One of the most famous phrases in Jewish liturgy is the “Vayehi Binsoa HaAron, - it was when the Ark travelled” that is sung when we open the Ark in Synagogue to take out a Sefer Torah. The source of the verse is in this week’s parshah, which recounts the procedure by which the Jewish people uprooted camp and journeyed throughout their forty years in the desert.

Each of Bnei Yisrael’s journeys and encampments in the desert was by Divine bidding. When it was time to travel, the miraculous cloud that covered the Tabernacle – Mishkan - would depart, at which point Bnei Yisrael would travel, the cloud leading the way. “And in the place where the cloud came to rest, there the Bnei Yisrael encamped. At the commandment of G-d, the Bnei Yisrael journeyed, and at the commandment of G-d they encamped….  Whether it was for two days, a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the Mishkan, the Children of Israel would encamp and not travel, and when it departed, they travelled.”

Some of their encampments lasted for a year or more, but in some locations their stay was only one night, or a day or two. Upon their arrival at each location, the Levites would reassemble the entire Mishkan, and then dismantle it when the cloud indicated that it was time to go. Since, “at G-d’s bidding they would encamp, and at G-d’s bidding they would travel,” there was obviously a G-dly reason to assemble the Mishkan in that particular place at that particular time.  And since G-d and His will transcend time and space, the importance of any particular encampment was not determined by the length of time spent there. The Mishkan was therefore assembled in each location where they camped, regardless of how long or short their stay would be.

The concept of these sparks is that they are not just specific to the place, but also to the person who is supposed to utilise them. Over the years when I have ended up in places that would make no sense for me to be – motorway detours via small villages in Scotland or petrol stations in the middle of Urals – I would wonder what I was there for and make sure to study some words of Torah or to make a blessing on some food.

It also gives us a sense of mission. When G-d has seen fit that we should live in a community, big or small, it is because He knows that this is where we need to be to, for our sparks of G-dliness, to make that place, and by extension the whole world, a G-dly place. And to fulfil our individual mission and by extension, the mission of all humanity, with the coming of Moshiach now!