What exactly were Bnei Yisrael murmuring about and why was it considered “evil in the eyes of the Lord.”? By leaving the source of the discord undefined, the Torah opens the stage for many suggestions.
According to Ramban, there was a very specific concern that Bnei Yisrael were expressing.
“The correct interpretation appears to me to be that as they got further way from Mount Sinai, which was near an inhabitable settlement, and entered “the great and dreadful wilderness” in their journey, they became upset and said: What she we do? How shall we live in the wilderness? What shall we eat and what shall we drink?”
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson ob”m points out the mistake of this approach. A desert is defined by 2 things, 1) lack of inhabitants and 2) lack of food. The fact that the Jewish people were in the desert, accompanied by the well of water and the manna turned the desert into a “Yishuv” an inhabited place. Bnei Yisrael’s inability to perceive the reality of their situation was considered evil in God’s eyes.
Rabbi Schneerson extends this to the spiritual realm. One may think the place they are in is a spiritual desert and that staying there is dangerous to their soul – so they leave. To this the Torah answers that by being their and being a positive influence on one’s surroundings, the spiritual desert can be transformed into a spiritual Yishuv. The inability to recognize ones power to positively influence a situation is evil in the eyes of God.
What does this have to do with Modern Orthodoxy? A great deal! Modern Orthodoxy seems to be allergic to those so called spiritual deserts. We have a hard time placing rabbis in small towns and we have almost no “frontier” modern orthodox shuls where the Jewish amenities are not what they are in NY and LA. In the process we are ignoring our responsibility to God, the Torah and the Jewish People. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Barry Gelman 
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