Have you ever wondered, what it means to walk towards the unknown, to live with faith, to witness open miracles every single day? 
 
The biblical story of the Israelites in the desert is not just an ancient story. 
 
It’s a story for today. 
A story about walking with G-d. About living with challenges, tests of faith, Divine love and mercy. 
 
It was a journey through the desert from Egypt to the land of Israel which should have taken three days, but lasted for forty years instead.  
 
The number forty is the number of formation, the number of becoming, the number of creation.
 
The Talmud says a fetus receives its Divine human soul 40 days after conception. The required volume for the waters of a Mikvah, the place of spiritual rebirth, are 40 se’ah. The Luchot Habrit, the eternal contract  between G-d and the nation of Israel, weighed 40 se’ah. 
 
The journey of the Israelites through the desert was a journey from slavery to freedom, from constriction to expansiveness, from limitations to autonomy. 
 
And to develop it, it took a forty year journey.
 
Forty years of being miraculously sheltered from the elements, protected from enemies, nourished with Divine food and supplied in the desert with fresh water. 
 
And forty years of hard lessons, of doubts, of fears, of unworthiness, of abandonment, of mistakes and failures. 
 
The Biblical story of the Israelite nation wandering through the desert for forty years is not just an ancient story, it’s a story for today. A story about finding faith, walking with trust, and seeing G-d’s love for you each and every day.
 
Details included in the paintings; 
 
 
The Well of Miriam, which accompanied them on all their journeys, would rest in the center of the camp, and from there its waters would overflow and form rivers and streams which would spread out to the whole camp, providing easily accessible, fresh water for everyone. Its rivers also marked the borders between each tribe’s encampments. 
The people travelled and rested in organized camps, according to each tribe. The camps that you can see in the painting are the center camps of the tribe of Levi, including the tents of Moshe and Aharon, which surrounded the Mishkan; the East camps in front of them, which were the tribes of (left to right) Judah, Issacher and Zebulun, and the first camp on either side, the North side being Naftali ( left side) and South side,  being Reuben (right side)
Each tribe had a banner which was in the colors of the precious stone associated with that tribe on the Choshen Mishpat, as well as an image which connected to their story or role. The following flags are subtly included in the painting. They are as follows;
Levi’s flag was tricoloured like an emerald. It was one third red, one third white and one third green. On it was a picture of the Urim Vetumim worn by the Kohen Gadol who was descended from Levi. 
Reuben’s banner was red, like a ruby, with a picture of a mandrake plant, the kind Reuben had brought to his mother.
Judah’s banner was light blue like a carbuncle, with a Lion, as the Torah references Judah to a young Lion.
The flag of Yissachar was dark blue, like a sapphire. It had an image of the moon and sun because their descendants were experts in astronomy and would fix the Hebrew Calendar. 
Naftali’s banner was off red wine, like an amethyst, with a picture of a deer, as they are described in the Torah as ‘a deer running free’. 
The banner of the tribe of Zevulun was white because their stone was a Diamond or a Pearl. It was embroidered with a picture of a ship as that was to be their trade in the land of Israel.