B"H
Monday, Sivan 20, 5785 / June 16, 2025
In Parshat Beha’alotcha, which was read this past Shabbat, the Torah tells of the first travel which the Jewish people travelled after receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai.
They stayed at Mount Sinai for almost a year. On the first of the month Sivan in the year 2448 they came to Mount Sinai and on the 20th of Iyar in the year 2449 they began travelling.
At this time, G-d intended to bring them into the Promised Land very quickly, but as we will read in this week’s Parsha, Shlach, due to the sin of the spies, which they sent to scout the Promised Land and their refusal to go into the Land of Israel after hearing their report, G-d punished them and they stayed in the desert for forty years. Only the next generation merited to go into Israel.
Q.How did the people know when to travel and when to set up camp?
A.The Torah tells us that there was a cloud which hovered over the Mishkan (Tabernacle) at all times. When this cloud rose and moved forward, this was their sign that it was time to travel. Where the clouds stopped that’s when they would stop and set up camp.
Q.How long did they rest in one place?
A.The Torah tells us that at times they would stop for only one day and then continue. At times they would rest for a few days or a month or a year. The longest they stayed in one place was 19 years.
Q.How many times have they traveled?
A.From when they left Egypt until they came to the Promised Land they traveled 42 times.
The Torah tells us that they travelled by the, “command of G-d and by the hand of Moshe.” The rising of the cloud was G-d’s sign for them to travel, but they waited until Moshe said the following passage, “Rise up ‘O G-d and let your enemies be scattered and let them that hate You flee before you.”
Our sages explain that with the words, And let them that hate You flee before you, the Torah refers to those who hate the Jewish people! “For those that hate the Jewish people, hate G-d.”
By Divine Providence these passages in the Torah were read this Shabbat when Israel was bombing Iran and causing the Iranian Jew haters to flee. May the IDF, with G-d’s help, have a quick victory.
In the Parsha we also read that G-d commanded Moshe to make two trumpets of silver… “When you go to war in your Land against the adversary that oppresses you and you shall sound the trumpets, and you shall be remembered before G-d your G-d and you shall be saved from your enemies.”
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY – AM YISRAEL CHAI
OUR HEARTS ARE WITH OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CAPTIVITY - MAY THEY ALL BE RELEASED NOW