Masei

The first words of our parsha are אלה מסעי בני ישראל these are the travels of the Jewish people, which the אלשיך explains as implying that the travels were because of them.  Hashem really wanted to bring the Jews straight into ארץ ישראל even more quickly than natural as we are informed that they did an eleven day journey in three days. However, because the people sinned, they were delayed forty years, so it was the people that caused these journeys. That's why it was called by their name.

We see that every person is responsible for what happens in his life. If, because of their sins the people caused themselves to wander for forty years, then how much more so on the positive side, if one follows the Torah & goes on the right path, he will bring upon himself only good while saving himself from any bad that comes to the world.  

There was a story told of a little boy who fell out of a third story window, landing on the ground. Hatzolah was called & they rushed to the scene expecting the worst. When they got there, however, they were shocked to see that the child was fine. They brought him to the hospital where the doctors, too, were astounded that this child fell three floors & nothing had happened to him. How was that possible?

The doctors were so dumbfounded that they sent someone to go to the house to see how it was possible. This is what they found. The building was three stories high; however it didn't start out like that. Originally, it was a one story house to which the owners added two floors as the family grew. When the house was one story, a drainpipe ran from the roof to the ground. Even after the owner built the additional two floors, the drainpipe remained. When the child fell from the third floor, his shirt got stuck on that drainpipe holding him there for a few seconds, breaking his fall.

Why would someone add two floors to his house & maintain a drainpipe that has absolutely no purpose from the old roof? When this man decided to add to his home, he first consulted his rabbi, רבי משה ניישלאס who told him that when he builds, he's not allowed to remove the old drainpipes. Even though the owner complained, saying that it’s going to be an eyesore and that they’re not needed because he's putting new ones on the new roof, the rabbi told him he couldn't do it. So he didn't.

When רב זילברטיין heard this story, he said that there is a possible reason why the rabbi didn't let the man remove the drainpipe. One of the commands of רבי יהודה החסיד was that one can't close up a door or a window in a home because the שדים are found there. The gemara, as well, says that sheidim are also found around drainpipes, so the rabbi applied the cheirim to that as well.

For twenty years, this house stood with old useless pipes marring the look of the house, for seemingly no reason other than listening to Daas Torah. Now, however, everyone saw that the reason was to save this child's life.

This shows us that even though we don't always understand the teachings of the Torah, if we follow them we'll come out ahead. As the רבי מסקולן says, the travels of our parsha were to get us to Eretz Yisroel. We have to realize that all the tribulations & trials that we go through in this bitter exile are merely to get us to the ultimate redemption. If we take this lesson to heart, trust our Chachamim & listen to the Torah, we will merit the geulah in our day!