Howard Silverman

This week, Moses faces another challenge as he leads the children of Israel through the wilderness. Between chapters 14–20, we read that Moses “fell on his face” five separate times.

Life in the wilderness! In some ways it was glorious and in other ways it was disappointing and difficult. The children of Israel were redeemed out of Egypt, miraculously crossed the Red Sea, and sang a great song of praise as seen in Exodus 12–15.

This week's Torah portion continues the theme from last week of getting prepared for the wilderness journey. The overall theme is that preparation requires good organization and an internal strength of character and spirituality. The reason is that the journey will have all kinds of blessings and challenges.