The Misoninim Mysteries: An Understanding Based on the Torah of the Maharal and the Ketzos HaChoshen

The Misoninim Mysteries: An Understanding Based on the Torah of the Maharal and the Ketzos HaChoshen

By Eliakim Willner

Eliakim Willner is author of “Nesivos Olam – Nesiv HaTorah: An Appreciation of Torah Study”, a translation with commentary of a work by the Maharal of Prague, published by Artscroll/Mesorah. This article is adapted from his forthcoming continuation of the Nesivos Olam series, “Nesivos Olam – Nesiv HaAvodah: The Philosophy and Practice of Prayer”.

Part I – The Misoninim

The Mysteries

The parsha of the Misoninim (Bamidbar 11) may superficially seem straightforward but on reflection, there are a number of puzzling aspects that beg for explanation. First of all, what was their primary complaint? Did they want meat? If so, what was the point of mentioning the vegetables that they ate in Egypt? Were they tired of the mon? Then why mention meat, any “real” food should have served their purpose? And why (posuk 7) did they seemingly speak in complimentary terms about the mon?

Why does the Torah tell us (posuk 4) that they “had a lust”; what does that add to the stated complaint of “we want meat!”? Why (posuk 10) do they add their resentment of the newly forbidden marital relationships to their litany of complaints; what does that have to do with either a hankering for meat or the “monotony” of the mon? One might say that they were complaining for complaining’s own sake, so there is no relationship between the complaints, but that seems superficial.

Finally, the quail that they were provided was immediately fatal; the moment they sunk their teeth into it, they died. How, then, did so many people die from eating it? Didn’t people watching the first quail-eaters die realize that they might be better off avoiding it?

Surely there is depth to be mined beneath the surface here.

The Benefits of a Coercive Matan Torah

To solve these mysteries – and to understand this parsha – we turn to the introduction to Sefer Shev Shmaitso, by the Ketzos, who has a unique and unifying understanding of the parsha of the Misoninim based on the Torah of the Maharal.

It all begins at Sinai. Recall that, per the Medrash (Tanchuma, Noach 3) before the Torah was given to Yisroel, Hashem lifted the mountain over their heads like a barrel, har k’gigis, and told them that if they did not accept the Torah, “this will be your burial place”. Of course the question is, since the nation had already willingly accepted the Torah (naaseh v’nishma; we will observe and we will understand) why was this coercive measure necessary?

The Maharal in Tiferes Yisroel 32 answers by pointing out that things that are imperative are permanent. This is why, for example, a me’anes is bound to his victim, the anusa, for life; he forced himself upon her (imperative) and therefore the relationship becomes permanent. The Maharal cites a Medrash that explains that the coercion at Sinai metaphorically creates an unbreakable me’anes-anusa-type relationship between Hashem and Yisroel; the Sinai covenant is permanent and, come what may, neither party can back out of it. Naaseh v’nishma was a discretionary acceptance of the Torah and therefore, despite its merits, it would not have been permanently binding.

The Ketzos notes that this bond extends to the relationship between Yisroel and the Torah as well. We must study Torah; it is imperative and not optional; permanent and not transitory. He cites Yalkut Re’uveini (Vayishlach) that the Sar of the Torah, the angel in charge of the Torah, was tasked with mon production. What does the mon have to do with the Torah? The Sefer HaMagid of the Bais Yosef states that the mon had the effect of nullifying free choice and making it impossible for those eating it to occupy themselves with anything other than the Torah. Their physical appetites disappeared; their only passion was for Torah study.

Appetites for Appetites

This, then, was behind the primary complaint of the Misoninim. They wanted their physical appetites back; they “had a lust’ for their dormant physical lusts! This business of mandatory Torah-study-only wasn’t for them. They yearned for the ability to enjoy a steak again; they remembered that in Egypt they were even able to enjoy vegetables!

In short, they wanted the discretionary Torah of naaseh v’nishma only, the imperative nature of the har k’gigis coercion wasn’t letting them enjoy the physical pleasures of life. However, they sugar-coated their complaints by arguing that it was more meritorious to operate on a free choice basis than to be boxed in to Torah. We would eat the mon without being forced to, they argued; after all, it’s appealing and tasty. We would study Torah too – when we wanted to. But we want our physical appetites back!

They were way out of line. The role of that generation was to immerse themselves totally in Torah study. Har k’gigis was supposed to have a dramatic effect on their way of life during their desert sojourn and the mon was an integral part of creating that way of life.

Their punishment, writes the Ketzos, was that they got their physical cravings back with a vengeance. They knew, after the first few moments, that eating the quail was a death sentence. Yet their appetites were so strong that they were compelled to gorge themselves nonetheless!

Forbidden Marital Relationships and Har K’Gigis

This approach solves most of the Misoninim mysteries we mentioned. How, though, does their resentment of the newly forbidden marital relationships fit into this picture? The Ketzos answers this by referencing a question of the Maharal in Gur Aryeh (Vayigash). The Maharal notes that when the Torah was given, the entire nation had the status of converts to Judaism. If so, the Maharal asks, why is it that the forbidden marital relationships affected this generation? We know that a convert has the status of a newborn and his previous familial relationships are cancelled. A convert may even marry his birth-sister since the conversion nullifies the brother-sister relationship. So why were the Misoninim complaining about these forbidden relationships in the first place?

