About that Shortage of Meat in the Desert, and Yitro Redux (Beha’alotekha)
But first a sad joke: One of the many, many, many, many, indeed far too many little Hasidic rebbelech wanted to impress his congregation by proving that Hanukkah is actually hinted at in the Torah, in this week’s parsha.
”Our parsha Behaloysechoo (Beha’alotekha) opens with the law of lighting the menoyreh (menorah in the Mishkan) and clearly the CHOO in BehaloyseCHOO, Is a remez (hint) at the CHHHH in Chanikeh (Hannukah).
Suddenly one of the Hassidim interjected; “But rebbe, the CHOO in Behaloysechoo is written with the letter choof (khaf ך ) while the CHHHH in Chanikeh is written with a ches (het ח)”.
To which the rebbe responded angrily “I’m talking holy Toyreh (Torah) and you’re interrupting me with dikdik (dikduk/grammar)!
•••
Beha’alotekha is a huge mishmash of a parsha that covers much ritual and narrative terrain. And yet, in media res, we get a snippet of inconclusive dialogue between Moshe and his father in law Yitro, normally referred to in the Torah as Yitro the Priest of Midian, but here referred to by one of his alternate appellations, Hovav ben Reuel the Midianite father-in-law of Moshe (Bamidbar/Numbers 10:29-32)
כט וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה, לְחֹבָב בֶּן-רְעוּאֵל הַמִּדְיָנִי חֹתֵן מֹשֶׁה, נֹסְעִים אֲנַחְנוּ אֶל-הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אָמַר יְהוָה, אֹתוֹ אֶתֵּן לָכֶם; לְכָה אִתָּנוּ וְהֵטַבְנוּ לָךְ, כִּי-יְהוָה דִּבֶּר-טוֹב עַל-יִשְׂרָאֵל. ל וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו, לֹא אֵלֵךְ: כִּי אִם-אֶל-אַרְצִי וְאֶל-מוֹלַדְתִּי, אֵלֵךְ. לא וַיֹּאמֶר, אַל-נָא תַּעֲזֹב אֹתָנו כִּי עַל-כֵּן יָדַעְתָּ, חֲנֹתֵנוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר, וְהָיִיתָ לָּנוּ, לְעֵינָיִם.
And Moshe said to Hovav the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moshe’s father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place which God said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for God has promised good to Israel.”0But he said to him, “I will not go. I will depart to my own land and to my birthplace.” And he said, “Please do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. And if you do go with us, whatever good the LORD will do to us, the same will we do to you.”
Clearly this conversation did not just happen. We can surmise that Yitro, having felt utterly marginalized since he arrived two years earlier, decides he has had enough, and comes to bid Moshe goodbye. After all, back in his native land Yitro was a force to be reckoned with, the high priest of a mighty society, and surely respected by one and all.
Moshe’s attempted blandishments to convince Yitro to stay are astonishingly patronizing. He thinks he can woo Yitro to remain by offering him a cut of the goodies that will eventually be given to the Israelites. And he attempts to flatter Yitro for his greater skills in navigating through desert; as if telling him, you non-Jews are good at this sort of thing, and we can use an extra pair of eyes.
From the text itself it is unclear whether Yitro succumbs to Moshe’s entreaties. But one suspects that he does not. After all, why would he? If anything, Moshe’s words are an insult.
Interestingly the very next piece of the parsha tells the story of the Israelites rising up against Moshe, complaining about the lack of hamburgers, steak and lamb chops in the desert. Acutely frustrated, and incapable of managing the howling mob, Moshe turns to God. (Bamidbar 11:12-14)
הֶאָנֹכִ֣י הָרִ֗יתִי אֵ֚ת כּל־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה אִם־אָנֹכִ֖י יְלִדְתִּ֑יהוּ כִּֽי־תֹאמַ֨ר אֵלַ֜י שָׂאֵ֣הוּ בְחֵיקֶ֗ךָ כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר יִשָּׂ֤א הָאֹמֵן֙ אֶת־הַיֹּנֵ֔ק עַ֚ל הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֖עְתָּ לַאֲבֹתָֽיו׃
Did I produce all this people, did I give birth to them 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 לְכל־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!’
לֹֽא־אוּכַ֤ל אָנֹכִי֙ לְבַדִּ֔י לָשֵׂ֖את אֶת־כּל־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֑ה כִּ֥י כָבֵ֖ד מִמֶּֽנִּי׃
I cannot carry all this people by myself, for it is too much for me.
And God replies (11:16-17):
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֜ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה אֶסְפָה־לִּ֞י שִׁבְעִ֣ים אִישׁ֮ מִזִּקְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יָדַ֔עְתָּ כִּי־הֵ֛ם זִקְנֵ֥י הָעָ֖ם וְשֹׁטְרָ֑יו וְלָקַחְתָּ֤ אֹתָם֙ אֶל־אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֔ד וְהִֽתְיַצְּב֥וּ שָׁ֖ם עִמָּֽךְ׃
Then God said to Moshe, “Gather for Me seventy of Israel’s elders of whom you have experience as elders and officers of the people, and bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them take their place there with you.
