Mem Moment | Embarking on a Journey of Inheritance
Parashat Matot-Masei “Tribes-Journeys”
When does the richness of two traditions, religions, or heritages quietly become a decision? For most interfaith couples, it arrives somewhere between the engagement and the first child’s first question about God.
When the tribes of Reuben and Gad spotted the land east of the Jordan, they saw good grazing. They went to Moses with a plan: “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children” (Num. 32:16). Moses caught something in the order of those words. Livestock first. Family second. He sent the request back with one change: “Build cities for your children, and pens for your flocks” (Num. 32:24). It’s a small reversal, but it’s the whole argument. For interfaith and mixed heritage couples, the same tension shows up at the kitchen table, not about cattle, but about what happens when Hanukkah and Christmas overlap, how we respond to antisemitism as a couple, or how Shabbat shows up in our home. The path of least resistance is to let those questions slide; to tend the practical and assume the meaningful will take care of itself. The issue is — it rarely does.
That’s the space Embark was made for. The book of Numbers tracks Israel’s journey stop by stop: “These are the stages in the journey of the Israelites” (Num. 33:1). It doesn’t skip the hard campsites. For couples carrying two traditions, the journey is rarely the path of least resistance, but it doesn’t have to be walked alone. Embark gives each couple a community to do Jewish together, tackling every question and challenge alongside couples who look like them. Before they settled, the tribes made a promise: “We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has received his inheritance” (Num. 32:18). Inheritance here isn’t only about what gets handed forward; it’s about what two people decide to honor, to keep, to weave into a shared life. Two traditions, religions, or heritages in one home aren’t a burden. They’re a doubled inheritance — and Embark walks with every couple courageous enough to claim it.