Congregation Beth Shalom

Torah Portion: Be' ha'alotcha

Book of Numbers
Chaps. 8:1-12:16
June 10, 2011

The most notable feature of the ancient Israelites under Moses' leadership was their incessant need to complain! There is a Yiddish term applied to one who constantly complains. They are referred to as a "Nudnik," literally a boring pest! Even the most patient eventually get fed up with the nudnik. Moses was no exception. Several times, in the 40 year desert journey, Moses wanted to be rid of this "stiff-necked people," and each time it was the patience of God that got him through.

When the people complained about food, God gave them manna. When they cried of thirst, God provided water. Each time their cries, complaints, and murmurs were heard and responded to. There is a difference between lodging legitimate complaints and being a general pest/constant complainer/nudnik. After so many years of finding fault, it became second-nature to the Israelites. As Pinchas Peli points out, "Murmuring, bewailing, moaning, fretting, and whining became a family pastime."

"The Israelites wept and said, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Now our gullets are shriveled. There is nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to! (Num. 11:4-6)."

The wonderful thing about our memory is its selective nature. The Israelites remembered the fish and cucumbers and melons as if the Egyptians made these foods readily available. The medieval bible scholar, Rashi, notes that the Egyptians would not even give them straw for their bricks, how much more so these food items. Furthermore, their wonderful memories of Egypt seem to have selectively excluded the pain and torture that was visited upon them. Nonetheless, for the ancient Israelites, those were the "good 'ole days!"

We all know a nudnik. He/She's the person who constantly complains how bad things are today and how much better they were in days past. For them, the proverbial glass is always "half empty" (and never "half full"). The late Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan liked to say, with regard to Jewish tradition, "The past has a vote, not a veto." This is a good axiom to live by in most dealings. Or, has Carly Simon so profoundly wrote, "These Are The Good 'Ole Days."

Rabbi Howard Siegel