Parshat Behaalotecha: The Hovering Cloud

In Parshat Behaalotecha, the Torah describes the cloud of God’s presence hovering over the Mishkan in the desert: “Whether it was two days or a month or a year—however long the cloud lingered over the Tabernacle—the Israelites remained encamped and did not set out; only when it lifted did they break camp.” The parsha goes through all of the comings and goings related to this cloud. When it lifted, they broke camp and journeyed. When it hovered, they stayed. Line upon line, the Torah tells us where the cloud was and how long the people remained in each place: sometimes just a day, sometimes longer, sometimes a whole year.

The Or HaChaim, Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar, an 18th-century Moroccan Torah commentator, notices this constant moving and staying — this being at the whims of forces beyond our own desires or control — and he is deeply complimentary of the Israelites. He writes that even when the cloud stayed in one place for a whole year, and the people came no closer to their ultimate destination, they did not protest. And even when the cloud stayed only overnight, they willingly moved on. Their desire to make camp, he says, was equal to their desire to move forward. Whether God asked them to stay or to go, they met the moment with the same willingness.

This is striking because, for most of the wanderings in the desert, the people whine and complain. The virtue they seem farthest from is patience. And yet, here, the cloud becomes a teaching tool. The Israelites learn to live according to “whatever timetable God had worked out for them.” They do not get to control the pace of the journey. They do not get to decide when it is time to stay put or when it is time to move. They have to practice trusting that there may be meaning even in the delays, and purpose even in the sudden departures.

This is so hard in our own lives. I know for me that I have big ambitions, and I want to achieve them now. I do not want to take a decade to learn how to say no; I want to figure out that life lesson now. I do not want to wait to accomplish x, y, or z professional things; I want those feathers in my cap now. But these gestures within the parsha remind us that there are timetables beyond our own, and each of us is beholden to them. Instead of being only a burden, this can be an annoying but important breath of fresh air: we are not always behind; we are not always late; we are not always failing to move quickly enough. Sometimes the cloud is still hovering. And sometimes, the most important thing we can do is stay.

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Artwork by Hillel Smith.