jewish people originally were supposed to be in a foreign land for 400 years. They ended up having to leave after 210 years, 190 years earlier. That wasn’t about just cutting their “trip” short. God designated the 400 years for the sake of accomplishing certain spiritual goals, and leaving early meant speeding up the “program.”
Likewise, the Jewish people left Egypt as a former slave nation. Within 50 short days, they had to become a Torah nation. That was not a lot of time to accomplish such a superhuman feat, and that also meant speeding up the “program.”
In Egypt, the history-altering event was the absurdly intensified slavery over the six months between Moshe’s first shot at redemption and his second. It was those, beyond inhumane, conditions that broke the nation, making them “kotzer ruach,” in preparation for their early release.
In the Sinai desert, it was the attack of Amalek that dramatically transformed the nation, tremendously humbling them in preparation for receiving Torah. It gave them someone to hate more than their own brothers, preparing them for reaching the level of “k’ish echad b’leiv echad—like a single person with a single heart” (Rashi, Shemos 19:2), crucial for receiving Torah.
Though this may not have been clear to the Jewish people when they had to fight Amalek, it probably became clear to them when they reached the base of Mt. Sinai. Even if didn’t, the Torah in making this reference to Refidim is teaching us, that we should not fret too much over the bad we suffer today, the battles that entangle us now. The time will come, we are being told, when we will see how even “punishments” prepared us for higher levels of spiritual existence.
We just have to be patient. The answers are forthcoming and will, retroactively, even turn seemingly meaningless “coincidences,” like identical numbers of bank accounts, into meaningful Heavenly direction.
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