"Torah Lights"
 
Video Insights on the Parsha
 
 by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel: This fourth book of the Bible, the book of Numbers, began in high gear, with the various tribes situated around the Sanctuary – the focal point of the encampment – with each tribe proudly displaying its banners, its unique characteristic and contribution to the nation; a census is taken, the priests are prepared to serve the Divine and the army is prepared for mobilization. From the time of the sin with the Golden Calf, the children of Israel have been on a steadily upward climb, from the message of forgiveness on the first Yom Kippur to the construction of the Sanctuary, to the Book of Holiness (Vayikra), and to a nation poised for the conquest and settlement of the Promised Land, which would have ushered in complete redemption had the process continued on schedule.

Tragically, that was not to be; in the space of this week's portion, we witness a precipitous deterioration which takes the nation from the heights of “a kingdom of priest-teachers and a sacred nation” (Ex 19:6), to the depths of “and the people began to naggingly complain” (Numbers 11:1). And this was only the beginning, what follows is the sin of the scouts, the various rebellions against Moses and the tragedy of that entire exodus generation dying in the desert.

The deleterious and disastrous descent begins with the “nagging complaints” (mit’onenim) in our portion, at first arousing a fiery anger from G-d which destroys the edge of the camp and eventually leads to an “extremely severe plague” in which the complaining, craving Israelites are buried in what Moses calls “the Graves of Craving” (Numbers 11:31-35).

What is difficult to understand is the marked difference in G-d’s reaction to the complaining Israelites here in the Book of Numbers and His reaction to their complaints in the Book of Exodus. Even then, the Israelites were not “easy customers.” Just three days after experiencing the great wonders of the ten plagues culminating in the miracle of the splitting of the Reed Sea, they only find “bitter” waters to drink, “the people complained against Moses” (Ex 15:24). G-d does not punish them, instead, without comment, He provides Moses with a bark from a special tree which sweetens the waters.

And then, only 30 days after the Exodus, upon their arrival at the Sin desert, they complain bitterly because they have no food: “If only we had died by G-d’s hand in Egypt… you had to bring us out to this desert, to kill the entire community by starvation!” (Ex 16:1-3). G-d immediately – and without comment – provides the manna. And finally, when they leave the Sin desert and encamp in Rephidim, they again quarrel with Moses over their lack of water, and G-d tells Moses to strike a large boulder at Horeb. This time, water would - and did - come out of the rock (Exodus 17:1-7). And although Moses names this place “Testing and Strife” (“Masa u’Merivah”), what immediately follows is the successful war against Amalek, won for the Israelites by the Divine response to Moses’ hands raised in prayer to G-d.

How different is G-d’s reaction to the complaints less than one year later (Numbers 1:1), when a fire consumes the edge of the camp and a plague results in mass graves. Why the change? 

Rav Moshe Lichtenstein, in his illuminating study, “Moses: Envoy of G-d, Envoy of His People” (Hebrew, “Tzir V’Tzon”), suggests that the requests and complaints in Exodus were for the basic necessities of life, water and bread. Although the Israelites should have had greater faith, one can hardly fault them for desiring their existential needs.

In our Biblical portion of Beha'alotkha, however, they are not complaining about scarcity of water; they are complaining about the lack of variety in the menu! The text even introduces the subject by stating that the nation was “kvetching” (in Hebrew, the strange word “mit’onenim” rather than the visual “mitlonenim” for complaining) evilly in the ears of G-d – without even mentioning what they were complaining about (Numbers 11:1). And with this unspecified complaint, G-d’s fire flares out. After this punishment, the nation cries out, “Who will give us meat to eat?” and then continues with, “We remember the fish we ate for free in Egypt, and the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic; our spirits are dried up with nothing but manna before our eyes” (ibid 11:4-6). What do they want – meat, or fish, or melons or garlic?!

G-d’s response is also strange; He tells Moses to appoint 70 elders (11:16), and sends the Israelites quails to eat. They ask for meat and G-d gives them rabbis! And while they are eating the quails, they are smitten by the severe plague. Why are they complaining, and why is G-d so angry? And if indeed He is disappointed, even upset, by their finicky desires, why give in to their cravings and why send them rabbis?

Herein lies the essential difference between the complaints in Exodus and the complaints in Numbers. In Exodus, the nation had a clear goal; they were committed to the mission of becoming a kingdom of priest-teachers and a sacred nation, and were anxiously anticipating the content of that mission, a G-d–given doctrine of compassionate righteousness and moral justice which they must impart to the world. In order to receive and fulfill their mission they had to live, and so they legitimately requested water and bread.

One year later, in Numbers, they had already received the Torah. And they were complaining, kvetching, without having specific complaints; and they were craving all sorts of desires – from meat to garlic. G-d understood that if they were still inspired by their mission, if they remained grateful for their freedom and the opportunity it would afford them to forge a committed and idealistic nation, they would not be in need of watermelons and leeks and would not be craving for something that they themselves had never tasted. The Netziv suggests that the Hebrew mi’onenim comes from anna, wither and thither, a nation that lost its compass was searching for meaning. Having achieved and received the Torah, the once sought-after object lost its glamour, its appeal, its allure. And so they substituted their mission with nonsensical cravings – no wonder G-d was disappointed and angry. Perhaps 70 elders would be able to restore their ideals!

Shabbat Shalom