(from Drash V’iyun quoted in Mayana Shel Torah)
The Traveling Fire
“The fire should burn on the altar constantly; it should never be extinguished.” (Vayikra 6:6)
The Yerushalmi in Yoma (4:6) comments from the extra, “it should never be extinguished,” we learn that even while the Mishkan is being transported the fire should stay lit.
When a person is at home in familiar surroundings he has a natural protection against straying from appropriate behavior. Regular home life and the positive influence of a healthy environment are a good insurance against improper action.
However, when traveling to places where people do not recognize him, coupled with the natural strain that goes with being on the road, it is much easier to drop from the kind of behavioral standards that a person usually keeps.
There is a verse in Tehillim (128) that reads, “Happy is the man that fears G-d, going in His path (“haholeikh bidrakhav”).” [We translated it “His path”, referring to G-d’s path.] This can also be read as referring to a man’s own path, when he is traveling. Happy is a man who remains G-d-fearing even when traveling in strange places. A person whose fear of G-d is not contingent on external conditions and a familiar environment is truly G-d-fearing.
This is what the Torah is hinting at here. Just as “The fire should burn on the altar” – on the altar of a person’s heart, burning with the love and fear of Hashem – so also “should the fire not be extinguished” – even when “being transported” – even when traveling in strange places a person should equally burn with love and fear of Hashem.
A Jew should glow inside even when he finds himself in cold places.
[prepared by Eliezer Kwass]
