The Traveling Rabbis

Traveling is not a foreign concept to the Jewish People. Beginning with Avraham Avinu leaving his birthplace to resettle in Eretz Yisrael, our story is a millennia-long journey from one place to another with many stops in between. And every August, as the heat of the summer reaches its peak, the world at large charts vacation itineraries, taking to the roads, the rails, and the air.

But from a Torah perspective, is traveling ideal? Is there, perhaps, a spiritual preference for remaining at home?

In parshas B’haalosecha, we learn that one who was unable to bring a Korban Pesach on the 14th of Nissan may bring a Pesach Sheini, a month later. However, the pasuk specifies, “V’ha’ish asher hu tahor uv’derech lo hayah — a man who is pure and was not on the road” must bring the Korban Pesach at the proper time.

Rabi Akiva Eiger interprets this verse homiletically: “And a man who is pure,” the pasuk tells us, “and was not on the road.” This hints to us, he writes, that the man who is “pure,” meaning spiritually untainted, is the man who does not travel. Traveling, Rabi Akiva Eiger explains, presents many challenges to spiritual observance.

However, that said, we do find great scholars who traveled extensively. The following are four who traversed incredible distances and accomplished amazing things.