The Antidote to Boredom (Parsha Behalotcha)- Tehila Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship

hi guys so this explosion was so recent it was hard to decide what really perplexed me the most and what I should dive into in the end the winner was the story of the Israelites complaining about the meat this story is weird for a lot of reasons first of all why is it so bad in the past Israel complain for food when they were hungry and Hashem brought them food is it so wacky to ask for a little bit more protein the Mana we're told by the Torah tastes like Honey Cakes you know imagine having a tabernacle that's now built and running there's sacrifices going all day long and they smell barbecue from morning until night and it it's like living in a steak restaurant and they have these Honey Cakes not so bad but it's not so great either is it's so terrible for them to say hey can I have a side of chicken and it's even weirder considering the last time they asked for meat it wasn't so bad at all and schmote Exodus chapter 16. it says very clearly that in verse 2 the entire community of Israel complained against Moses and against Aaron in the desert and they said if only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the pots of meat and ate bread to our film and they say why didn't we just die already we're so hungry and we left at least alias in Egypt we had food and what does Hashem say does Hashem strike them down no it says in verse 11 the Lord spoke to Moses saying I've heard the complaints of the children of Israel speak to them saying in the afternoon you shall eat meat and in the morning you shall be sated with bread and you shall know that I am the Lord your God and it came to pass in the evening that the quails went up and covered the camp in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp and the layer of dew went up and behold on the surface of the desert a fine bear substance as fine as frost on the ground and and meaning hashem's original dietary plan included both Quail meat and Mana it seems that over time the quail was scaled back and they were just left with Manas was it so bad they're like oh I should have remember the quail that was really nice Ashton was fine giving them quill last time why is hashem's response so different here why is Hashem so upset and besides freshmen's different response look at moshe's different response he seems to have a complete excuse me I'm sorry for saying this but a meltdown he was certainly constantly upset in the past with the complaining but here Moshe actually gets so upset that he asked God to kill him he says what are these my children did I carry them in my womb did I give birth to them I need to have this miserable responsibility why is this particular thing making Moshe so upset he didn't upset about much worse since both in the past and in the future and then there's hashem's solution to moshe's upsetness which isn't even any more clear than the problems than the original problem session says to him to take 70 elders and they're going to carry the burden with you that seems like a reasonable solution to me right except if you're us and you've read the rest of the Torah and we know what happens after this Moshe has endless problems the spies and Korra and balam and wars and and written sins and problems and I've checked this up these same 70 elders are never mentioned again in the rest of the Torah meaning they're brought there to help Moshe carry this burden but at no point does it ever tell us the Torah that any such burden was shared with them it doesn't ever say that the elders actually help Moshe with any of his future problems so if the whole scheme didn't work why would Hashem suggest a solution that's not even a solution for the problem that Moshe is bringing up so I'm banging ahead again my head against my my Torah all Shabbat long trying to figure out these conundrums after a lot of thought I feel like this portion is actually really speaking of very timely lesson to us in our particular generation the challenges that we face what is essentially going on here let's go back to the actual story What's Happening Here for Israel that's different than their previous complaints and there are other complaints they usually had an objective actual need like they were legitimately hungry or they were legitimately thirsty or they were legitimately terrifying could they have found a better way than complaining sure hindsight's 2020 maybe they should have just had faith maybe they should have prayed in a positive way praise session for all that he's given and said like oh you know Hashem could you also help us with that complaining isn't like really great but nonetheless we kind of feel for that we have a heart for them because they were in a hard situation and it's not so easy to think straight when you're hungry and thirsty right we don't make great decisions when we're you know in those types of hardships and so maybe Moshe was a little bit upset but in the ant Hashem provided for them that which they were complaining about and the complaints were basically dealt with mercifully here the situation is different they had everything they need they've left slavery they've gotten the tour they've built their Tabernacle they have abundant water and Hashem gives them a perfect portion of miraculous Mana that falls for them every day in the exact amount that