Parshas Behaaloscha: Following the Cloud & Enjoying the Ride of a Hectic Life

The divine cloud that guided the Israelites through the wilderness wasn't just a navigational tool—it was a profound teacher of faith, resilience and cheerful obedience. Drawing from Nachmanides' golden commentary, we unpack the extraordinary discipline shown by our ancestors who followed God's cloud through every hardship with unwavering trust.

Imagine unpacking all your belongings, finally getting children to sleep after days of walking, only to hear the sudden call to move again—no time for snacks, no moment to rest. The Torah testifies that despite bleeding feet and exhaustion, despite disliking certain encampments or yearning for rest at others, the Israelites obeyed without complaint. As Rabbi Yerucham challenged his Mir Yeshiva students nearly a century ago: even after traveling 815 miles from Hamburg to Mir, they needed recovery time—yet the wilderness generation journeyed continuously for forty years with joyful submission to divine timing.

This wilderness experience mirrors our own life journeys with striking clarity. From childhood to adolescence, young adulthood to old age, we travel through different "encampments" that each offer unique challenges and opportunities. The cloud moves us through job difficulties, health struggles, relationship complications—and sometimes keeps us stationary when we desperately want change. The wisdom lies in recognizing that each stage comes only once, each challenge serves a purpose, and "cheerful obedience" transforms burden into meaning.

Whether you're listening on your commute, during a workout, or in a moment of reflection, consider where your cloud is currently leading you. Embrace it fully, knowing you have the strength to follow. As the Ramban teaches, this isn't merely following directions—it's honoring the divine wisdom orchestrating your journey toward your own promised land.

Chapters

• 0:00 Simply Follow the Cloud
• 5:25 Ramban on Obedience in Hardship
• 12:40 Rabbi Yerucham's Challenge to Students
• 17:27 Stages of Life's Wilderness Journey
• 22:50 Finding Joy in Every Encampment
• 26:20 Following God's Cloud Today

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

On good days and on bad days, on rainy days and on sunny days, simply follow the cloud. It's that simple folks. It's that simple folks, as the Parsha testifies, as it recounts how the Jewish people made multiple stops in the wilderness after the great escape from Egypt, before their great and climactic arrival in the land of Canaan, there was to be a stint of time spent at the University of the Midbar. There was a precise procession, an order of affairs as to how the Jewish people would encamp and decamp. First, the cloud would travel, yehudah would follow everyone marching in order before the cloud would settle and everyone came to a screeching halt when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, when they stayed put in one area, the Israelites observed Hashem's mandate they didn't travel. The Ramban's explanation of this rather unassuming pasuk is foundational. The dream of mine to come up with 101 foundations of faith, the 101 essays that a Jewish person needs to know to have the proper waltz and zhong, the proper mindset, the proper yisodos ha'emunah, to live the proper life. And I guess we could start now with number one. Maybe it'll be an official series later, but for now, listen to this Ramban, betam, the great Nachmanides, every word gold, u'baharecha'anan. What does it mean? That the cloud would linger and that Jewish people mandated or followed the mandate of God, lomar? This means to tell us if the cloud would stay put in the area that they were living. It was bad soil, they didn't like it, it was not exactly the right shdub and they really wanted to travel. They didn't go against God's word and they stayed put. That's what it means that they protected the mandate of God and they didn't travel, meaning even if they wanted to move on and God was simply keeping the cloud put. Well then, they stayed put, protecting the mandate of God from their fear of heaven and their protection or their wanting to guard and watch the word of God. Mishmeris. That was what led to them protecting this commandment and not traveling onward, but staying put.

Speaker 1: 3:38

The thing the Ramban gets into nitty gritty details here Maybe they'll stay in one area for a long time. Two or three days, a bender, it's two or three days and they're exhausted. There could be some days in a different trial and tribulation here that if the cloud would be traveling for multiple days. Two or three days in a row of incessant walking. They're worn out and their strength is dwindling. Ya'asu, rotzon, hashem, l'lech azacharei onan.

