VOLUME 111 NUMBER 3
Sivan 15, 5784
June 21, 2024
PARSHAS BEHA’ALOSCHA
Candlelighting Time 8:13 PM
Sometimes it’s important to reassess from where we come. I don’t refer to which European country our parents or grandparents immigrated from but rather going back thousands of years to our antecedents that travelled in the desert after they left Egypt. After all, although we probably can’t trace our lineage back that far, nonetheless, perhaps a walk through history would be refreshing and stimulating.
In this week’s parsha an episode occurs where the people complain about the food that they are receiving. Their complaint is very difficult to digest. After all, the manna tasted like any food that one could envision. And if today’s menu was not tasty then tomorrow you had other choices. What could be better than that arrangement? Yet, they were not satisfied and they voiced their objection clearly to Moshe despite the fact that they might be stepping on the ‘toes’ of Hashem who, of course, had given them this cuisine with the ‘thought’ that they would indeed be receptive and appreciative. However, this was not the case and the source of their objection requires an explanation as they clearly intended that Hashem should ‘hear’ their rhetoric.
Meshech Chochma provides a piercing acumen into the psyche of the generation that received the Torah and truly for all future generations. Our Sages teach us that they merited the manna due to Moshe. His level of sanctity granted that they would receive such a wonderful gift. It was referred to as the food of the angels because it was purely spiritual and had no correlation to this physical world at all. It was befitting that it came to them on account of Moshe because after the elevation of his spirit which he attained upon ascending Mt. Sinai, he no longer possessed even an iota of physicality to his essence. He had entered the realm of an angelic existence. However, his coreligionists did not soar to his level attained at Mt. Sinai. They were still in need of corporal necessities. Although we shouldn’t mistakenly think that those who received the Torah were allured by animalistic instincts, nonetheless they were not of the stature of Moshe. They still required that dose of appeal for that which is material. That characteristic, the desire for the physical, is only found in living animals. Therefore, they requested to eat other types of food that would instill within them that level of craving that they longed for. And therein lay the folly of their search and the cause of their demise when punished by Hashem for that crude and base aspiration.
They were given the opportunity to continue growing and if not acknowledge that incredible intensity of Moshe at least reach for the stars to the best of their ability. And instead, they chose to maintain and search for what perhaps we can describe as a level of mediocrity.
The punishment was immediate and severe. Perhaps we can derive from this unfortunate situation that even when a person can’t rise to the mark that would be beneficial and advantageous, nonetheless, at least endeavoring to reach that goal is incumbent upon the individual. Hashem doesn’t demand from us that which is out of our reach, and if the objectives that the Torah does expect from us seem too distant and improbable, it’s only because we have deemed it so.
A BYTE FOR SHABBOS
Moshe’s status was such that even though he had automatic access to Hashem at any given time that he needed, as a servant could always go to his master, still his aristocratic demeanor was not lacking.
CHOFETZ CHAIM
GOOD SHABBOS
THE WAR DRAGS ON AND WE BECOME MORE AND MORE ISOLATED FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD. BIDEN HAS TREMENDOUSLY ABANDONED HIS MANDATE TO SUPPORT ISRAEL IN ITS FIGHT AGAINST THOSE WHO WANT TO TOTALLY ERADICATE EVERY SINGLE JEW. HOWEVER, HASHEM IN HIS GREAT WISDOM AND KINDNESS IS OFFERING US AN OPPORTUNITY TO REASSESS OUR PRIORTIES IN LIFE AND REALIZE THAT IT IS ONLY WITH HASHEM’S ASSISTANCE AND GUIDANCE WILL WE PREVAIL.