10 Jun BEHA’ALOSCHA: STOP COMPLAINING!

A young child was
crying at the bus
station. Someone came
by and asked him why
he was crying. The
child said that he didn’t
have money to buy a
bus ticket. The man had
rachmanus on him and
gave him money for the
bus. The child returned
with the bus ticket but
was still crying.
“Why are you crying
now?” the man asked.
The child replied, “When
other people come to the clerk to buy a bus
ticket, he gives them a ticket, and he gives
them change as well. But the clerk only gave
me a ticket” (because he paid the exact rate).
This story is a reminder that people cry and
lose sight of all the good they have. A gadol
mentioned that if one looks at a newspaper,
it will never write, “Ten thousand people
traveled on the highway today, and they all
returned home safe and sound.” And they
don’t write, “Fifty thousand people went to
work today, and they all earned parnassah.”
The newspaper focuses only on the one
percent, the problems, and loses sight of all
the good. People are the same. They focus on

their issues. But it should be the opposite. We
should focus on the good we have.
It states (11:1), Vayehi Ha’am K’misoninim Ra
B’aznei Hashem, and the Ramban says their
sin was that they complained. Complaining is
bad in Hashem’s eyes.
What were they complaining about?
The Ramban explains, “Har Sinai was
located near inhabited cities. [If they needed
something, they were near civilized areas and
could buy it there.] But they had just left Har
Sinai, and for the first time, they traveled into
the great, awesome desert. Fearfully, they
said, ‘How can we survive in this desert?
What will we eat? What will we drink? When
will we leave this desert?’ The translation of
misoninim (see Eichah 3:39 and Bereishis
35:18). They spoke with bitterness… and
that was bad in Hashem’s eyes. They should
have followed Hashem joyfully because of
all the kindness Hashem gives them. But they
traveled as though they were being forced to
go, and they were complaining.”
The Imrei Emes zt’l adds that immediately after
the misoninim (the sin of complaining), the
Torah states, “The nation had a temptation…
and they said, ‘Who will give us meat?’”
Because this is the order of how things unfold.
First, one is unsatisfied and complains, then
he falls into bad temptations. But the correct
path is to recognize and praise Hashem for the

multitudes of kindness that He
does for us.
It states (11:4), V’haasafsuf
Asher B’karvu H’saavu
Taavah, and Rashi writes that
the Erev Rav craved for meat.
The Ropshitzer Rav zt’l (Zera
Kodesh) writes, “Only the erev
rav craved meat, not the Jewish
nation. This is because the Jewish
nation believed in Hashem, and
nothing is lacking for those who
believe in Hashem. When they
don’t have something, they say,
‘Apparently, I don’t need it.”
There is no reason to complain. When you
don’t have something, say, “If I needed it,
Hashem would give it to me.” The Erev Rav
wanted meat, but the Jewish nation believed
that they weren’t lacking anything, because
what they don’t have, they don’t need.
Nevertheless, it states, V’haasafsuf Asher
B’karvu H’saavu Taavah V’yashvu V’yivchu
Gam Bnei Ysirael. The crying began with the
erev rav, because they craved meat, but then
Bnei Yisrael also cried. Why did Bnei Yisrael
cry?
The Ropshitzer Rav explains that when Bnei
Yisrael saw the erev rav complaining that
they wanted meat, the Jewish nation thought,
“Why don’t they realize that Hashem gives us

everything we need, and there is no reason to
be upset? If we don’t have meat, we don’t need
it! Where is their emunah?”
But then the nation said to themselves, “When
I see people with a low level of emunah that
means I also need chizuk in emunah.” As the
Baal Shem Tov zt’l taught, when a person sees
a fellow Yid committing an aveirah, it means
that he is also associated with that aveirah –
in some way. V’yashvu v’yivchu means the
nation was crying and doing teshuvah, and
they were strengthening themselves with
emunah because they witnessed the low level
of emunah of the erev rav. They realized that if
they see others crying and complaining about
their lot, they have to improve themselves and
attain the clear emunah that there is no reason
to complain.