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SC Behaalotkha 2022
SC Behaalotkha 2022
By David Kaplinsky
If you were following along with the Torah portion today, you
Sinai, and just as after they left Egypt, their attitude turns around 180
degrees. They start craving meat and longing for the good old days of
Egyptian servitude, where there was at least real food—not just this
freeze-dried manna day in and day out. It’s amazing that even 3500
years ago Jewish people were still longing for a meat kiddush!
us:
ֵינ֥י
ֵ ַר־אף יְיְ מ ְ֔א ֹד ּו ְבע
֤ ַ ַוּיִׁשְ מַ֨ ע מ ֹׁשֶ֜ ה אֶ ת־ ָה ָ֗עם ּבֹכֶה֙ לְמִׁשְ ּפְח ֹתָ֔ יו ִ֖איׁש ל ֶ ְ֣פתַ ח ׇאה ֳ֑לֹו ַו ִּיֽח
מ ֶ ֹׁ֖שה ָ ֽרע׃
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Moses heard the people weeping, every clan apart, each person at
the entrance of his tent. The LORD was very angry, and Moses was
distressed.
It is interesting that the Torah notes not just that the people were crying,
but also details that each family joined together and wept at the doors to
commentator Ibn Ezra imagines that the families joined together just as
they would do, to mourn a lost loved one, and that the Torah mentions
their place at the opening of their tents to specify that this mourning was
done in public. Ibn Ezra seems to be pointing us to two issues with their
behavior: the dramatic and the public nature of the mourning. According
extremely as the experience of losing a loved one, and they made sure to
community.
me is that the Torah in this verse moves from Moses hearing the people
crying as a whole nation, then each clan separately, then finally each
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individual in front of their tent. It is at that point that God becomes angry
Their unity is tested, and the entire project of the exodus is put at risk.
from it— points to their behavior here being the result of a spiritual
distancing from the moment of revelation and the reception of the Torah.
And yet in another way, this division into familial groups and even
the whole story. Framed differently: is it not natural that people might
panic when leaving a spiritually powerful moment and then being thrust
yet again into the unknown desert? In times of distress, we all fall back
into our clans, our groups, our more personal support systems—over the
to be seen as a rebellious one, but rather a plea for their cries and distress
places the blame on the people’s complaints, and the other places the
blame on the leadership structure. When Moshe offers, perhaps, the most
dramatic cry to God in the Torah, that he would rather die than sink
under the weight of this rebellious people, God offers two responses.
One will give the people so much of the meat they crave that they
become sick of it and ultimately die from eating it. The other, by
contrast, will seek to fix the leadership structure that made the people
among seventy elders from the tribes, instilling each of them with
Moshe’s spirit.
The fact that there are two solutions is instructive. It’s clear that
the populace, with the people forgetting all that God had provided them
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through the manna, and the miracles of the exodus and revelation. This
past of plenty in Egypt divides the people from one other, from Moshe,
groups is not to simply tell everyone “They should just be one happy
and as a people. We are called by God to acknowledge all the good that
is already in our lives, all that has been a blessing to us, without taking it
and those around us for granted, even when things get rough.
Yet we are also a people who are called upon to speak up with
things are not fair, when people feel left out or left behind, or when
especially when our perspectives are divergent. Still, that does not mean
we should not lovingly and carefully rebuke our fellows when a situation
So, the Israelites in this parsha were in fact guilty. Their march
Sinai gave way to factionalism, lack of appreciation for the blessings all
compassion for his plight. Yet the reason for this was not totally their
matter how humble and Holy he was. Their journey into the unknown
future gave the people no real support structure to hold on to, no feeling
of being truly heard, as they cried out each person at the opening of their
in some way that this reaction of the people was partly a result of their
own errors in assessing the people’s needs and giving them a voice. And
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so, this parsha points us to real life situations when no singular party is
completely to blame; when we are right to speak out, but only when we
do not lose our compassion for those who do not share our views,
or our appreciation for all that continues to be a blessing for us. I bless
community, even as we seek a more vibrant, just future for all those in it.
Shabbat Shalom.