Parashat Beha'alotcha: Freedom comes with responsibility

After completing the Book of Leviticus, which dealt mainly with the laws of the kohanim, the Temple, and the sacrifices, we moved on to the Book of Numbers, which focuses on the people – our ancestors, the Israelites, and their long journey through the desert, on their way from Egypt to the Promised Land, the land of Canaan.

This journey, as we will soon discover, was not a heroic one. It was more like a series of failures, complaints, and sins. In this week’s parasha, Beha’alotcha, we hear of the first complaints. The Israelites began their journey after camping for about a year at the foot of Mount Sinai. Immediately after embarking on their journey, “The people took to complaining bitterly before God... and then 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!’” (Numbers 11:1-6).

Remember that they are in the desert, not in an inhabited area. It is natural for them to miss various foods. But does this absence justify their strange complaint? We read their complaints, rub our eyes in amazement, and do not believe what we hear! They longingly cherish their wonderful time in Egypt. They remember the fish and vegetables they ate in Egypt “for free” and cry about what they don’t have now in the desert.

If we assume that the description of eating fish and vegetables in Egypt is indeed authentic, can we say that they received this food for free? Let us recall the description in the Book of Exodus: “The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed on the Israelites the various labors that they made them perform. Ruthlessly, they made life bitter for them with harsh labor....” 

And as if that wasn’t enough, “Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, ‘Every boy that is born you shall throw into the Nile.’” And if we are not yet convinced, we read further: “A long time after that... the Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out, and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God.”

Did anyone get free food?! From what we read, they paid to live in an extremely expensive currency. They paid with their freedom and even with their lives. How can we understand this strange selective memory? How can we understand a slave who went free and misses the “days of glory” when he was given meals at his master’s expense?

Indeed, Rashi cites this question in a slightly more subtle tone from the Sifre, the midrash of the Tana’im on the Book of Numbers: “If they didn’t give them corn for free, would they give them fish for free?” and gives a surprising answer: “Free from what? Free from the mitzvot.”

According to the Sifre, the Israelites were not complaining about the lack of meat or fish and vegetables but about the commandments given to them. At first glance, it seems like matters were taken out of context, but in fact there is a profound perspective here that penetrates the depths of the human soul and reveals some thoughts that we should recognize in ourselves as well.

The Israelites were slaves in Egypt for many years and lived under particularly difficult conditions. Going free was their intense desire, the fulfillment of their dreams, the pinnacle of their happiness. But they very quickly discovered that with freedom also comes responsibility.

Freedom

A slave is not required to take responsibility for his actions, but a free man is required to be accountable for his actions, for those around him, for his future. The Israelites came out of Egypt but very quickly discovered that freedom entails commandments, and this thought shook them. They were no longer sure which was preferable: to be a slave in Egypt who lived “for free,” without commandments and without responsibility, or to be a free person, who is responsible for both his physical and spiritual existence.

This confusing situation provoked a strange selective memory, and they “remembered” well the fish and vegetables they ate in Egypt but “forgot” the bitter suffering and hardships they had there. From afar, when the threatening burden of responsibility is right before our eyes, the suffering of the past suddenly seems less harsh, and slavery seems like a reasonable payment in exchange for fish and vegetables.

But God did not give up on them. Freedom comes with responsibility, and the Israelites learn this in various ways until they mature and become truly free people as they happily bear the responsibility on their shoulders.■

The writer is the rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites.