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RABBI IRWIN GRONER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
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NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN
Greater Detroit Section
announces a
Flea Market
Sunday, July 16, 1995
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
& Clean out anything we can sell at the flea market
Clean up
is
The Soul's Hunger
Must Also Be Fed
• partial dish sets
• furniture
• bikes, toys
• exercise equipment
• household items
• fixtures
• knick-knacks
• garden equipment
• tools
Drop off begins June 28-July 14, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Mon.-Fri.
NCJW offices 30233 Southfield Rd., Southfield, MI
Questions? call (810) 258-6000
Tax deduction up to $250
oday's sedrah describes the
mutiny of the people of Is-
rael in the desert. Moses
confronts a lusting, angry
and rebellious multitude which
he has been ordained to lead
across the wilderness, and weld
into a people.
They have lost the vision of
Sinai and the beckoning dream
of the Promised Land. Moses'
spirit wilts because here in the
wilderness this erstwhile chosen
people has set up a sickening
clamor for food, for meat, which
the wilderness cannot provide.
"And the children of Israel...
wept... and they said, would that
we were given flesh, meat to
eat... We remember the fish
which we could eat free in Egypt,
the cucumbers, the melons, the
leeks, the onions, the garlic, but
now our soul is dried away... We
have nothing but this manna to
look to."
This hungering cry echoes in
the wilderness and Moses can
stand it no longer. He pleads to
God in desperation "Have I con-
ceived this people? Did I bring
them forth that You should say
to me, 'Carry them in your bosom
as a nurse carries a suckling
child...' I am not able to bear this
people myself alone. It is too
much for me. If this is how You
will deal with me, kill me rather,
I beg You, and let me see no
more..."
These are remarkable pas-
sages. Thus speaks the paragon
of leaders, the supreme moral ge-
nius whom God has called His
sure and faithful servant. The
pathos of these words is profound.
God answers Moses in a very
Paradoxical manner. "And the
Lord said unto Moses, gather
unto Me seventy men of the el-
ders of Israel... And bring them
into the tent of meeting that they
may stand there with you... I will
come down and speak with you
there and I will take of the `ruach'
or spirit which is upon you, and
will put it upon them. And they
shall bear the burden of the peo-
ple with you, that you bear it not
yourself, alone."
The text seemingly makes no
sense. Moses' problem is that the
people want meat and a variety of
foods. They are tired of the man-
na; yet God says to him give them
"mach", spirit. Bring together 70
elders and I will take the spirit
from you and pour it on them. Did
God not hear, as it were, what
Moses had asked? It is as though
the answer is unconnected to the
question and the solution is un-
related to the problem.
Yet, upon reflection, we recog-
nize that God, of course, knew
what He was doing. He had care-
fully heard Moses' complaint, by
responding to it with compassion
and wisdom. His message an-
swered not the manifest question,
but the concealed question; not
the stated concern, but the hid-
den yearning. To us, the therapy
of"ruach" or spirit, may not seem
a sensible solution to material
hunger. But God, who is the
keeper of man's conscience, rec-
ognized that the core of the peo-
ple's affliction was not physical.
Shabbat
Bahaalotecha:
Numbers 8:1-12:16
Zachariah 2:14-4:7.
Yes, Moses, the people are
craving for meat. But that crav-
ing is to itself the cause of their
dissatisfaction. It is a surface
symptom produced by a deeper,
unsatisfied yearning, the hunger
of the soul, a spiritual famine,
and moral starvation. The out-
ward symptom was to rebel and
complain, to reach out for more
and more material things.
The truth was that the manna
they received daily in the desert,
although it was not a feast for the
gourmet, was not a tasteless diet.
It could sustain them. So God
was telling Moses that a people
that has enough food for suste-
nance, but is obsessed by mate-
rial craving, must be spiritually
hungry. Therefore, Moses, the
problem is not where shall I get
meat for all these people. What
is needed is more of your spirit to
feed their souls, to inspire them
with a sense of mission.
This text sheds great light on
the human condition. Doctors tell
us that certain people eat too
much to the point of affliction and
disease—not because their bod-
ies physically crave or need more
food, but rather because of an
emotional maladjustment, a
sense of depression or anxiety or
guilt. A spiritual disorder afflicts
them and drives them to overeat,
or sometimes to starve, even as
it drives other people to drink or
drugs or other kinds of compul-
sions.
To test our truth, let us reverse
it. It is possible to live by the spir-
it, even when material needs are
unsatisfied. People can endure
physical hunger and pain and
suffering, so long as they live with