they need they're not hungry they're living in Utopia and what happens to them they are bored they say our souls are dry from this Mana they're not just hungry it's like this emptiness and who can understand this better than us in our generation like in the thousands of years since then when people had to be struggling just to put anything on the table could anyone actually relate with this story of having so much abundance that their biggest concern is lack of variety that would have seen seemed insane even just to our great grandparents right like you're bored from having all of your needs provided for you seriously and yet in our generation it's what we constantly are coping with boredom it's essentially what drives our entire modern culture you need the newest car the newest iPhone the newest fashion because the old car the old phone the old clothes they're not broken or unusable but our culture trains us to low the boredom and always seek the newest hottest most advanced thing and how many marriages fall apart from boredom the same cultural ethos seeps into like our most intimate relationships you know I'm I'm a I'm a family lawyer and people tell me they just get tired of the same old person the same conversation they need excitement they need something new they need variety I know everything about you I want somebody more interesting and this constant Search for variety essentially drives our culture new equals good and with kids don't even get me started the Israelites are like modern children because they have all their needs met in the past children had to be working in the homestead today children have everything they need which parent doesn't go crazy hearing the kids saying oh I'm so bored I'm so bored for me like when my kids say that it's like nails on the chalkboard I'm just like really you can't think of anything to do I'm like looking at the laundry pile and the unmatched socks nothing to do [Music] only their fault that's the culture we live in everything is so abundant and so much less worth work is needed to create that abundance that would have been needed in the past and so it creates boredom and the situation is not going to get any better it's going to get worse because with artificial intelligence so many people are predicting that more and more things that we even do today will be done for us by Ai and we'll just be able to sit back and enjoy but that enjoyment comes with boredom that's sure to follow and the desire for more and more variety all the time so the Tory is like speaking to us to our generation what is the Torah telling us through the story of Israel's boredom Israel says we're sick of the same old Mana we want something new and there are two messages that we get here first of all what's interesting is what Hashem says he teaches them something so deep he doesn't say no you guys are wrong he says yes but he gives it to them in excess it says in verse 20 you shall eat it not one day not two days not five days not ten days not 20 days but for a full month until it comes out of your nose and nauseates you because you have despised the Lord who was amongst you and you've cried out before him saying why did we ever leave Egypt just this lesson alone is really valuable what is Hashem saying say I'm going to give you what you think you need what you think will solve your problem you think that you're bored and therefore you need variety you need the newest food the most titillating new experience but it's not going to satisfy you here's the secret I'm going to give you literally an endless amount of what you're asking for and not only will you not be happy it will actually come out of your nose and nauseate you meaning that which you think is what you want most is actually going to disgust you and then hashan hints to ask what is the real problem he says you think your problem is lack of variety some food need that you want to you know have the next best model of and that you'll be happy but no it's because you despise the Lord who is among you and cried before him why did we ever leave Egypt meaning Hashem is hyperlinking us back to the real problem there are two things that the Israelites said if you look carefully they ask for me yeah that's true but that might not have been so bad alone they said you know how they said oh Hashem please give us a side dish fair enough but look carefully what they said go back to verse five they said we remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free of charge of cucumbers the Watermelons the leeks the onions and the garlic here we're at the Crux of the problem they're not hungry even everything that they have Egypt Egypt of all places to soothe their boredom what does that mean that they've gotten the Torah they've built a tabernacle for the sole purpose of what of going to the land of Israel and creating a kingdom of Hashem being a light unto the nation now remember this is before the sin of the spies it's not like they're facing a 40 Years of boredom they know or think or believe this is a temporary problem and yet still for that small period of lack of variety that they're willing to give up the entire mission of Israel and go back to Egypt they've lost the meaning the purpose of their existence has nothing to do with the meat Egypt of all places the center of the evil empire that is willing to enslave and kill just to keep the period the