B'Shalach: Stop the Complaining!
B'Shalach: Stop the Complaining!

"The entire assembly of the Children of Israel journeyed from the Wilderness of Sin to their journeys, according to the way of Hashem. They encamped in Rephidim and there was no water for the people to drink. The people contended with Moshe and they said, give us water that we may drink. Moses said to them: Why do you contend with me - why are you testing Hashem? The people thirsted there for water and the people complained against Moses, saying: Why is it that you have brought us from Egypt -to kill us and our children and livestock though thirst?"

When one reads the texts of our Torah portion, one might wonder what really is the problem here, with the Jewish people asking for water and later for food. Certainly they could not survive without them, not even for a few days. In both places, G-d became angry at them for their requests. Why should that be?

The answer lies not in the requests themselves, certainly they were needed for the Jewish people to continue to live, for one can not survive without water, even for a short time.

The reason, then, for G-d's anger with His people was in the tone of their complaint. If they would have approached Moses not as a demand, but rather as a request that they were in dire straits and needed water for their families, they would have been answered peacefully and happily.  To add insult to injury, they had just seen one of the greatest miracles of all time: The splitting of the Reed Sea and their salvation from the Egyptian army who were set on killing the Jewish people.

They had also witnessed over the past year, how G-d had sent the ten plagues upon Egypt, and now all knew His power, and that there is none like unto Him. At this point, they should have realized that a G-d who can spilt the sea for them and save them from the hand of Pharaoh, can also supply them with food.  It was all in the way and the tone that they asked for these things.

One thing is clear from our understanding of the generation that came out of Egypt: Today we are on a much higher spiritual level than they were. Even though they were the ones who would stand at Sinai and receive the Torah from G-d Himself, still, they were in constant need for open miracles from G-d, and as soon as they felt that they were missing something - out came the constant complaining and harsh tone, so much so that more than once they wanted to "stone" Moses and Aaron - and I don’t mean it as Bob Dylan does when he sings "everyone must get stoned"....  

Today we are in the process of the Redemption period when we have merited great miracles, as G-d brings His people one by one home to their Land. Still, all of our miracles have been covered inside the nature of things in this world. Sure, the Six-Day War was a great miracle: The small state of Israel defeating some eight Arab nations, but still all of this was "covered" in the reality of this world.

Only a generation such as ours - a spiritually elevated generation - can understand that many miracles occur everyday, both for us personally and for the whole nation of Israel, but they are hidden in the madness of day-to-day living. This is a higher level than open miracles. We must never lose faith in G-d the All-Powerful, for he brings us all salvation time and time again.

But when we do turn to Him, it must be always in the right spirit and tone!