Facebook soemtimes feeds me clips from Modern Family and one of the clips I recently saw felt appropos of this parsha. The character Lily has learned the word "whambulance" from Claire, which was used when someone was complaining. In this week's parsha, the Israelites kind of need a whambulance. They complain about a lot of things. Some of the more well known complaints would fit well into a menu (too much quail, we had fish, cucumber, and melon in Eygpt!), but I wanted to challenge myself and there was a different section that caught my eye this time.
וַיְהִ֤י הָעָם֙ כְּמִתְאֹ֣נְנִ֔ים רַ֖ע בְּאׇזְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה וַיִּשְׁמַ֤ע יְהֹוָה֙ וַיִּ֣חַר אַפּ֔וֹ וַתִּבְעַר־בָּם֙ אֵ֣שׁ יְהֹוָ֔ה וַתֹּ֖אכַל בִּקְצֵ֥ה הַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה׃
The people took to complaining bitterly before יהוה. יהוה heard and was incensed: a fire of יהוה broke out against them, ravaging the outskirts of the camp. (Bamidbar 11:1)
In this instance it's not quite clear what the Israelites are complaining about, and the translations of כְּמִתְאֹ֣נְנִ֔ים, which in the above transation is the source of the word complaining, give some variation that add to the depth of this question. For example, "Now the people were like those-who-grieve over ill-fortune, in the hearing of YHWH" and "And the people were as murmurers, speaking evil in the ears of the LORD;" In all instances, it's displeasing to God, but there's interesting nuance.
As the people moved away from Sinai and faced the harsh reality of the desert, they lose faith instead of looking joyfully to coming to the promised land. It's not even clear if they complained to Moshe or if this went right to God's hearing (similar question to Miriam & Aaron's comments about Moshe's wife and Moshe being singled out by God.) God's anger is swift and destructive, ravaging the edge of the camp until Moshe asks him to stop. There are some commentators who
say the edge of the camp is where the "mixed multitude" and/or troublemakers/doubters were. This is definitely worthy of discussion, so a fire-focused dish is called for. My MIL loves the canned fire roasted tomatoes so when I thought of fire, I thought of making something with those. I also decided to go dairy because 1) we'll be eating this at seudah shlishit this week and 2) explanation to come with the second dish, so I found this Fire Roasted Tomato/White Bean/Parmesan Soup.
On a more positive note, this parsha also explains how God will be present in the Israelite camp and how God will let the people know when it's time to move from their encampment to a new spot. When the Mishkan was set up, the pillar of Cloud would cover it. So long as the cloud remained, so would the Israelites, and when the Cloud would lift, they would move, following the cloud until it settled and that is where they would make camp next. I was thinking of
how helpful it must be to know for sure exactly when and where Hashem wants you to get and go, or settle down and make a place for yourself. Especially in this season of graduations and when many families move, it's on my mind. We're nicely settled in our home and community and I hope that our "cloud of Hashem" stays here for a long time. With all this cloud thought, the first thing that came to mind was real whipped cream. So, that's what inspired the dairy and I think it's time to whip up a quick batch (it's an easy thing to make from scratch, just 3 ingredients is all you need. Here's one recipe, though there are many out there) and serve it with some of the delicious summer fruit coming out now - berries, peaches, etc.
Shabbat Shalom & B'Tayavon!
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