Shalom and thank you for your question! You would like to understand more about how the Jewish people offered the daily sacrifice in the desert, considering the fact that they were constantly on the move, if I understood your question correctly.
There were 42 journeys in the desert, during a period of forty years. (This week’s Torah portion, Shlach, explains why it took forty years for a trip that even in those times would have taken much much less, perhaps a year. It was due to the slanderous report of the spies that had gone to spy out the land of Israel. G-d wanted them to die out in the desert, and only allow the women and children to enter Israel, since they did not sin.) Each of the forty-two trips had a purpose in bringing the people closer to G-d. Each trip also represents the individual spiritual journeys we each have in our lives. Some of the journeys were as short as a day, while others were longer, and one stop actually kept the people in that place for nineteen years!
Each time the people stopped, the Mishkan (Sanctuary,} was put together, all the holy utensils were placed in it faithfully according G-d’s instructions… When the time came to leave, the clouds of glory that protected the people would
begin to move and Moses would poclaim: “Arise Oh L-rd, and disperse your enemies, and may those that hate you flee…” The Mishkan would be disassembled, the Levites would carry certain holy parts that were assigned to them to carry, and the Jewish people would move on.
We see then, that at each station of the desert journey, the Mishkan was assembled and ready for the sacrifices to be brought, just as if it was a permanent dwelling.
What can we learn from this? At each stage of our lives, we are presented with challenges, in order to make efforts overcome them. These efforts are precious to G-d and to us, for they help rectify the world and rectify us. I am referring to efforts we make to overcome challenges to our inherent morality and purpose as outlined in the commandments of the Torah. There are many times we feel that circumstances are just not conducive to carrying out G-d’s will, for one reason or another. Here we can take a lesson from the fact that at each station in the desert, even if only a day, the Mishkan was set up with all its parts, in order to be able to serve G-d. Business as usual!
To get the benefits of this lesson requires being creative and thinking out of the box. Why did G-d put me in a certain situation where it doesn’t seem that i can carry out my mission? Why did I end up in hospital with a broken leg? Perhaps I had to reach out to the person in the next bed and encourage them…
At each station we must assemble all our inner strengths, and give it all we’ve got!
