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Of the many
well-known stories found in Parshas Chukas, the death of Miriam is one which
stands out. Though they did not realize it until after her death, Miriam was
the one responsible for Bnei Yisrael’s survival in the desert. There was a well
which followed Bnei Yisrael through the desert providing them with water during
their travels; however, following Miriam’s death, the well disappeared. This
showed the Nation that the water came in her merit. Let us examine the pesukim
from this point.
When Bnei
Yisrael saw they did not have water, they came to complain to Moshe. “ולא
היה מים לעדה ויקהלו על משה ועל אהרן
. וירב העם עם משה…ולמה הבאתם את קהל יהוה אל המדבר הזה…ולמה העליתנו ממצרים.”
“The congregation had no water,
so they assembled against Moshe and Aharon. The People quarreled with Moshe…Why
have you brought the congregation of Hashem to this desert…Why have you taken
us out of Egypt…” (Bamidbar 20:2-5). The Kli Yakar asks a few
questions on these pesukim. When Bnei Yisrael come to complain, in Pasuk 2 it
says they come to both Moshe and Aharon but in pasuk 3, when they start
complaining, they fight with Moshe alone. Then in pasuk 4, it says “הבאתם”, in the plural form, showing
that they complained to both of them, but in pasuk 5, they once again only
complain to Moshe! What’s going on in the pesukim? Secondly, why do they
complain about the problems in the desert before complaining about leaving
Mitzrayim? Shouldn’t the complaints be in chronological order? Lastly, in the
pesukim the Bnei Yisrael are referred to as עדה, העם, and קהל יהוה. Why the
different ways of reference?
He explains
that the Bnei Yisrael knew that some of what they received in the desert was in
the merit of their leaders. In Moshe’s merit they received the מן, in Aharon’s merit they received
the ענני הכבוד, the Clouds of Glory, and in Miriam’s merit they received the
well. However, none of these things would have been necessary had they been
traveling near a populated area; the fact that they were in the middle of the
desert is why these things were vital to their survival. And while the taking
them out of Mitzrayim was done by Moshe alone, the fact that they entered the desert was because both
Moshe and Aharon knew they could survive there because of the מן and the clouds. That’s why in pasuk
2 it says that when they didn’t have water they came to complain to both Moshe and Aharon since both of them were
responsible for their trek through the desert. Only afterwards in pasuk 3 does
it say they complained to Moshe alone since he alone was responsible for taking
them out of Mitzrayim. However, both pesukim do not write explicitly the reason
for either complaint. Those are found in pasuk 4 and 5 where first they
complain about the fact that they came into the desert, which was against both
Moshe and Aharon, and only afterwards do they complain about having left
Mitzrayim which was only against Moshe.
The next
question we need to answer is why would the Bnei Yisrael complain about
traveling through the desert before they complained about leaving Mitzrayim?
The Kli Yakar answers that the only reason leaving Mitzrayim was a big deal at
this point was because they were now in the desert. The first thing they
had to complain about was the fact they were in the desert over being in an
actual country. Then they complained about having left such a
comfortable and wealthy country like Mitzrayim, known as “גן ה'” the Garden of Hashem, because of its’ beautiful
vegetation; a far cry from the arid desert.
Lastly, the
fact that they kept changing the terminology of how they referred to the
Nation, had to do with how they viewed themselves. As we have explained several
times throughout the Torah, when the Torah refers to the Bnei Yisrael as “העם”,
it is referring to the reshaim amongst them while when the word “קהל” is used,
it is referring to the tzaddikim. Taking a close look at the pesukim, we can
see that when the complainers refer to themselves, they use the word “קהל”
while when the Torah refers to them as “העם”. This is because while they saw
themselves as being in the right, the Torah shows us the opposite. It is then
very appropriate what is written in Pasuk 6 “וַיָּבֹא משֶׁה
וְאַהֲרֹן מִפְּנֵי הַקָּהָל אֶל פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וַיִּפְּלוּ עַל פְּנֵיהֶם…”
“Moseh and Aharon moved away from the
assembly to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and they fell on their faces.”
(20:6). We see that Moshe and Aharon came to daven for mercy for Bnei Yisrael,
but only for the Kahal.
Shabbat Shalom!
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