The Complainers
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5768
Sometimes you look at the Parsha and the sermon is staring you in the face. This week it jumped off the page at me and it was too good to pass up.
The Torah gives us a glimpse into the dynamics of the Jewish community- The people, their complaints and the reactions of the leader and of God.
Chapter 11 – begins contains two sets of complaints; after the first set we see God’s reaction and after the second we find Moshe’s reaction.
I believe that this chapter contains tremendous insight into the struggles of religious organizations and the frustrations that we face. In addition the text gives our commentators the opportunity to delve into why we complain.
The chapter begins
(א) וַיְהִי הָעָם כְּמִתְאֹנְנִים רַע בְּאָזְנֵי יְקֹוָק וַיִּשְׁמַע יְקֹוָק וַיִּחַר אַפּוֹ וַתִּבְעַר בָּם אֵשׁ יְקֹוָק וַתֹּאכַל בִּקְצֵה הַמַּחֲנֶה:
1. And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed those who were in the outlying parts of the camp.
The people then cry to Moshe and the fire subsides. We then immediately come to the second episode:
(ד) וְהָאסַפְסֻף אֲשֶׁר בְּקִרְבּוֹ הִתְאַוּוּ תַּאֲוָה וַיָּשֻׁבוּ וַיִּבְכּוּ גַּם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמְרוּ מִי יַאֲכִלֵנוּ בָּשָׂר:
4. And the mixed multitude that was among them had a strong craving; and the people of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us meat to eat?
And a few verses later we read Moshe’s response:
11. And Moses said to the Lord, Why have you afflicted your servant? and why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people upon me?
- Have I conceived all this people? Have I fathered them, that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom, like a nursing father carries the sucking child, to the land which you swore to their fathers?
- And if you deal thus with me, kill me, I pray you, at once, if I have found favor in your sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.
From the text itself three glaring questions emerge:
- What was the original complaint and why doesn’t the Torah tell us what it is? All we are told is that the people complained but not what the complaint was.
- Whatever it was- what was so terrible about this that God’s immediate response is to send a fire to kill? And a similar question must be asked of Moshe- what was so bad about the complaint for meat that he asked God to kill him. You can sense Moshe’s frustration in his words, you can feel his anguish, was a desire for meat really that bad to warrant such a response?
- After the first complaint and punishment why did they continue to complain? Did they not learn their lesson the first time?
To answer those questions we need to understand why people complain and as always we need to look at the larger context of the story in the torah.
Gersonides, the great philosopher maintains that the first group must have been complaining about a fundamental of our faith and that was their issue. Although I am a huge fan of his, I don’t think here is correct here and I will tell you why in a moment.
I found four other reasons given by the commentators:
- Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk in his Meshech Chochma gives two options. First – the people were angry because the Leviim took their jobs. They used to be able to do temple related work and now they can’t and someone else is going to so they got angry. Call it replacement anger.
- His second reason – they did not like the restrictiveness of some of the prohibitions.
- The Netziv, Rabbi Nafatli Tzvi Yehuda Berlin- they complained because life was tough, the journey was hard and so they took it out on Moshe.
- Most striking- Rashi in a series of comments – argues that they complained simply to complain.
- Grammatically mitoninim- looking to complain
b.”In the ears of God” they wanted it to be heard
- He argues that the meat eaters actually had animals, the torah tells us so. They complained simply to complain.
- families came together to cry to ensure that it was done publicly so that all could see.
To this I would add a textual point – when you look at who complained about the meat you will find that at first it was the Asafsoof, a particular group, but by the end of the verse Bnai yisrael has joined in as well. Apparently complaining is contagious!
Now we begin to understand why Moshe and Hashem are so upset. This is what they are complaining about! We now need to add the contextual piece.
What immediately precedes this chapter? The Marching orders to the land of Israel. The great spiritual mission, the great journey is about to begin; all of or collective dreams are about to be realized and we say again- This is what they are complaining about! They have missed the boat entirely! There is an important divine task at hand, there is nothing more important and this is what they are worried about. The people did not appreciate the unique nature of the endeavor or the task and allowed there personal desire and pettiness to derail the entire enterprise So yes, God gets angry and Moshe gets frustrated.
This is why I believe that Gersonides is incorrect. I don’t think Moshe or Hashem would have been nearly as perturbed if the people had a serious and weighty issue to take up. There is always place for discussion and even disagreement if the intentions are sincere and the issue real. It seems that it was the nature of the complaint combined with the manner of its delivery that sets God off and frustrates Moshe to no end.
The rabbis have a very creative way of not explicating a message that they want to deliver but want people to come to understand on their own. They simply write,
והמבין יבין, and he or she who is wise will understand. And so I end my sermon today-
והמבין יבין!
