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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Parashat Behaalotecha, Numbers 8:1-12:16

The more we have at our disposal, the less we

are spiritually satisfied.

With summer fast approaching, the lines at amusement parks are getting longer, the prices
higher, and the roller coasters taller. I know this because of my-son-the-roller-coaster-
aficionado, who every year looks forward to the latest thrilling ride: How high, how fast; will
it go upside down and backwards? I always wonder: when is enough, enough. He wonders if it
is possible to have too much of a good thing.

Our ancestors would answer "yes." At least that appears to be the case in Behaa'alotcha. In
what could be termed a spiritual roller coaster ride, the parasha begins after the high of
revelation at Sinai and quickly heads towards the low of our constant kvetching. As with much
in Jewish life, it's all about the food. It seems that God's cooking isn't good enough for us: The
riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving; and then the Israelites wept and said, "If only
we had meat to eat! We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the
melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Now our gullets are shriveled. There is nothing at
all! Nothing but this manna to look to!" (Numbers 11:4-6) Okay, it was the same food day in
and day out, but this was really not a case of "meatloaf, again!" With God doing the cooking,
we know this was gourmet-quality food, yet the Torah still finds it necessary to point this out.

Why did the people complain about the manna, when the Torah makes a point of telling us
how delicious it was? To feel prosperous, it is not enough for a person to have everything that
is needed. One must have more than one's neighbors have. The manna was psychologically
unsatisfying because everyone had it in abundance.
Jonathan Eybeschutz, Number 11:6, as quoted in Etz Hayim p. 828

Abundance detracts from value. If this is an emotional version of economic supply and
demand, we are still having trouble dealing with it.

The classified sections of newspapers and Web sites such as eBay, Craigslist and Kijiji are full
of advertisements posted by sellers trying to unload almost-new items. For the most part, these

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are not impulse buys but the fulfillment of a recurring itch or lifelong dream. The buyers have
done their homework, they've shopped around.
So what went wrong?
Was the only-worn-once mink coat not warm enough? Was the driven-less-than-30-hours Jet-
Ski not a smooth ride? Is German engineering not all it's cracked up to be?
Although some sellers will tell you they were saddled with a lemon, a few brave souls admit to
something else. The item just didn't do what they thought it would do: It didn't change their
life.

This Story is Classified: The boys and their toys: When will we learn that more stuff
won't fix a hole in your soul? Rebecca Field Jager, National Post, May 24, 2008

The problem with this approach was discussed in the article by psychologist Dr Cheryl
Ackerman:

The idea that a material thing can fix an emotional issue is a common mistake.
"Luxury items are associated with images of affluence, happiness, success, confidence and
attractiveness," Ackerman says. "People think that if we get these things we will perceive
ourselves -- and have others perceive us -- as having it made."
"If an individual is buying something to fill a personal or relationship void, the item will
ultimately fail to satisfy and end up in the want ads. You can't resolve an emotional or spiritual
issue with any material object."
This Story is Classified: The boys and their toys: When will we learn that more stuff
won't fix a hole in your soul? Rebecca Field Jager, National Post, May 24, 2008

The great Mussar (ethics) teacher, Rabbi Israel Salanter made a similar observation when he
said that "The luxuries we indulge in eventually come to seem to be necessities, as if we could
not live without them" (as quoted in Everyday Holiness by Alan Morinis, p. 183)
Just when we think we're at the top, the roller coaster starts barreling down. In his ethical
treatise, The Path of the Just, Moshe Chaim Luzzatto explored the trait of abstinence. Though
today we tend to think of abstinence in sexual terms, Luzatto analysed it as dealing with
material items where a lack of self-control sends you down a slippery slope:

You will eventually be forced to subject yourself to the clutches of the drive for livelihood and
possessions so that your table could be set the way you would like it to be, which will lead you
to wrongdoing and thievery, which themselves lead you to vain oaths and all sorts of
transgressions that naturally follow these. Ultimately you will remove yourself from Divine
service, Torah and prayer.
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, The Path of the Just, p. 119
(Jason Aronson, publisher, Yaakov Feldman translation).

The more we have at our disposal, the less we are spiritually satisfied. So what are we to do?
We've got a greater problem than using material items to plug up the holes in our spiritual

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dams. While we can't seem to get enough material goods, we have built up a tolerance to other
aspects of life. Cyclones, earthquakes and the suffering they bring hold our attention for a few
short moments. How long has it been since the Myanmar cyclone or the Chinese earthquake?
We made a donation. Move on to the next item. Too often, that pressing item that holds our
attention is the latest gizmo that we think will make our lives better, more comfortable and
more satisfactory. Given a choice of keeping up with the Joneses or improving the lives of the
Smiths, we opt for the former.

Judaism does not preach asceticism, but it does encourage moderation. Who is wealthy, the one
who is happy with his lot. (Mishna Avot 4:1) While our tradition teaches that we must take
care of ourselves, it also demands that we be engaged with the needs of others. As Rabbi Israel
Salanter noted, worrying about the material needs of another is my spirituality.

Shabbat shalom,
MS

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