JUNE 8 • 2023 | 41

SPIRIT

Needs and Wants
I

n 1968, two of the 
20th century’s greatest 
philosophers, Mick 
Jagger and Keith Richards, 
recorded the following 
reflection on life: 
“You can’t always 
get what you want, 
but if you try 
sometimes, you just 
might find, you get 
what you need.” 
 This song 
highlights the 
challenge of 
unfulfilled desire, 
while offering a 
note of optimism 
that a person’s 
needs will be met. 
Sometimes we 
struggle between our needs 
and wants, confusing the 
two in ways that actively 
cause harm to ourselves 
and our community.
We see this exemplified 
in this week’s parshah, 
when among the Israelites 
there is a craving for 
meat that is expressed in 
language that idealizes 
slavery in Egypt for being 
a diet rich in fish, melon 
and alliums and contrasted 
to the miraculous manna 
is described as tasting like 
rich oil. The needs of the 
people are met, yet their 
desires remain unfulfilled. 
When a frustrated Moshe 
brings their complaints 
before God, God responds 
with a terrifying promise: 
God shall give them meat 
“until it comes out of their 
noses!” And God does so 
by sending a wind that 
brings in huge flocks of 
quail from the sea … and 

in God’s fury at people’s 
gluttonous response, God 
strikes them with plague 
and people die with the 
meat still between their 
teeth. Our ancestors 
named the place where 
this occurred kivrot 
ha’ta’avah — the graves 
of craving. 
There is nothing 
unusual about wanting 
more than we have, 
and sometimes we 
all struggle with 
making a clear 
distinction between 
what we “need” and 
what we “want.” 
As the people who 
personally witnessed 
God’s mighty hand and 
outstretched arm in Egypt, 
they should have been the 
people who could discern 
the good in their lives as 
free people. But even those 
who stood beneath Sinai 
and became a nation were 
still unable to look beyond 
their base desires.
And if it was challenging 
for them, how much the 
more so for us? “But if 
we try sometimes …” Let 
us be the generation who 
follows Ben Zoma’s maxim 
from Misha Avot 4:1, “Who 
is happy? The one who 
delights in their portion.” 
May this generation find 
true contentment and joy 
in what we have, both to 
please God and to soothe 
our own souls. 
 

Rabbi Jeremy Yoskowitz is the 

Z’man Kodesh Coordinator and a 

Jewish studies instructor at Frankel 

Jewish Academy.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi 
Jeremy 
Yoskowitz

Parshat 

Behaalotecha: 

Numbers 

8:1-12:26; 

Zechariah 

2:14-4:7.

Join us on the following THURSDAYS - 2PM at Temple Israel or 
virtually at www.temple-israel.org/concerts

JUNE 15 ~ Temple Trio: Emma Trivax, Dan Iwrey & John Bogdan 

JULY 20 ~ Michael Carluccio: “The Man of a Thousand Voices”

AUGUST 17 ~ David Rogers: Piano Concert Talk

SEPTEMBER ~ No performance due to High Holy Days: L’Shana Tova 

OCTOBER 19 ~ Cantor Neil Michaels & Friends

More information can be found at: 
www.temple-israel.org/event/AfternoonConcert23

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Memorial Fund, the Harry & Phyllis Kellman Memorial Fund, 
the Bertha & Harry Kifferstein Senior Adult Programming Fund 
and the Iwrey Family Special Needs Fund.

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