Parashas Mattos-Masei.

Our Parsha for this Shabbos Rosh Chodesh is a double portion of Mattos-Masei.Mattos starts out with Moshe talking to the heads of the tribes (Mattos) and explaining the Laws of Vows and Oaths and Parsha Masei,starts out talking of the Journeys which the Children of Israel took in their travels from Egypt Mitzrayim to the Holy Land.Egypt-Mitzrayim means 'Borders,' for those who stayed in Egypt were bordered in and couldn't just leave without permission from Par'o yet we were set free so we could follow HaShem and head toward the Holy Land.
HaShem instructed Moshe on the Laws of Vows and Oaths and Moshe taught this to the leaders of the tribes of Israel of how important what comes out of our mouths really is.Words are powerful.HaShem Created all things with His Words.When we speak and say that we will do something,we are to carry out what we say.Our words are our bond and to go back on what we say is a great aveirah.This world needs to rest on truth and so,we are to be inside ourselves,as we speak out to others.To say one thing and do another,is not honest and cuts at the very grain of existence and makes for disention between the physical and spiritual,for we (our physical being ) are to be what our souls are (and that is) 'Holy.' Our souls are given to us by HaShem and they are the spark of Him within us.To act contrary to His Holy Spark within us and to physically do negative things,is to hurt HaShem within us all.A person who acts contrary to the Holiness we are all given within,never finds their comfortable path in life and will always be unhappy and discontent with life.We need to be the same within ourselves as we are to people outside.This is the same as keeping Kashrus in one's home,but sadly not keeping Kosher outside.We need to Keep and be Kosher wherever we go and are To be a total human being of holiness,the light within us needs to shine out and this can only happen when we are Holy on the inside and on the outside.This starts by what we say.Every word we say is recorded on High.Should we say something with HaShem's spark of Soul within us and not fulfill our words,we will be brought to account,for it is with HaShem's Spark,that we made this acknowledgement with.It needs to be fulfilled for we made it with HaShem's light within us.So,we need to be very careful what we say.This Law is told to the tribal leaders of Israel also to remind the Children of Israel,before entering the land,that we made an acknowledgement to G-D,that we will do HaShem's Commandments and listen to all HaShem says.These words we acknowledged to G-D,we must fulfill.We must keep our words we made to G-D.When we made this acknowledgement to G-D - 'Na'aseh Ve Nishmah,' 'To do and to Listen', all our people,including those alive at the time,those Jewish souls who had passed and also those Jewish souls still to be born as well as all the righteous Gairim (converts) were called to Har Sinai to hear G-D speak and to be given HaShem's Commandments.This acknowledgement stands with us all.We are reminded of this,just before the borders of Israel are discussed in these Parshas so that when we enter the land we know that we are to keep what which we said we would keep.This week we are in the Nine days before Tisha B'Av ,the day of our greatest tragedies in history and today is the first of Av.This is a time to really remember the words we acknowledged to HaShem and those are that we would keep His Torah and follow Him.This is a week to work on mending our relationship with HaShem and traveling the path that HaShem wants us to travel,as we did then,in the Wilderness.
HaShem was with us at every part of our journey through the wilderness all those years and so,as we are reminded of the vow we made to G-D,so G-D asks that every part of our journey (in the second Parsha we read this Shabbos Masei' - 'Journeys') ,is recorded as a Father records every part of a special journey he and his son takes,because every moment with his son is precious.Every place that we stopped throughout our Journeys was written down.Every place HaShem surrounded us with His Clouds of Glory , was special to G-D.The names of the places we stopped at also had significance within the names the places had, like 'The Wilderness of Sin' where the Mountain on which we received the Ten Commandments was renamed 'Sina'i' where the place was called 'Sin' originally,it got an extra 'Yud' to make it 'Sinai' for 'Yud' has the Gematrical value of '10' and it was on this mountain that the Ten Commandments were given.The first place we received the Clouds of Glory was as we left Egypt,where we encamped at 'Succoth' and it reminds us of our precious Festival of Succot when we live in a Succah commemorating the Clouds of Glory that surrounded us then.Every place we encamped was recorded as a reminder to us of how HaShem watched over us and as a show to the nations of how HaShem made an uninhabitable place habitable for His people.Each step we took was a miracle.Within the word 'Masei' - 'Journeys' is the word 'Neis' -'Miracle' for only with the power of HaShem did we survive this Journey.
So,we read 'Mottos-Masei' together also to remind us of where we came from and the vow we made near the beginning of our journey,the journey itself and also to where we are going,to the Holy Land of Milk and Honey,our beautiful and precious Eretz Yisrael,with its borders and its goodness and to remind us to enter there with the same promise we made on our lips to HaShem that we do and we will listen.
With deepest love,I wish HaShem with love,a beautiful Shabbos Kodesh and Chodesh Tov with love and to all a beautiful Shabbos Kodesh and Chodesh Tov with love.