When The
Children
Of Israel
Kvetched
Like
Children
Parshat Beha'alotechah: Numbers
8:1-12:16; Zechariah 2:14-4:7.
I
n this week's Torah portion; we Jews
are wandering, the journey is getting
long and the natives are restless.
The parshah reminds of me of my
childhood vacations, with all of my fam-
ily in the station wagon, the one with the
inadequate air conditioning. My sister
and I would get to sit in the middle seat
and my brother was in the back seat, the
one that faced toward the back.
There wasn't much to do. We
looked out the windows a lot,
read a little, played license plate
bingo, and played ghost and
buzz, always losing to my father.
In my family, the car was
often filled with complaints.
My brother would get carsick
(Why didn't anybody think that
facing backwards could lead to
this?), and my sister, like Bart
Simpson, would ask, `Are we
there yet? Are we there yet? Are
we there yet?" I don't remember doing
anything bad. I'm sure I was excellent.
In Beha'alotechah, we are wandering
in the desert, and our true nature has
shown itself — and the complaints are
flying from the back seats.
Moses and God, our partner parents,
have a monumental task: to keep us safe,
to keep us moving forward in our jour-
ney and to try to maintain peace.
We Jews have come to complain to our
parents during the journey: Moses and
God. Complaint No. 1 was about a fam-
ily who didn't get to make the Passover
sacrifice. They had had a death in the
family. They are feeling left out and
slighted. God and Moses issue the rule
of the second Passover, which states that
if you missed Passover sacrifices during
the month of Nisan, you can try again in
one month's time. Complaint dealt with.
Crisis averted.
Next complaint: the food. I quote from
the Torah:
"If only we had meat to eat! We
remember the fish that we used to eat
free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the mel-
ons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic.
There is nothing to eat but manna."
The Jews are receiving manna every-
Now scheduling for Summer 2012
day, for which they have to do no work,
and yet, even this is not enough. Worse:
the Jews dare to be nostalgic about the
better menu when they were slaves. God
decides to deluge the Jews with quails, so
that they will be sick of meat and no lon-
ger complain about the food. Complaint
dealt with. Crisis averted.
The final complaint: Moses' siblings
Miriam and Aaron unite
to complain about Moses'
elevated status and possibly
to mock his wife, too. God is
incensed and immediately
punishes Miriam, turning
her skin white as snow. She's
banished from the camp
until she recovers, which she
does, and the Jewish people
continue on their journeys.
Complaint dealt with. Crisis
averted.
So often, we are immersed
in a culture of lcvetch; underappreciated for
our hard work, our leadership or even pro-
viding basic necessities for ourselves and
our families. Our Torah portion shows that
this is the human condition. The only way
to deal with ungrateful colleagues, chil-
dren, partners and customers is through
wisdom, patience and compassion.
Through the leadership of God and
Moses, we Jews stayed together. We
learned lessons from them. We continued
in the giant wandering, in the ancient
version of the Chevy station wagon. Our
unity was intact, our leadership still
strong, and everybody was still present
and accounted for. Crisis averted.
❑
Keren Alpert is a rabbi at Temple Beth El in
Bloomfield To wnship.
Conversations
• What are complaints that "push
your buttons"? Have you ever
considered why you react to these
complaints?
• How can you instill gratefulness in
others?
• How can you instill gratefulness in
yourself?
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