Beha'alotecha

The emotional divide - Marc Shoffren 

Marc Shoffren is a graduate of the Melton Senior Educators Programme, currently Assistant Head Teacher at Clore Shalom, a pluralist Jewish primary School in Hertfordshire, and is working to complete an MBA with the Ashdown Fellows Programme. He is married to Jewish educator Shelley Marsh and has two daughters who inspire him. 

They had it all. The history, the rules and the rituals. They even had the Mishkan (sanctuary) - an all purpose 'porta-Ark': enough to create a fit-for-purpose monotheistic religion. Perhaps this is where Torah, or at least Numbers should have ended, with a final note from God to the Israelites:

'Dear Israelites,

Here is the final part of the Mishkan instruction manual (Section 47c: How to light the Lights). Plus a job list to keep the Levites busy.

Now remember to be flexible with each other, and don't be afraid to call if you need help (those special trumpets I told you to make should help). I'll see you in the promised land.

Yours, Adonai Almighty.'

It would have made a good ending - that double verse in special brackets in the middle of the parasha, (Numbers 10: 35-36) would have been the end of the book.

Only that wasn't the ending. That double verse is instead a semi colon, a link between two parts of the parasha, from laws and rules to human experience. In part two of Beha'aloteha the Israelites weren't satisfied with life in the desert. Complain? Of course they did - Jews love to complain.

Israelites: Hey Moses, enough of this dull manna: we miss the tasty slavery we had in Egypt - we want meat!

Moses: Hey Almighty one, enough of this whining bunch - why do I have to deal with all their moans? And when are these rules going to stop? Food, farming and now even how to light lamps...'

Aaron and Miriam: Enough of Moses being the leader: aren't we special too?

After the thrill of the escape, the joy of receiving the Torah and the excitement of building and dedicating the Mishkan, the 'New Israelite' project has begun to take its toll on all involved. As they marched away from Sinai, the enormity of all they were leaving behind began to dawn. The Israelites, tired of adventure and of thinking for themselves, began to complain to Moses, desperate for the security of slavery. Moses, like a new mum exhausted by weeks of sleepless nights and constant vigilance, worn down by dealing with the Israelites expectations and needs, by their constant desire for new tricks and miracles, begs God to take it all away. Fed up of their little brother getting all the attention, even Miriam and Aaron, mutter to each other.

Then, like any good teacher, God helps Moses to understand that in human affairs the intellectual doesn't work on its own: we need to acknowledge and understand our emotions. We need the support and nurture of other humans to make our existence bearable. Perhaps this is why God tells Moses to choose seventy elders to 'share the burden of the people with you.'

When we deal with the multitude of human emotions we experience and express, we, like the Israelites, need to have tools to express our feelings. Like Aaron we need to understand the effect of our actions, and like Miriam we need time to reflect on how we can become better people. While Satre famously  taught that 'Hell is other people', working out how to build and sustain community has always been at the heart of Judaism. Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting, said the Beatles. Beha'oloteha reminds us that only together can we work it out.