In this week’s parshat, Beha’alotcha, the Torah tells us that the Jewish people brought an offering on their first Passover in the desert, which was exactly one year after leaving Egypt: the 15th of Nisan. Strangely, though, nine chapters earlier the book of Bamidbar began in the second month – Iyar. So why now is the Torah turning back to an episode that happened in the first month of the year?
Rashi comments that the Torah went out of its way not to start Bamidbar with this story, even though it meant changing the chronological order of the Torah, because the Passover episode casts the Jewish people in a bad light. This Passover offering was the only one they brought during their entire 40 years of desert travel.
The Chezkuni, a 13th century French commentary on Rashi, asks why the failure to bring the Passover offering would reflect negatively on the Jewish people, since, according to the verse in Exodus (12:25), they had no obligation to bring the Passover sacrifice until they reached the land: “And when you enter the land that God will give you, as promised, you shall observe this rite (the Passover offering)”.
The Chezkuni answers that, while it is true that the Jewish people were not obligated to bring the Passover while in the desert, by highlighting that the offering was brought only once, this episode reminds us that the Jewish people wandered in the desert for 40 years because of the sin they committed.
Which sin? The Chizkuni answers that it was the sin of the mitoninim, the complainers, as they journeyed from Sinai: “…We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic”. In response to those complaints, God sent the people an abundance of quail, and only quail, to eat for 30 days, which kept them in the desert and caused them to fall ill.
The Chizkuni points out that the Torah tells us that if one misses the first Passover for a good reason, they can bring the Passover offering on the 15th day of the second month. Thus, had the Jews not complained, they would not have been detained for 30 days eating quail and would have entered the land in time to bring the makeup Passover offering on the 15th of Iyar. They would not have had to spend 40 days in the desert, and instead could have spent those years bringing the annual Passover offering.
But has the Chizkuni forgotten about the sin of the spies? He seems to think that if the Jews had not complained about the food, and had reached the land in time to bring the second makeup Passover offering, they would not have sinned with the spies’ bad report. But, is this true? Was their complaint about the meat in the desert somehow related to the sin of the spies?
Perhaps the sins of the mitoninim, the complainers, and the meraglim, the spies, are indeed deeply connected. The complainers sin because they are nostalgic for an Egypt of bounty which never existed. Nostalgia can leave people longing for a utopian past that never was or a utopian future that can never be. The mitoninim do the first when they say, ‘we remember the great times in Egypt.’ The spies do the second because they dream of a utopian future which is unrealistic, a land that will be given to them easily, so when they face animosity they recoil in fear and hopelessness. I think this is what the Chezkiuni means – it seems like these two are very different episodes, but both groups suffer from a misalignment regarding what was and what will be.
Our community is embarking on change. For the first time we are hiring a much needed staff person, a learned woman, who will teach, guide, and help build our community. We are also working on building a much needed, more accessible, more functional, and beautiful shul. Some of us feel nostalgia for the past and long to keep things exactly as they have been until now, forgetting the liabilities of the past; others fear the future, thinking we are trying to do the impossible. Instead, we must be realistic about the past and the future, work hard and trust in God to help us help the Jewish people.
Let us learn from this parshat to avoid the dangers of both positions, and join together as a community for an even brighter future. Let Kesher Israel, our community and shul, more fully recognize its grand potential to serve the thousands of Jewish people in its orbit.