D’var Torah Parshat Pekudei: GOD is always there!

The end of this week’s parsha concludes with how GOD protected the Jewish people throughout all their journeys in the wilderness on their way to the land of Israel. Specifically GOD did this by having a cloud hover over them during the day and a pillar of fire at night (Shemot 40:38).The Torah also writes how at the beginning of Parshat Masei   (see beginning of Parshat Maasei in the book of Bamidbar) the Torah records how the Jewish people stopped 42 times over the course of the 40 years they traveled through the wilderness on their way to the land of Israel.

The Slonimer Rebbe in his book the Netivot Shalom on the Parsha (see last piece in the Netivot Shalom on the parsha Volume on Sefer  Shemot for Parshat Pekudei) writes that these 42 pit stops represent the many challenges we deal with over the course of our lives and successfully overcoming  these challenges will ultimately lead us to meriting GOD’s presence at the strongest of levels.

Despite the many challenges we have however, the Torah points out that GOD still protected the Jewish people throughout ALL of their journeys.

From this we can learn that no matter what happens GOD will always be there for us protecting us every step of the way overcoming all of our challenges on that journey  ultimately concluding in us meriting a closer connection with the Creator of the Universe.

May Moschiach come soon,

Gut Shabbes, Shabbat Shalom, Good Shabbos-Gidon Herschander