B'ha'alotcha

Hi,

This week's portion is B'ha'alotcha.

The portion begins with the final Mishkan [Traveling Temple] instructions. Aharon is instructed regarding the daily lighting of the Menorah, and the Levites are officially installed in their service.

It is now one year since the Jews left Egypt, and so the nation is instructed to bring the annual commemorative Pesach offering. One group, though, is unable to bring the Pesach Offering; they have been in contact with corpses, and so they are ritually ineligible for bringing offerings. Gd tells Moshe that these people should bring the Pesach offering a month later, in a make-up offering called Pesach Sheni. From that year on, people who are not able to bring the first offering bring the make-up offering one month later.

The Jews then resume their trip through the desert. A cloud leads the camp by day, and an apparition of fire leads them at night. Trumpets are blown to assemble the nation for travel, as well as to mark celebrations, war and general assemblies.

The Jews leave Sinai. They soon run into trouble, complaining about a lack of meat. The nation had done this once before, and at that point Gd gave them meat, but this time He killed the complainers. Perhaps the difference is that here the Jews didn’t just ask for meat; they also denied Gd’s gift of the Manna, thereby showing ingratitude for its beauty, taste and convenience.

Moshe, in responding to the people’s request for meat, tells Gd he gives up; he can’t handle the nation.
Gd responds by appointing 70 elders to help Moshe. The 70 elders are chosen by taking 6 from each tribe, but that yields 72, so they have a lottery. Two don’t make it, and those turn out to be brothers, Eldad and Meidad. They prophesy in the camp after the elders have departed; there is some debate as to whether this was real prophecy or faux prophecy. The Talmud offered a view that their prophecy was that Moshe would die and Joshua would take over. Joshua asked Moshe to imprison them, but Moshe said he would prefer to have everyone become a prophet.

At the end of the portion, Miriam told Aharon a negative statement about their brother Moshe. As the classic commentator Rashi (citing the Midrash) understands it, Moshe had separated from his wife Tzipporah because of his need to be available for Gd at all times, and Miriam complained that this was arrogant of Moshe.
Gd summoned Aharon and Miriam and rebuked them for their lack of respect for their younger brother, Moshe. Miriam, as the active partner in the slander, has her punishment recorded in the Torah; she receives Tzaraat, a skin ailment described elsewhere in the Torah. Moshe prayed for her and Gd healed her, but she had to stay outside the general camp for a week.
Aharon, who was silent in the slander, has his punishment for his part omitted from the Torah, but the commentator R' Abraham Ibn Ezra notes that Aharon was punished, too.
The Jews waited for Miriam to be able to re-join them, and then they continued their trek.

Have a great day,
Mordechai