Speaker 1: 4:29

They followed the will of God, the mandate of God, and they continued to trek onward, to voyage on this great and majestic odyssey, the Seeper Ode. We learn more about what it was like Ki'eshalo yamdu rak la', about what it was like. There were places they spent one night, but you saw Baboker and they had to wake up the next morning and travel, even though that is a tremendous schlep, a 24-hour period, they stayed put, they traveled a whole night and they came into the place in the morning and they stayed, finally relaxed, for 24 hours. They just unpacked their bags. You feel the creature comforts that the Jewish people lacked in these following words of the Ramban this is one of the hardest things. It's more arduous, taxing, onerous and inconvenient than the first. They thought finally they'll have some peace. So they unloaded their wagons, they brought all their sheitel boxes inside and hat boxes into the closet. They unloaded their socks into their cubbies and unpacked their odysseys and siennas. And unpacked their odysseys and siennas and they unloaded, unburdened themselves, like the way people do when they're finished traveling.

Speaker 1: 6:17

All of a sudden, beep, beep, beep. We got to go. The cloud's moving, yehuda's leading us away. We hear the tekiah, true tekiah. We hear the blowings that the camp is about to go. We see Moshe Rabbeinu standing up, kuma Hashem v'yafutu, ayvecha v'yanusu, misonecha miponecha Kick the tires and light the fires.

Speaker 1: 6:36

But they just were so exhausted because they just fell asleep. The kids just finally fell asleep. It's been two days of constant trial and tribulation. Their feet have sores on them, canker sores, disgusting bloody feet because the incessant walking. And all of a sudden they have to leave. But there's no time. There's no time to bring passies, sippy cups, no time to make tuna, fish sandwich, carrot cakes, salmon cakes, little cheese cubes with pastrami Well, that's not kosher but little cheese cubes with noodles, fettuccine, alfredo, nothing of the like. No applesauce, nothing. No time to prepare. Just onward we go.

Speaker 1: 7:33

The Ramban continues and he proves his point further. This Ramban goes into such detail. Arishon, we know, writes very tersely, but all of a sudden the Ramban goes into such detail. Orishon, we know, writes very tersely, but all of a sudden the Ramban goes into detail about what the journey was like. And the Pusik takes on a whole different meaning once you know the Ramban. When you go back and you read this Pusik, you now have to insert everything that we've just stated before and put it right in and it reads incredibly, it's a testification of to the Jewish people's resilience and their obedience to the cloud, to the will of God.

Speaker 1: 8:17

The post-it says when the cloud prolonged its stay upon the tabernacle many days, they followed it. They followed it no matter what, even without snacks. They followed it with canker sores on their feet and they followed it. When you have sand in your socks, that your shoes are too tight. They didn't travel because God stayed put. And when God moved the cloud, they continued to walk onward and they did it. The Ramban said Me yiras Hashem, me shomron mitzvah, b'shmeres mitzvah, so velo yisoo.

Speaker 1: 9:02

Rebbe Rufnum told over this Ramban to the students in Yeshivas Mir in Belarus in the 1920s and he pointed out the Ramban how the Torah considers this a very heavy task, a significant test to the human resilience and the human will to observe the mandate of Hashem with love and not with tiredness, not in a lackluster effort, but rather to follow the mandate of God no matter where the place, no matter the situation. That's what it means to observe the mandate of God, no matter where the place, no matter the situation. That's what it means to observe the mandate of Hashem, no matter where it schleps you. Rabbi Yeruchim, in an unprecedented turn of events, turns to the boys. The son documents this in Rabbi Yeruchim's Sefer Das Torah Parshas Baaloscha. Rabbi Yeruchim sounds off on the boys, taking a bite out of them Real rebuke and says it seems that you guys aren't in mis-spoil, you're not blown away. You see, I see that this insight does not wow you, but you know what? If this was happening to you and you were in this situation, then you would understand how great it is to mandate, to follow the mandate of Hashem with love and not with tiredness. If this was all happening to you, rabbi Recham continues let me give you a quick example that it does happen to you and you would not necessarily pass this test because it's a formidable one. Let me say, let me give you a quick example that it does happen to you and you would not necessarily pass this test because it's a formidable one. Let me say that. Let me give you an example.

Speaker 1: 10:43

Rabbi Rocham says If you've traveled to Yeshiva and Yeshiva's mirror, many of you coming from Hamburg, the city he chooses Is it an easy task? How does it go? I looked up how far Hamburg is to Mir, but before I tell you, reb Yerucham says how often do you feel like the trip was vexing, arduous, stressful. But that's just next town over it's 815 miles? I soon found unless the certain locations have changed a little bit, of what's considered the actual Hamburg boundaries and mere Belarus boundaries A 13-hour car ride. That does seem like a lot.

