rabbijaffe

Reading through the Torah sometimes makes me wince. It seems that every time the Jews take a break from whining, they use the opportunity to complain.

“We’re thirsty!” “We’re hungry!” “We miss Egypt!” “Why are we walking so much?” “I don’t like the desert!” “No Starbucks anywhere!”

This is a group that just spent their lives as slaves and they’re incessantly protesting to the one man who took a stand to save them from their wretched existence!

But you’ll notice God’s role in all of this. I like to think of Moshe as CEO of the company for which God is the owner. God gives Moshe a lot of freedom of expression, but certainly stresses that the people need to be compensated when necessary. Moshe was angry when the people complained of thirst and hunger. “OK, fine. Give them something to drink; give them something to eat.” Were they rude, discourteous and ungrateful when they asked? Absolutely. But were their requests unreasonable? Certainly not!

God watches and grants the people their requests, despite their atrocious behavior toward their fearless leader. That is, of course, until they took their behavior too far. Their circumstance could be questioned, their emotions could be expressed, but to attack Moshe’s character was far more than could be tolerated. Korach and his posse stood before Moshe and exclaimed (Bamidbar 16:3), “It is too much for you! For the entire assembly — all of them — are holy and HaShem is among them; why do you exalt yourselves over the congregation of HaShem?”

Give me something to drink. God said, “You’re rude, but here’s some water.” Give me something to eat. God said, “Learn to ask nicely… but here’s some bread.” Moshe is undeserving of his role as spiritual leader, and we should be in the limelight. God said, “Moshe is the closest thing humanity will ever know to perfection, and you deserve less than nothing.” And the rebels were swallowed up by the earth. The owner of the company stood by his CEO and said, “An attack on a man of this caliber is an attack on Me. In this world, we earn spiritual reward and are entitled to nothing!”

And yet we live in the world of entitlement. Scores of people feel they are entitled to things for reasons that are so foreign as to appear ludicrous. And crazy old me sees this in nowhere more than synagogue. I went to a class not long ago and watched a person nudge someone out of his seat. Most people hear this and think, “OK, what else is new?” This was five minutes after the lecture had begun, in a very small room! He actually forced a person to get up and (embarrassingly) move in the middle of a talk, just because he felt like he had some sort of powerful claim on that spot.

And why!? Because he sat there several times before? Because he was a member of that particular synagogue? Because he had a fierce spiritual connection with that location? Because he was important?

Big deal! You’re in a house of God, and God Himself is the true owner of each and every seat. To feel that this seat belongs to you and you alone is a mini-rebellion against His omnipotence and an abysmal reflection of one’s faith that He is constantly overseeing us.

God was not telling Korach a onetime anachronistic message that if you stand up against Moshe you will surely perish. God was sending a message to all of us, to look at our words and actions, capture the true messages we’re sending, and understand when we’re telling the Almighty that He owes us something.

Shabbat Shalom!!

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