Complaining at the End --> A Quick End

Parshat Chukat-Balak 

by Rabbi Avi Billet

 Once we get through chapter 19 (Parah Adumah), Parshas Chukas becomes a series of relatively quick tales which all seem to take place in the final year in the wilderness – beginning with the deaths of Miriam and Aharon, with the event of mei merivah (when the people complain about the lack of water and Moshe berates them before hitting the rock to bring out water for them), and the various battles which ensue between Canaanites, and the Emorites of Cheshbon and Bashan. 

 Considering that the end of the time in the wilderness presumes that 

a. The Exodus generation has almost completely passed away 

b. Those still around were either under 20 at the time of the Exodus, or born since the Exodus one wonders how the people could come to complain in the following manner: 

 “They journeyed from Mount Hor by way of Yam Suf to go around the land of Edom, and the people became impatient on the way. And so the nation spoke against God and Moshe [saying] ‘Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is not bread, and no water, and our souls loathe this light bread!’ (21:4-5) 

[We can open a can of worms by asking what is meant by Yam Suf, especially if this traveling from Mount Hor is in the aftermath of Aharon’s death at that very mountain. Is this the same Yam Suf of the splitting of the sea? Is it a different place entirely? Is it a different spot on a much larger body of water than we imagine? Is Yam Suf what is now referred to as the “Red Sea” which surrounds the “Sinai Peninsula” on two sides? If it is the same location as the Splitting of the Sea, and considering that Mount Hor is almost certainly in what is modern-day Jordan, does this mean that the Splitting of the Sea was on the Eilat/Aqaba side of the Red Sea, and not on the Egypt side of the Red Sea? And what would that suggest about the location of Mount Sinai – in Sinai peninsula, or in Midian, which is current day Saudi Arabia?]

It seems hard to imagine that “the nation” that is complaining refers to the entire population. After all, those who were ‘brought up from Egypt” are mostly no longer alive. It would be hard for me to thank God (or complain to Him) for having taken me out of Galicia, if 3 of my 4 grandparents were born in the United States to parents who came to the US as children in the early 1900s! Even my American-born grandparents who were never in Galicia would not have issued such a statement!

 And for those who basically grew up in the wilderness, where they have been eating Manna and having water from a well throughout their existence (Alshikh, Kli Yakar, Or HaChaim, RSR Hirsch refer these as spiritual foods which don’t have the calories that travelers might need, and don’t produce waste that humans are used to excreting), this is their “normal” which shouldn’t breed a complaint! How would those born in the wilderness know any different, or that their experience is anything outside of the realm of a normal human experience? 

Or HaChaim notes that the specific concern about the food came about because of their interaction with other nations. As for the complaining of “why did you bring us up from Egypt?” – that only came from those still alive from the Exodus generation who knew they had just a few months to live and no longer had any kind of נחת רוח – peace of mind – in their wilderness story and existence.

Their complaint, therefore, was not as much about the food specifically, and more about the seeming uselessness of their existence. 

Perhaps we can even take this a step further, noting that this complaint triggered a plague in which snakes bit people and a large multitude died. (21:6) 

This is in the aftermath of a recorded plague in Korach, in which 14,700 people died, and another plague at the end of Parshat Pinchas in which 24,000 will die. 

Were the people complaining about the manna suicidal? Did they want to end what they viewed as their miserable drawn-out existence, highlighted as being the generation that left Egypt but did NOT make it to the Promised Land? 

It is possible that they saw complaining and challenging God as their ticket to a shortened life, or a life that no longer needed to be drawn out.

This opens up a fascinating perspective to consider. Many of us are familiar with the expression “it beats the alternative.” Anyone who can joke about current realities as “beating the alternative” has what to live for, looks forward to every day, and hopefully is finding meaning in every day.

Most people don’t respond well to complainers, and in fact find complainers to be off-putting. 

Maybe the Torah is telling us here that when people complain about things that – certainly from one perspective – are pretty good, it is a sign that their lives have ceased to have the kind of meaning that it once did. 

We ought not fall into the trap of being people who can only find negative in our experiences. Imagine having water come miraculously. Imagine if we were given our daily bread, just the right amount, it didn’t produce waste, and we didn’t have to worry about grocery bills or toilet paper. 

Maybe the food is the same texture everyday, but it has flexible flavoring and taste! 

Would we complain? 

I hope not. Hopefully we are grateful enough for having been gifted another day, every day.