The articles in this column are transcriptions and adaptations of shiurim by Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, zt”l. The Rav’s unique perspective on Chumash permeated many of the shiurim and lectures he presented at various venues over a 40-plus-year period. His words add an important perspective that makes the Chumash in particular, and our tradition in general, vibrant and relevant to our generation.
Mazal Tov to Mina and Larry Tiefenbrunn on the marriage of their son Aryeh to Ayala Shemen.
Parshat Behaalotcha is a compendium of various, seemingly disparate events surrounding the aborted entry of Bnei Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael with Moshe in the lead. What is the connection of the beginning of the parsha, detailing the command to Aaron to kindle the menorah on a daily basis, with the subsequent parts of the parsha, such as the commandment to fashion trumpets, the conversation between Moshe and Yisro, and the tragic events at the conclusion of the parsha that set the stage for sending spies and the disastrous consequences of that mission?
Rashi comments that Aaron was distraught at seemingly being omitted, together with his tribe, from the dedication of the Tabernacle. He was placated by the honor and commandment to kindle the lights in the Tabernacle and subsequently the Temple. Why insert this story at this particular juncture? The Rav noted that Moshe had two missions to fulfill when he liberated the people from Egypt. The first was to give them the Torah and by extension render them into an am kadosh, a holy or separate people. That was accomplished with the first and ultimately second set of Luchot brought down from Sinai. The Torah provided them the rules and regulations by which they became a single, integrated mass of people.
The second mission was to build a Tabernacle that would serve as their religious central nervous system or as the heart of the body pumping blood to the disparate yet connected organs and limbs forming a unified body, fashioned from a people that only a scant two years before knew only slavery. It was a monumental task to turn this rag tag group of complainers into a unified kingdom of princes. With the completion of the Tabernacle and the alignment of the tribes surrounding it, detailed in Parshat Bamidbar and Parshat Behaalotcha, all the physical and spiritual pieces were in place to initiate the march. All the damaged tissue that was expressed as complaints in Egypt and in the desert prior to Kabbalat HaTorah had been expunged. Aaron’s mission to kindle the lights on a daily basis was the final part of the latter mission with which Moshe was charged, to build the Tabernacle.
They were now ready to embark on a journey that, in a matter of a few days, would usher them into the Promised Land. Hashem was so anxious, kaveyachol, to bring them into the land that they would barely have to lift a finger. As the Torah says, when the Ark began its sojourn towards Eretz Yisrael, Moshe announced, “Let Hashem arise and let His enemies flee and scatter before Him.” And when it rested, he would say, “Return Hashem to your resting place.” That segment was preceded by Moshe’s conversation, and apparent pleading, with Yisro to remain and join them on their journey. Yisro refuses and insists on returning to his land and birthplace. The subsequent stories commence the startling fall of the people from the heights they had just attained, as they express various complaints that suddenly begin to gnaw at them. The complainers, their desire for meat, the story of the 70 elders, Eldad and Meidad, and Miriam and Aaron speaking against Moshe – all these events conspired to derail their march into the Promised Land, and with the episode of the spies, ultimately delayed it another 38 years.