Behalothescha: Relationships

This is among the most touching of parshiot.  It tells stories that involve relationships.  The relationship between people, the Israelites  in particular,  and Gd is explored in an especially relatable manner.

 

The story of the slav, the quail, brought to satisfy the people’s desire for variety in their diet, brings the parental – like relationship between Gd and the people into focus and question. We are told that the complaints of the people brought a destructive heavenly fire to the camp, quenched by the prompt prayer of  Moses. The nature of this complaint is not specified . Rashi says that the basis of complaint was not only unimportant, it was the complaint itself that was the point.

כמתאננים — The term מתאננים denotes [people who seek] “a pretext” — they seek a pretext how to separate themselves from following the Omnipresent.

כמתאננים. אֵין מִתְאוֹנְנִים אֶלָּא לְשׁוֹן עֲלִילָה — מְבַקְּשִׁים עֲלִילָה הֵיאַךְ לִפְרֹשׁ מֵאַחֲרֵי הַמָּקוֹם, וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר בְּשִׁמְשׁוֹן (שופטים י"ד), "כִּי תֹאֲנָה הוּא מְבַקֵּשׁ" (ספרי):

This was an adolescent rebellion. The disagreement was not rational, it was hormonal.  This was a modern political ploy. A challenge to authority  through an appeal to any available  dissatisfaction for the sake of election and  attaining power.  Argument for the sake of argument is really argument for the sake of power.  It is appropriate that the prayer of Moshe,  representative of the challenged administration, stops the fire.

Immediately, there is the cry for flesh:

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!

This comes with nostalgia for Egypt, the distortion of recall that idealizes the past and disparages the present.

זָכַ֙רְנוּ֙ אֶת־הַדָּגָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־נֹאכַ֥ל בְּמִצְרַ֖יִם חִנָּ֑ם אֵ֣ת הַקִּשֻּׁאִ֗ים וְאֵת֙ הָֽאֲבַטִּחִ֔ים וְאֶת־הֶחָצִ֥יר וְאֶת־הַבְּצָלִ֖ים וְאֶת־הַשּׁוּמִֽים׃

We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.

וְעַתָּ֛ה נַפְשֵׁ֥נוּ יְבֵשָׁ֖ה אֵ֣ין כֹּ֑ל בִּלְתִּ֖י אֶל־הַמָּ֥ן עֵינֵֽינוּ׃

Now our gullets are shriveled. There is nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!”

We are then told that the Manna was delicious.

When Moshe hears the people crying to their families, he laments his role as the leader of this people.

הֶאָנֹכִ֣י הָרִ֗יתִי אֵ֚ת כׇּל־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה אִם־אָנֹכִ֖י יְלִדְתִּ֑יהוּ כִּֽי־תֹאמַ֨ר אֵלַ֜י שָׂאֵ֣הוּ בְחֵיקֶ֗ךָ כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר יִשָּׂ֤א הָאֹמֵן֙ אֶת־הַיֹּנֵ֔ק עַ֚ל הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֖עְתָּ לַאֲבֹתָֽיו׃

Did I produce all these people, did I engender them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a caregiver carries an infant,’ to the land that You have promised on oath to their fathers?

מֵאַ֤יִן לִי֙ בָּשָׂ֔ר לָתֵ֖ת לְכׇל־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֑ה כִּֽי־יִבְכּ֤וּ עָלַי֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר תְּנָה־לָּ֥נוּ בָשָׂ֖ר וְנֹאכֵֽלָה׃

Where am I to get meat to give to all this people, when they whine before me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’

Why does Moshe feel compelled to grant this request?  It does not seem to be a good thing; the complaint has been identified as ra, evil, in the eyes of Gd and Moshe. Perhaps the best parenting approach is to just say: No. That was not the decision here.

Did Moshe and Gd feel that this is a reasonable request? It appears not. Moshe takes it as a challenge. How can so much meat be acquired ( quickly) ? Failure to provide the meat will be seen as weakness, as if (kivar yachol) Moshe does not yet understand Gd’s omnipotence; and when the people see a limit to Divine power, the new societal structure will be challenged.

Gd fulfills the ill advised request through a manipulation of nature: blowing (migrating) quail off course; delivering the bird carcasses at the feet of the demanding people. The punishment comes through nature as well: those who indulge get sick.

This may have been  a situation in which failure to accommodate  the demand would lead to revolution and an end to the enterprise. Gd has  a promise, made to Abraham, to bring his descendants into the Land. If the relationship between Gd and the people is severed, the agreement  will not be fulfilled.. That cannot happen.

Then there us the final, very complex story:

וַתְּדַבֵּ֨ר מִרְיָ֤ם וְאַהֲרֹן֙ בְּמֹשֶׁ֔ה עַל־אֹד֛וֹת הָאִשָּׁ֥ה הַכֻּשִׁ֖ית אֲשֶׁ֣ר לָקָ֑ח כִּֽי־אִשָּׁ֥ה כֻשִׁ֖ית לָקָֽח׃

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had taken: “He took a Cushite woman!”

This is a story of family dynamics, sibling interaction, if not rivalry. It also comes in the context of the dissemination of prophecy, at Moshe’s request, among a broader citizenry.

וַיֹּאמְר֗וּ הֲרַ֤ק אַךְ־בְּמֹשֶׁה֙ דִּבֶּ֣ר יְ

And they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only with Moshe? has he not spoken also with us

There is a misunderstanding about levels of prophecy leading to disrespect for Moshe.  The woman is an excuse.

The racism (which is minimized by Onkelos’ translation of Cushite as beautiful ( Shapira) ) is emphasized by the  aptness of the punishment:

וְהִנֵּ֥ה מִרְיָ֖ם מְצֹרַ֣עַת כַּשָּׁ֑לֶג

and, behold, Miryam was snow white, stricken with żara῾at;

Mirian gossiped about Moshe’s dark woman. She was stricken by the disease of whiteness.

Once more, seven words from Moshe effects a cure (but it takes a week) .

 

We survive by the grace of the Torah’s sense of humor.