pyramid machine moving and now you can understand why moshe's response was so different he has and will face crises and hardships and he's okay with that but his entire life's mission was to take them out of Egypt and bring them to the land and up after everything they've been through they're willing to throw it away for a smorgasbord that's like the side perk of being a slave in Egypt there's literally no point to his entire life can you imagine the failure that Moshe feels right now Rabbi sax explains it so beautifully he says they experience the Twin Peaks of Revelation at Mount Sinai they constructed the Tabernacle they'd come closer to God than any Nation ever before and they weren't starving their complaint was now that they had no food they had the Mana but their complaint was that it was boring since they reach the spiritual Heights but they remained the same small-minded people they had been before and that is what made Moshe feel that his entire Mission had failed and would continue to fail because his mission was to help them create a society that would be the opposite of Egypt that would liberate instead of oppressed they would dignify instead of enslave but the people had not changed worse they had taken refuge in the most absurd Nostalgia for Egypt that they had left memories of fish and cucumbers and garlic Moshe discovered it was easier to take the Israelites out of Egypt than to take Egypt out of the Israelites so now if we understand that that's the problem we can also understand that because if Musa was just saying I can't take these annoying people anymore it would have been reasonable for Hashem to give him some people to share the burden but then why don't we ever see them sharing the burden and the rest of the Torah Hashem wouldn't offer a ridiculous solution to a serious problem but if we understand that moshe's breakdown was not because he was tired of taking care of us but it was a breakdown of meaning saying how am I supposed to give these people meaning if everything I've done hasn't given them a connection to their life's mission then maybe these 70 people are the goods or the right solution look carefully at who was chosen for these 70 because remember in yitro when Moshe was technically physically exhausted from taking care of judging the people all day long then they chose middle management whose qualities were like Integrity leadership honesty they didn't even have spiritual Epiphany they were like bureaucrats here the main inauguration for these 70 leaders is prophecy meaning what Hashem was looking for in these leaders was a spiritual equality not to be good managers and that's why we don't hear about them in the future crises and Wars because they weren't managers they weren't bureaucrats they weren't there to solve problems the solution wasn't bureaucratic but to be ongoing day-to-day spiritual guides down on the ground with the nation Moshe feels like a failure but Hashem is essentially saying that even with all the Revelation that you brought in the Tabernacle that you built in The Exodus that you took them out of that wears off the only way to maintain a real connection with Hashem and the meaning of your life is constant upkeep of study and being strengthened by good teachers spiritual role models there's no sound in light show that's going to do the trick one charismatic charismatic leader can't do it alone you need to take some of your inspiration and create communities of study and growth and how do I know that I'm right because it is true that these Elders were never mentioned again in the Torah but they are mentioned in the prophets twice this almost identical worth is a period in Joshua and judges in Joshua 24 31 and later in judges it says that Israel served the Lord in the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua who had known all the works of the Lord that he had done for Israel meaning it actually worked even without motion without Joshua the system of having teachers spread among the tribes who had spiritual experiences real connection with Hashem and would seen what Hashem did for Israel and she understood the mission of the Jewish people he could share that with these communities and that was the way the only way to keep everyone plugged in you know nursing from that spiritual source so what does the territation as the boredom is not fixed by variety but rather by finding meaning you can do the same job again and again if you are invigorated and inspired by the purpose you can how many of us mothers know what it's like to do the same laundry and the same dishes every day but if you're tapped into the purpose and the meaning of your life's Mission then you'll never get bored of that and what is the secret to solving to keeping that connection to the mission the Torah is showing us it's to create study communities spiritual communities communities where we come together and we're reminding one another strengthening one another learning together at There's No Escape there's no one great experience that can that can give that to us it's only through the slow specific consistent day-to-day work on ourselves in community together that can keep us plugged in and then off that constant boredom that the Israelites faced in Egypt and that we as a modern society today have to cope with so much so with that I wish everybody an inspired beautiful and amazing week bye guys