Shabbos Parashas Beha'alosecha - 5775
Shabbos Parashas Beha'alosecha - 5775
Rabbi Hal Miller
Miriam and Aharon spoke about Moshe regarding the Cushite woman he had married,
for he had married a Cushite woman. [Bamidbar 12:1]
Our verse is the source of the sin and punishment of Miriam, and of many discussions
about Aharon. Leaving that aside, there are still questions here. The Torah told us in
parashas Shemos [Shemos 2:21] that Moshe married Tzipporah, the daughter of Yisro.
We see in parashas Yisro and in other places, that Yisro was Moshe's father-in-law.
But Yisro, and consequently Tzipporah too, was a Midianite, not a Cushite. Midian is
located in the Middle East, and Cush is in northern Africa. The peoples are completely
different. Cushites are "black", also called "Ethiopian" as that is the modern nation that
lives in the location. They are not highly praised throughout the Torah and Talmud.
Tzipporah and her father, though, are both highly praised in many places. Something
does not add up.
Rashbam traces the Cushites as a tribe of Cham, one of Noach's sons, and the one
from whom stems Canaan and all the various 'bad' people of the world. He tells us that
"Tzipporah could not have been described as Cushite seeing that the Cushites are
descended from Cham and the Midianites are descendants of the sons of Keturah," but
Keturah is generally accepted to be Hagar, the Egyptian. Mitzrayim was a descendant
of Cham, which defeats Rashbam's argument.
Rashi, based on Onkelos, explains that in certain circumstances, we speak in opposites.
We refer to one who is beautiful as 'Cushi' in order to avoid the evil eye. But the Torah
seems to be going out of its way unnecessarily if this was the reason for the term.
Rav Hirsch points out that "the simple meaning is 'concerning the Ethiopian woman
whom he had married'." He notes the difference between Cush and Midian, and says
that even if we ignore this and assume that the verse is referring to Tzipporah, one has
to ask why Moshe's marriage to Tzipporah, or any Ethiopian for that matter, is a problem
that Miriam and Aharon feel a need to address. Further, "that fact had long been known,
and surely need not be stated as a piece of news." He concludes that Tzipporah is not
the woman referred to here.
So, who was this woman? Did Moshe marry a second wife? We don't see any other
evidence of this in the Torah.
Rashbam cites a biography of Moshe, which tells that "Moshe ruled for 40 years as king
over the land of Cush, took himself a woman as his queen but never slept with her." Thus
would be explained the classical interpretation that Moshe became celibate at this point,
which appears to be what Miriam and Aharon are complaining about. But this explanation
leaves out the fact that Moshe remained with Tzipporah. Had he not done so, then Miriam
and Aharon would have been correct in their analysis, that being celibate is not what G-d
wanted of people. Apparently, the siblings were unaware that Moshe's separation was only
from this Ethiopian second wife.
Ibn Kaspi strongly criticizes the classical interpretations of our verse. He says that this
form of changing the meaning away from the text's plain meaning is a serious crime. There
is no room for the reversal of meaning, such as Onkelos, Rashi, Rambam and others read
into the text, and it is a slippery slope to rewriting the entire Torah. He says, " this mode of
interpretation agreed upon by all our ancient authorities in religion and faith is beyond me
and I cannot accept it. I therefore maintain that the text bears no other interpretation but that
Moshe took a Cushite or Ethiopian woman." Ibn Kaspi continues, "After Moshe married
Tzipporah he took another wife, an Ethiopian woman for reasons best known to himself and
it is not our business to pry into his motives." He indicates that it could even have been during
the forty years in the desert. His point is that Moshe could not have separated himself from
women entirely, or he would no longer qualify as the most perfect human. His explanation
fits all the parts of our verse, including answering the question why the Torah would have
added the "for he had married a Cushite woman" phrase after having just told us,
"regarding the Cushite woman he had married" where the Torah is in fact confirming to us
something we would not have otherwise known.
One more lesson we can learn from this. As Ibn Kaspi points out, "it is not our business to pry
into his motives." This is not limited to Moshe Rabbeinu, but applies to all our fellow man, in
all generations. We do not see things from their point of view nor with their knowledge. It takes
some trust, but we must remember that we do not run the world.