Shnayim Yomi - Behaalotecha - R'vi'i - #4 - R Ephraim Polakoff - Following Hashem Through the Desert

The fourth aliyah, the aliyah of Ravi. In the aliyah of Ravi, we begin discussing the travels of Bin Israel. And the aliyah begins with the fact that there was a cloud that was always over the Mishkan during the day. And at night, there was a fire that rested over the Mishkan. And the cloud and the fire both represented the presence of Hashem the of Hashem upon the Mishkan and within Ben Israel says the aliyah when the cloud lifted Ben Israel that was the signal for Ben Israel to travel and when the cloud rested that was the signal for Ben Israel to rest and to camp in that location in that place. The Torah says that their travels varied. Sometimes they would travel for a day and then pick up and begin traveling again. Sometimes they would travel for a few days or weeks. The amount of their travel time and the amount that they camped in any one particular location varied depending on what desired and what wanted. After this discussion, the Torah tells us that Moshe is commanded to make which were silver trumpets. These trumpets were blown by the kohanim and were used for four purposes as delineated by theukim in the Torah. Number one, for assembly when ben were supposed to be gathered. So then the kohan would blow the katross and all the Jewish people would gather together for traveling. When bay was supposed to begin traveling, the kohan would blow and everyone would begin traveling. When bene went out to war, the kohan would blow and that was the signal for bene to go out to war. And then finally when bringing corbanos on the yam on the holidays and on rashes the roast were blown as well. One beautiful thought that we see coming from this from this aliyah is based on the of the all of the travels of Israel in the midbar were based on the word of hashem. When hashem decided they should travel they traveled. When hashem decided they should camp they camped. There was a tremendous There was a tremendous unknown. Everything was unknown. Ben didn't know when they were going to travel, for how long they were going to travel, when they were going to camp, for how long they were going to camp. Everything was unknown. But but at the end, one thing that was known was Hashem. One thing that was known was that Belle always recognized that they were led by Hashem. And that's the lesson, the message for us that despite all of the uncertainty that we have in our lives, we always have to recognize so that a is always guiding us. And if we have a guiding light, then we'll be okay despite all of the uncertainty and no matter where we end up in life.