* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
It isn’t pleasant to read these verses. This week’s parasha describes how the generation that left Egypt begins to flounder. They complain, whine, and despair; they even long for Egypt and express their desire to return there. It doesn’t seem to matter that God has surrounded them with His blessings and miracles. The Torah delineates a series of crises that occur as a result of their bitter complaints and false accusations.
Perhaps it would be better if we could erase these episodes from our collective memory or at least try to “spruce” them up a bit...
But God doesn’t hide anything nor does He erase these crises. On the contrary, He records them in the Torah and thus enshrines them for eternity.
Our commentators explain that our lapses are an essential part of the Torah. Our failures are presented in great detail in order to teach us a lesson - to help us understand the underlying reasons for each sin and mistake so that we will not stumble again in the future.
The lesson for us is clear: In our own lives, we often experience setbacks and failures. The question is whether we will give up or strive to learn from our mistakes and transform them into a “Torah”: a source of strength and an impetus for growth.
May we merit to grow both from our own personal crises and from those that we face as a nation.