וְיָרַדְתִּ֗י וְדִבַּרְתִּ֣י עִמְּךָ֮ שָׁם֒ וְאָצַלְתִּ֗י מִן־הָר֛וּחַ אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָלֶ֖יךָ וְשַׂמְתִּ֣י עֲלֵיהֶ֑ם וְנָשְׂא֤וּ אִתְּךָ֙ בְּמַשָּׂ֣א הָעָ֔ם וְלֹא־תִשָּׂ֥א אַתָּ֖ה לְבַדֶּֽךָ׃
I will come down and speak with you there, and I will draw upon the spirit that is on you and put it upon them; they shall share the burden of the people with you, and you shall not bear it alone.
Now we have heard virtually the identical advice once before. Indeed, this was the very advice Yitro had given Moshe in his eponymously named Parsha, when Moshe was crashing under the burden of adjudicating all the lawsuits and legal cases of the entire Israelite nation. At that time God approved of Yitro’s advice, and this new system of delegating legal authority became the norm.
Can it be that here in Parshat Beha’alotekha God is reprising Yitro’s advice as a form of oblique rebuke to Moshe for the high-handed and condescending manner in which he had just spoken to his father in law – the very man who had bailed him out of a similarly tight spot but two years earlier?
Perhaps this is the reason why the brief dialogue between Moshe and Yitro is so inconclusive. Because until God rebukes Moshe by reminding him of just who Yitro is, the situation remains unresolved. And only now, a chastened Moshe can set things right with his righteous father in law and bid him a proper farewell.
***
ABOUT THAT SHORTAGE OF MEAT IN THE DESERT …
וַוַיַּעֲשׂ֣וּ אֶתהַפֶּ֡סַח בָּרִאשׁ֡וֹן בְּאַרְבָּעָה֩ עָשָׂ֨ר י֥וֹם לַחֹ֛דֶשׁ בֵּ֥ין הָעַרְבַּ֖יִם בְּמִדְבַּ֣ר סִינָ֑י כְּ֠כֹ֠ל אֲשֶׁ֨ר
צִוָּ֤ה יְהֹוָה֙ אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֔ה כֵּ֥ן עָשׂ֖וּ בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
And they offered the Passover sacrifice in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai. Just as God had commanded Moshe, so the Israelites did.
(Bamidbar/Numbers 10:2-3)
וַיְהִ֣י אֲנָשִׁ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר הָי֤וּ טְמֵאִים֙ לְנֶ֣פֶשׁ אָדָ֔ם וְלֹא־יָכְל֥וּ לַעֲשֹׂת־הַפֶּ֖סַח בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֑וּא וַֽיִּקְרְב֞וּ לִפְנֵ֥י מֹשֶׁ֛ה וְלִפְנֵ֥י אַהֲרֹ֖ן בַּיּ֥וֹם הַהֽוּא׃
But there were some people who were impure by reason of a corpse and could not offer the Passover sacrifice on that day. And they approached Moshe and Aharon on that same day.
וַ֠יֹּאמְר֠וּ הָאֲנָשִׁ֤ים הָהֵ֙מָּה֙ אֵלָ֔יו אֲנַ֥חְנוּ טְמֵאִ֖ים לְנֶ֣פֶשׁ אָדָ֑ם לָ֣מָּה נִגָּרַ֗ע לְבִלְתִּ֨י הַקְרִ֜יב אֶת־קרְבַּ֤ן יְהֹוָה֙ בְּמֹ֣עֲד֔וֹ בְּת֖וֹךְ בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
Those householders said to them, “Impure though we are by reason of a corpse, why must we be prevented from presenting God’s offering at its set time with the rest of the Israelites?”
(10:6-7)
From the above verses in chapter 10 of Bamidbar it is abundantly clear that there was no lack of meat in the desert. Not one Israelite complained of a shortage of lambs for the Paschal sacrifice.
Indeed, those who were exempt from partaking of the Paschal lamb on account of their ritual impurity pleaded for an encore date on which they could have a second opportunity. Had there been a shortage of mutton they would have counted their blessings at having been spared the aggravation of finding sheep for the festival.
As well, nowhere do we find any mention of a shortage of cattle for the daily and occasional sacrifices in the Mishkan. And yet the Mishkan required and endless supply of animals for sacrificial purposes.
Despite ample evidence of the abundance of livestock, in this very same parsha of Beha’alotekha we have the following:
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, “Who will feed us meat!
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.
(11:4-5)
It would appear the two realities are clashing in the very same reading. What is actually happening here?
The answer is in verse 11:5 אֲשֶׁר־נֹאכַ֥ל בְּמִצְרַ֖יִם חִנָּ֑ם “which we used to eat free in Egypt”.
The riffraff who provoked the Israelites to rise up were not complaining about any shortage of meat. They were complaining about a shortage of FREE meat.
Then, as now, there was a sector of the population that believed it was entitled to grift off others. That it was not their job to work and provide for themselves. Back then, such people demanded free food from God. Today, their gluttonous descendants demand it from the working citizens yet convince themselves that the free eats are from God.
Now as then there is an אסַפְסֻף֙ a mixed-multitude of freeloaders eager to sponge off others and complaining that the handouts are inadequate. The difference is that back then they succeeded in instigating their neighbors. Let’s hope that we will not allow our freeloading brothers to corrupt us as well. And we should be relentless in our effort to have them reach that part of the Torah which says:
שֵׁ֤֣שֶׁת יָמִ֣ים֙ תַּֽעֲבֹ֔ד֮ וְעָשִׂ֖֣יתָ כּֿל־מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ֒׃
Six days you shall labor and do all your work
(Shemot/Exodus 20:9)
After doing a full day’s work in order to feed their households, they can indulge their appetite for Gemara to their heart’s content.
