Bihalthosecha: direction

This is a parsha of famous stories.  It is the transition from the escape from Egypt to the wandering in the desert.  It is the wandering in the desert that taught generations of Jews how to survive - stateless, always foreign, alienated, with tenuous, long distance, hope. But a random walk ends anywhere,  nowhere, back where it started. This parsha is about direction. 

The questions begin with the instruction for the  first seder, the (partial) re-enactment of the Exodus to be celebrated by all  of the nation.  What to do with the disqualified?  Moshe does not make up a reasoned  answer... Moshe consults Gd.   He is told to offer a second chance. That second chance is an eternal edict.  Those who cannot do the ritual now are not forever excluded. Moshe does not have all the answers. 

This is an instance of Moshe showing the humility that is held up as one of his finest qualities

וְהָאִ֥ישׁ מֹשֶׁ֖ה עָנָ֣ו מְאֹ֑ד מִכֹּל֙ הָֽאָדָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הָאֲדָמָֽה׃ {ס}         Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any other man on earth.

 The word  עָנָ֣ו  is related to the the idea of poverty ( which is actually a second meaning), perhaps most closely associated with the humiliation that comes with poverty. [Note also the reationship to Canaanite]The destitute, the enslaved, do little more than follow the instructions of their masters. The humble seek guidance. 

The wandering in the desert begins in the parsha.  How will they be guided through this hostile environment? Moshe offers the role to his father-in-law.  

וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אַל־נָ֖א תַּעֲזֹ֣ב אֹתָ֑נוּ כִּ֣י ׀ עַל־כֵּ֣ן יָדַ֗עְתָּ חֲנֹתֵ֙נוּ֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר וְהָיִ֥יתָ לָּ֖נוּ לְעֵינָֽיִם׃ He said, “Please do not leave us, inasmuch as you know where we should camp in the wilderness and can be our guide.

This is the man that provided for Moshe when he ran away from the Egyptian penal system.  It was while Moshe sojourned with his father in law that he discovered the burning bush that redirected him into his grand role.  Hobab was a fitting guide. 

But it was wrong.  The guidance in the wilderness would be miraculous manifestation: a cloud, the ark. This would be a guidance that inspired awe, a director that could not be fathomed

With the first solourn, there is a reassertion of human wants. 

וְהָֽאסַפְסֻף֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּקִרְבּ֔וֹ הִתְאַוּ֖וּ תַּאֲוָ֑ה וַיָּשֻׁ֣בוּ וַיִּבְכּ֗וּ גַּ֚ם בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ מִ֥י יַאֲכִלֵ֖נוּ בָּשָֽׂר׃ 

The riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving; and then the Israelites wept and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 

The translation as riffraff fails to capture the essence of the Hebrew word which clearly includes the idea of "collection", "group."  Assemblies "naturally", by the constraints of probability,  form clusters.  The clusters have the strength of numbers and can thus take on accidental leadership.  A desire born out of boredom or a confabulated nostalgia, can spread and become  a popular demand.  The appropriate and ironic solution to this kind of problem is to distribute the  leadership.  Thus is the council of 70 elders generated to share the leadership with Moshe

The parsha ends with a story of  deference. Moshe's sister and brother have the audacity to comment on his relationship with the Cushite ( Ethiopian) woman.  We are left to wonder who about the nature  of that  relationship, we are not quite sure  whom she is.. But we better not wonder too much!  Consider what happened to Miriam.  Are there still people and things that should not be questioned?

The parsha opens with the kindling of the menorah, the beaten gold candelabra, in the sanctuary.  There are  (at least) two issues that involve direction in this act. The obvious one is that it supplied light so that one could make the adjustments needed to avoid bumping into objects when walking toward an objective.  The other: the flame (on earth) always points upward.  Were it not for the atmosphere and gravity, the flame would not have direction.  Necessity is the mother of direction.