Shabbat Parashat Beha'alotecha - 5784

Shabbat Parashat Beha'alotecha - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller

  The people were like those who seek pretexts of evil iln the ears of God and God

  heard and His wrath flared, and a fire of God burned against them and it consumed

  at the edge of the camp. [Bamidbar 11:1]

The people were traveling through the desert. The verse immediately before ours is the one

encapsulated with "inverted nuns", which is treated as an independent book. We say that

verse as we take the Torah out to read. It tells of good that Israel will receive from God. So

what are the people complaining about now? Our verse and the two following do not give

an indication, but verses 4-6 provide a hint, that the non-Jewish rabble that left Egypt with

Israel was instigating complaints about food, trying to draw the Jews into the complaining

process. But the Torah then notes that they had manna and that it was plenty for their

sustenance. So who was complaining and what did they have to complain about?

Our verse indicates that the people complained without reason, rather were seeking excuses

to challenge God, as Sforno and Rashbam wrote. They posit that the people did this due to

the stresses of the journey. But if this complaining was only because the people were stressed,

why would God impose such a severe punishment? There must have been some reason why

His mercy would not apply.

Onkelos explains that the people were kindling evil before God, which then kindled His anger,

so He kindled a fire to burn among them. Thus what happened was just what the people

brought upon themselves, so mercy would not be relevant. The lesson is that if we bring

evil upon ourselves, God will not interfere.

Rav Hirsch and others note that the word translated above as "pretexts of evil" can also be

translated as mourning or as complaining. The people assumed that they were destined to die,

therefore were mourning themselves in the desert, which again is bringing it on themselves.

In Sifri we read that the people were angry because the Torah prohibits marriages within the

family, and they wanted to maintain that permission.

Rashi limits "the people" to those who were wicked. Only those who did not have faith in God

were "seeking pretexts", looking for reasons to complain and to move away from following

God and Moshe. This rejection of God is why "His wrath flared" and explains the lack of mercy

as to the ones doing this. But why would the plague of fire run loose among the entire nation?

Rav Moshe Feinstein notes that the fire began around the edges of the camp and that the

leaders tended to be out there, thus it was the leaders who died. How does that answer our

question? When the people do something wrong, it falls to the leaders to bring things back

under control, but they did not do so here. How does this justify the fact that many non-leaders

also suffered? When the leaders of the people do not do their job, it falls to the rest of us to

step up and do so, but they did not step up here.

When people complain without reason, it falls to all the rest of Israel to confront them about it,

and to point out how much good we receive from God that we would lose if we go searching

for pretexts to complain intending to abandon God. Rav Moshe explains that this proves we

are not to try applying our personal understandings and philosophies to overrule God's Torah

but to follow it whether it suits our tastes or not since it came from God, not from the latest

and changing human fads and thoughts.