Musical Bones

How to Move Forward When You're Feeling Stuck

Created on MidJourney

Two weeks ago, I along with hundreds of friends, neighbors and relatives gathered together to escort our friend Yosef Newman Zt’l to his final resting place, after a relentless battle with cancer. It was hard to put the feelings into words and processing how to move forward from his loss. At his hesped, my rebbe, Rav Gerzi got up and began to sing Yedid Nefesh. Everyone who was gathered there joined in, with tears streaming down our faces as we sang that which our words could not express. It was truly a moving moment, and it took me some time to realize just how impactful it was.

The parashah begins by telling us that the Bnei Yisrael were directed by Hashem to leave Mitzrayim and travel a roundabout way through the desert to the promised land, instead of the shortest route through the land of the Plishtim, which would have taken approximately ten days¹. This was because Hashem feared that the Bnei Yisrael may turn back to Mitzrayim if they encountered a war that t…