פרשה: חקת · עלייה: שני (גבורה)

ויבאו בני ישראל, The children of Israel arrived, etc. Why did the Torah have to emphasise that כל העדה, "the whole congregation" arrived in the desert of Tzin? Who would have doubted that the whole people travelled together? We have learned (Bamidbar Rabbah end of Parshat Balak) on a previous occasion that whenever the Jewish people were on a moral/ethical high they are referred to as בני ישראל. On occasions when they were guilty of rebellious behaviour (such as Numbers 14,11 and many others) they are described as עם; the Torah wanted to inform us that at this time they were all entitled to the flattering description. There are also occasions when the Torah describes the people as עם בני ישראל, suggesting that though many of the people were not on the desired moral/ethical plateau at the time, many others were. This interpretation agrees with a statement by our sages that the words כל העדה, mean עדה שלמה, "a perfect congregation."

Our sages apparently viewed the expression כל העדה as sufficient by itself to describe the Israelites in the most glowing terms. There are, after all, 70 different ways of interpreting the text. The reason that the Torah would choose the expression העדה here may be threefold. 1) We know that we will read shortly afterwards about the incident with the "waters of strife" which according to Devarim Rabbah was the reason for Moses' punishment. The reason given is that he addressed the Israelites as "listen you rebellious people!" It was important for the Torah to state that at this time the Israelites were all a holy congregation. Had this not been so the Torah could not have faulted Moses for addressing the Israelites as rebellious. 2) It was also designed to raise the image of Miriam in the eyes of the people by showing that although the people themselves were at their spiritual best at that time, their merit was not sufficient to ensure their water supply once Miriam had died (viz. Taanit 9). 3) The Torah informed us that contrary to Aaron's belief that the people assembled in order to show their last respects for Miriam, they actually assembled in order to quarrel with Moses and Aaron (compare Yalkut Shimoni 763 and Tanchuma). Considering the conduct of the Israelites in the verses immediately following our verse there was reason to assume that they had already descended from their spiritual high before Miriam died; the Torah therefore had to describe the Israelites in glowing terms to prevent us from making that mistake. This leaves us with the question of why the Israelites did not pay Miriam the kindness Aaron had assumed they were showing her. According to Moed Katan 28 the manner in which the Torah described Miriam's death as immediately followed by her burial without a word about anyone mourning her showed that due to the failure of the well the people immediately suffered thirst. This preoccupied their minds more than the respect they should have shown Miriam by mourning her properly. The Torah makes this even plainer by stating immediately after reporting Miraim's burial that there was no water "for the congregation."

וישב העם בקדש. The people stayed in Kadesh. The Torah mentions this in order to inform us that the people stayed there for an extended period. This is confirmed in Deut. 1,46. The word ישב always suggests something of relatively long duration.

ותמת שם מרים, Miriam died there, etc. Why did the Torah have to write the word שם, "there?" Our sages in Moed Katan 28 say that the people buried Miriam near the place where she died. This interpretation is based on the words ותקבר שם, "she was buried there." Seeing the Torah mentioned the death of this righteous woman it also was concerned with the honour due to the body of such a righteous woman stating she was interred on the spot. We learned in Berachot 18 that the righteous are called "alive" even after they have died a physical death. When the Torah said שם, it wanted to remind us that Miriam was "dead" only "there," i.e. on earth, whereas she lived on in another region, the region reserved for the souls of the righteous. G'd views the righteous as if they were pearls reposing in a jewel box. Whenever it pleases Him He takes out one of these pearls and enjoys looking at it only to replace it at His leasure or to place it in another of His various jewel boxes. A different scholar on the same folio in Moed Katan uses the word שם in our verse as a גזרה שוה, a form of exegesis based on similar words being used in different contexts as proof that Miriam too experienced death in the form of a Divine kiss, i.e. painlessly. All of these explanations are equally valid.

וירב העם עם משה, The people quarrelled with Moses. The people now complained that they would have preferred for Moses to have let them die from the plague than to face death by thirst.

זלמה הבאתם את קהל ה׳ אל המדבר הזה, "and why did you bring this community to this desert, etc.?" Their second complaint was why Moses had chosen a route through the desert. Their reasoning was that seeing Moses was unable to provide water in the desert, by whose authority had he chosen such a route?

They said ולמה העליתנו, "and why did you bring us up from Egypt (verse 5)? They argued that if Moses were to reply that there was no other safe route to bring them to the land of Canaan and he therefore had to bring them to this inhospitable location, why did he bring them out of Egypt altogether? Our sages in Chulin 88 already defined a desert as a place where there is no vegetation.

They spoke about אל המקום הזה with the letter ה as a definite article to indicate that the negative qualities of that location had been well known. They added: ומים אין לשתות, "and there is no drinking water," to underline that not even the most basic fundamentals for survival existed in that area. Moses was unable to answer the people and both he and Aaron stood in prayer before the Lord. This is the meaning of "they fell on their faces."