In our parasha we arrive at what seems to be the conclusion of the lengthy process of building the Mishkan and its inauguration. However, it is in fact only in chapter 8, with the anointment and readying of the Levi'im, that this great endeavor is finally over.
In Parashat Chukat, the children of the generation that left Egypt start out on their journey towards the conquest of Eretz Yisrael. The journey starts at the same point where it was halted 38 years previously – at Kadesh. This is a new beginning, with a new nation.
