Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
What's going on here? מַה זֶה?
How did Benei Yisrael organize themselves when traveling through the מִדְבָּר (midbar, wilderness)? There’s a debate in the Talmud Yerushalmi (Eruvin 5:1).
Benei Yisrael might have traveled כְּתֵיבָה (ke-teivah, like a box). When they camped, the tribes were arranged in a square, around the mishkan. Traveling ke-teivah means they would have stayed in this box-like formation when they were on the go. See evidence: כַּאֲשֶׁר יַחֲנוּ כֵּן יִסָּעוּ (just as they camped, so they traveled; Bemidbar 2:17).
Or Benei Yisrael might have traveled כְּקוֹרָה (ke-korah, like a beam). This means tribes lined up one after the other, with someone in the back bringing up the rear. The evidence for this is: וְנָסַע דֶּגֶל מַחֲנֵה בְנֵי־דָן מְאַסֵּף לְכָל־הַמַּחֲנֹת (the tribe of Dan traveled as collector behind all the other tribes; Bemidbar 10:25).