Speaker 1: 11:23

Rabbi Yerucham said look how many of you, when you traveled here, needed to sleep in and take time. I don't know if they slept in, but needed to recuperate. Imagine doing that over and over and over. I believe 40 years of stopping and starting, 40 years of kids in the back without anything to entertain them with. And you come from Hamburg to Mir to learn and in the short 800 mile trip already, how hard it is, how arduous it is, how difficult the journey is and how uncomfortable it quickly becomes.

Speaker 1: 12:03

But the Jews of the wilderness did not flinch From the generation of knowledge, the Dardaea. This crazy trip did not bother them. They followed it with love and with eagerness, through all of the delays and through all of the reroutings. A voyage that's a testament to their trust in Hashem, to their obedience and to why one always needs to simply follow the cloud, no matter how tough it can be. This Yesod to follow the cloud, no matter how tough it can be to follow the mandate of Hashem, is perhaps the most energy-giving Yesod that one can live with. Just imagine how sporadic, how separate, uneasy and scattered their days were. Who can't relate to something like that in their own life? When they feel that they are scattered, have many different destinations that God takes them to Running to shul before running to work, before running to a different matzev u'matzev, but b'chol matzev u'matzev. In any situation that a person goes, they should channel their inner Jew in the wilderness and follow obediently and with energy the mandate of Hashem.

Speaker 1: 13:37

Let's talk stages of life and let's talk different trips through the wilderness of our own life and give an example of what it means to follow the cloud. You know most thinkers posit, according to a bit of research, that there are eight different stages of life. I like to break it down a little bit less granularly and make it more basic. There's the encampment where you had to follow the cloud from underneath the throne of the Almighty up in heaven. Throne of the almighty up in heaven. Down. You've been sent against your will into this fruitless and unkind world, immediately crying, never being able to express yourself. Rules, regulations and they only increase over time. The cloud has brought you to Olam Hazeh.

Speaker 1: 14:43

Kindergarten brings that you have to be friends with kids you don't want to be friends with. You have to start doing math, start reading. You move towards adolescence and you only have more and more human, physical and psychological developmental changes. More Yates Aharas, more challenges, more times that you have to say no to yourself, more rules, more struggles, more homework, because they've added history and language arts now to what you have to try to understand.

Speaker 1: 15:21

Young adulthood brings shidduchim struggles. Starting a business struggles. You need capital but they won't approve you. You are grossly underpaid. You can't find your shidduch. You can't have a child. Someone attacks grossly underpaid. You can't find your shidduch. You can't have a child. Someone attacks you in the wilderness. A mulek cuts at your Achilles. Your boss spits on you.

Speaker 1: 15:45

Life goes funny, but what we do is not simply say a Jew is never lost, but they say I am following the cloud. It's exhausting. Yes, the cloud sometimes pauses and gives me a break, but many times it's continuous, just moving through the desert of trials and struggles and challenges, through the desert of trials and struggles and challenges. But as opposed to simply melting under the pressure. One should take full advantage in every single stop in the wilderness, because one only gets to stop in these places once, one only gets to prove his obedience to the Almighty once. One only gets to be a child, an adolescent, a teenager, an early adulthood person, an elder, a zocane. That only gets to happen once. The Jews did it, every stop, no matter how painful it was, because they feared the word of God, and they did it obediently. Cheerful obedience is how you should follow the cloud.

Speaker 1: 17:04

I want to pour over the words of the Ramban with you. I want to bring it out in all of its glory together. Let's see it through the lens of the Ramban. Lomer, does that ever relate to you?

Speaker 1: 17:21

You're stuck in a situation where you hate your job. The makom is. You have to go to and from Rachman LeZlon, the hospital because someone's sick. You have to go to and from the auto mechanic. That's taking up all of your time and you never have time to work, to play or to learn. But that's where God wants you. But how you have faith in him and miss out on him, oh when. So I'm in a muck home you really. But that's where God wants you. You really crave to leave this place. I would really like to have my car fixed, my salary increased, my learning in more peace. I'd love for the anxiety to go away, for the sleeplessness to move on. I want to leave this encampment. Af alpike lo yavro bal rotsar Hashem. But Iyid stands strong in that situation. That's where God wants him. Well then, that's where I will be, with joyful, cheerful obedience.

