(טז) כֵּ֚ן יִהְיֶ֣ה תָמִ֔יד הֶעָנָ֖ן יְכַסֶּ֑נּוּ וּמַרְאֵה־אֵ֖שׁ לָֽיְלָה׃
תָמִ֔יד הֶעָנָ֖ן יְכַסֶּ֑נּוּ
וּמַרְאֵה־אֵ֖שׁ
This seems to say that a cloud covered... and that the appearance of a fire was there. A real cloud and a virtual fire?
The people saw the cloud, but did not actually see the fire; the cloud appeared to be fire...
What was it?
Last year (5783) I couldn't find any commentary about this; will look again this year (5784).
What does it mean that it's the appearance of a fire?
At night, do each of our souls have to find our own fire?
What are the ramifications for each of us, each person:
what we are as a Mishkan
what is the cloud
what is the fire
why are these the signals
Evidently there needs to be some sort of humanly-mediated "signal" in order for us to know that it's time to break camp and journey on.
(לג) וַיִּסְעוּ֙ מֵהַ֣ר ה׳ דֶּ֖רֶךְ שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת יָמִ֑ים וַאֲר֨וֹן בְּרִית־ה׳ נֹסֵ֣עַ לִפְנֵיהֶ֗ם דֶּ֚רֶךְ שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת יָמִ֔ים לָת֥וּר לָהֶ֖ם מְנוּחָֽה׃
(33) They marched from the mountain of ה׳ a distance of three days. The Ark of the Covenant of ה׳ traveled in front of them on that three days’ journey to seek out a resting place for them:
The Ark itself is the subject of this verse. The Ark is searching for a place for us to rest, to camp.
A poem that I recently wrote: entitled "breaking camp"
“breaking camp” 10 Sivan 5784
once
before
once
[many cycles of once]
we were arrayed
we were counted
we counted
our camp seemed secure
counted
we were counted
in our numbers
in our selves
tribes
tasks
gifts
oh how I wished
to be one of those
who would carry the ark
carry
bear
willing eager devoted
gathered around that fire
sharing our offerings
teaching our stories
time was timeless
timeless
what does the chick know,
inside the egg?
cucumbers, leeks
melons, fish…
something broke
tablets knowing trust emuna
what must we bear?
what does the chick know,
inside the egg?
we didn’t realize
it was time
to break camp