How old is Morse code? When is the first record of a secret language via simple sounds? You may be familiar with Morse code dating back to the 1800’s, but did you know that really Morse code in some form, goes back thousands of years.

In this week's Torah portion of Behaalosecha, we have a special kind of Morse code that was used with trumpets to communicate with the people different messages. (Numbers 10:2) “Have two silver trumpets made; make them of hammered work. They shall serve you to summon the community and to set the divisions in motion. When both are blown in long blasts, the whole community shall assemble before you at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; and if only one is blown, the chieftains, heads of Israel’s contingents, shall assemble before you. But when you sound short blasts, the divisions encamped on the east shall move forward...”

By making different sounds with the trumpets they were able to tell the people when it was time to camp, when it was time to leave, when it was time to get ready, when it was time celebrate a festival etc. etc.

But how did the trumpet people know when it was time to leave? How did Moses know to tell them? Did he just decide on his own when to camp and when to leave? The Torah tells us that actually Moses knew it was time to leave based on when God told him it was time to leave. There was a special pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Numbers 9:17). When the pillar started moving Moses knew it was time to get going. This was Hashem’s way of communicating with them.

And so it is in our own life. The Baal Shem Tov teaches that the journeys that we make in life are reminiscent of the journeys that the Jewish people made in the desert. There were forty two stops from when the Jews left Egypt until they made it to the Holy land. Sometimes they only remained for one night and sometimes they remained for years, up to eighteen years in one place! But who decided where the journey would take? And who decided when it was time to move on to the next stage? Hashem.

We too have forty two steps in our own personal journey of life. And so the question is, who decides our journeys? Who decides where we end up and when? We all go through expeditions in life, there are the inevitable ups and downs. Some of us get married, some of us get divorced. Some of us lose a loved one. Some of us make a lot of money and some lose a lot of money. Some have illness and some have good health. We have many different journeys and many different ups and downs and we can sometimes get frustrated, why did I have to have this? Why did I have to have that?

I don't know why we have to have this or that, but ultimately who decides our journey? God decides our journey. It’s called GPS – G-d’s positioning system! And the Besh”t reminds us of this based on this week’s Parsha, that G-d decides what happens to us… and it is up to us to decide what to do with the hand we are dealt. As the pasuk says (Numbers 10:23) “On a sign from the LORD they made camp and on a sign from the LORD they broke camp; they observed the LORD’s mandate at the LORD’s bidding through Moses”. Every moment of the journey we have a choice, whether to use this opportunity to bring more goodness into the world or the opposite.

When I am having a hard day, I try to ask myself how ‘can I be a source of blessing in this situation?’ And when I’m having a great day, I try to ask myself the same question.

Shabbat shalom