Speaker 1: 18:29

Does it not strike a chord in your heart when you go on to the next words of the Ramban? Have you never been in such a situation that you would like the days and times to stop so you can enjoy it? Have you ever been in such a situation? When you return after a great date in the five towns and you return back to Lakewood, it's like a three hour drive. You're happy, you want to relax. Three-hour drive You're happy, you want to relax. But you need to put your shoes on as you're falling asleep, because you remember that you forgot to daven mariv. You're worn out. You're even in a good spot. You forgot to daven mariv, but the cloud is moving on. You get up and you follow the cloud, because that's what it means to protect the mandate of Hashem. Have you never wanted to stay in bed sleeping for a little bit longer. The next Ramban, clear description he gives us with cheerful obedience. If you want to be like the Jews of the wilderness? The next Ramban, clear description he gives us.

Speaker 1: 20:23

You traveled the whole night. You came somewhere in the morning. You finally thought that it's time to settle down. You finally found your shidduch. You finally had a child. You finally bought that it's time to settle down. You finally found your shidduch. You finally had a child. You finally bought a house. You finally got the raise, yeah, but the child's not following what Tati and Mami want him to do. But now I have a new expense, or my bonus didn't cut it. I want something else.

Speaker 1: 20:56

V'hutai reach gado mena rishon. And now it gets even more exasperating. Ki hoyu omsevur m'shiyam dushom. You finally thought that you could take a playoff and just relax. You finally found your peace. You finally unpacked yourself. You have arrived back at home in Lakewood, lakewood, ohio. You gotta pack up again. You've arrived, you can relax. You've made it back to Williamsburg, williamsburg, virginia. You gotta pack up again. You can't prepare yourself. You got right back in the car. You got a deadline.

Speaker 1: 21:43

The cloud is moving and you're gonna follow it cheerfully, obediently, because if God wants me to go and you're going to follow it Cheerfully, obediently, because if God wants me to go, that's what it means To observe the mandate of Hashem and not to journey on. If God wants you to stay put On the flip side, journeying forward Even if you don't want to, if the cloud is moving forward. Life can be exhausting, vexing, tiring, but you were born for it. You were given the tools to deal with it. If it was given to you, that's because you can handle the current situation. You're not going to die. I mean, even if you do die, that's also kind of following the cloud, but you're not going to die. You have the strength to move forward and follow the cloud. You have the strength to carry your soul and fire yourself up to follow the cloud, no matter what and I want to dwell on this point for a minute.

Speaker 1: 23:02

And don't lose out on every single matzv umatzv, every single encampment, because you only get to go to it once. And people are annoyed. In their new situations, even in the challenges, even in the good times, they feel like they just want to get to where they can finally rest and finally enjoy, and so they lose out on the specialty, the uniqueness of childhood, of teenagership, of adulthood, of elderly ship. If you're young, go all in on something. You can take a risk. You're young, go all in on something, you can take a risk. You're young. That's the encampment. Even if you don't like it, that's what it's offering you. When you get a little bit older, use your energy, your strength. When you're older, older, older, why not go back? Learn a little bit more, invest a little smarter, become a little bit more, invest a little smarter, become a little bit more wise. Donate more if you don't need the money anymore. Do something good, do something big, follow the cloud and know Bechomatziv, umatziv With joyful obedience.

Speaker 1: 24:01

The Torah testifies in Sefer Devarim that this is what the Jewish people should be doing and did do. When the Pesach says Achri Hash, pasek says you should go after the way of God, that famous Pasek in Sefer Dvorim, pasek. Hey, what does it mean? You should go after Hashem, zog, the Ramban? They're the same Nachmanides, the medieval superstars, saint and sage. He quotes the Sifri.

Speaker 1: 24:31

What does it mean to go after the way of God, zeh Anon? This means after the cloud. This is what I explained to you, between me and you. It's probably, and it makes a lot of sense referring back to this essay on our parasha she nishma l'kol oisoiso v'nelech achare atsoso, you go after my decrees, my signs, and you follow after my advice. That's what it means to follow the way of God and to protect the mandate of Hashem. Friends, wherever you are, wherever you're listening to this on the train, in the car, your commute in the headphones, no matter how crazy, erratic, discontinuous, vexing and random life scenes, wherever the cloud is currently encamping in your wilderness, cloud is currently encamping in your wilderness. Follow the cloud, follow it joyfully, gleefully, and when the cloud moves to its next destination, enjoy that encampment. Do that happily, always, always, simply follow the cloud, be shoimer, protect the mishmeres, hashem, protect the mandate of God and do that every day, and that's how you get to the promised land.