The answer, says the Maharal, is that a convert only has the status of a newborn when the conversion was done willingly. However, the conversion of the nation at Sinai was transformed into a coerced conversion when the mountain was held over their heads. Therefore their previous familial relationships were not nullified and the prohibitions applied.

If the Torah had been given on the basis of naaseh v’nishma only there would have been no practical application of the Torah laws prohibiting certain marital relationships for that generation. The “culprit” preventing that from happening was the coercive nature of their conversion brought about by the threat of har k’gigis. We now understand how this particular complaint fits into the Misoninim’s broader picture. They were bothered by all the ramifications of har k’gigis versus naaseh v’nishma, and this was one of them.

The Implications for Us, Today

Our generation does not have mon and our therefore our physical appetites are restored. We can choose to favor them, but the mon remains in our genes forever and we retain the ability to attenuate our physical desires and to choose to single-mindedly devote ourselves to the pursuit of Torah and mitzvos, just as our ancestors did in the desert.

The Ketzos adds a sobering thought. Our physical and spiritual components were implanted in us as separate entities and were “designed” to stay that way. When we leave this world our soul should be heading upwards, unimpeded and unsullied by the body, while the body reposes in the earth, disconnected from the soul.

To the extent that we humor our physical component by indulging ourselves in physical pleasures, we pollute our spiritual component by intermingling it with our bodies. The separation at death is more difficult and more painful and our souls actually retain the pollution of the physical desires we indulged in during our lives.

The Torah tells us (verse 34) “He named that place Kivros Hata'avah (Graves of Craving), for there they buried the people who crave.” Note the present tense: “who crave”. They were dead and buried, surely it would have been more accurate to say, in the past tense, “the people who craved”? But the Ketzos quotes the Akeida who writes that even after their death, their souls continue to crave since they were polluted by the body’s craving when they were connected. Sobering indeed!

May we all merit to take full advantage of the permanence Hashem blessed us with when he imposed har k’gigis, by focusing our lives around Torah and by minimizing physical world indulgences.

Part II – The Meraglim

What Didn’t They Like?

Rashi at the beginning of Parshas Shlach explains that the Meraglim “had it in” for the land of Israel before they even saw it, and their plan from the beginning was to come back with a report that would scare the nation away from wanting to go there. The obvious question is “why?” They left Egypt fully understanding that that was where they were headed. They knew that Hashem promised the land to Avrohom, for his descendants. What happened to change their thinking?

The Maharal, in Chidushei Aggados, Sotah 34b, explains that they knew that Hashem had two sets of rules with which He interacted with Yisroel. First, was natural law; if you want to eat, you have to plow, sow, plant, tend to, harvest, etc. Second, was “miracle law”; the way that Hashem interacted with Yisroel in the dessert, as they traveled to Israel. It included the mon, the ananim and the other phenomena that were discussed in Part I. That set of rules was designed so that Yisroel could focus exclusively on the Torah and spirituality – their role while in the dessert.

The Maharal explains that the Meraglim realized that once they reached Israel, the first set of rules would come back into play. The thought horrified them – think of all the time that would be wasted on the mundanities of earning a living, when they could have been learning Torah! They devised a ploy that, they hoped, would extend the “miracle law” mode as long as possible. For that reason, they came back with a report that, they knew, would frighten many members away from wanting to continue on to Israel.

Part III – The Conundrum

But Was That Bad?

This raises a serious question. True, the Meraglim were wrong to frighten the nation in this way, and to attempt to thwart Hashem’s plan to bring the nation into Israel, but weren’t their hearts in the right place? What was wrong with their desire to remain in an elevated spiritual state for as long as possible?

Moreover, the events of the Meraglim came on the heels of the events of the Misoninim and the two sets of events appear to show the nation acting in two contradictory ways. As we explained in Part I, the Misoninim were bothered by too much spirituality – they wanted their physical appetites back, as we explained. But shortly thereafter, the nation seemed to be pining for more spirituality; they wanted to continue on the high spiritual level of the dessert and defer the workaday life that they knew awaited them in Israel.

Apparently the nation took the lessons of the Misoninim to heart and learned to cherish a purely spiritual life. But then, why did they suffer such serious consequences after the Meraglim events?

Part IV – The Lesson

There is a Time for Everything

The answer is that Hashem presents us with a variety of challenges in life, and our job is to serve Him to the best of our ability within the constraints of the circumstances He has placed us in. When in the dessert, the nation’s job was to devote themselves exclusively to spiritual pursuits. That was the form of service Hashem demanded of them. But in Israel, the demands were different. The challenges were different. The nation’s job was to serve Hashem to the utmost, within the constraints of natural law. It is very wrong to rail against, or try to flout, Hashem’s plan, and that was the sin of the Meraglim.

All of use have similar challenges in our own lives. When we are in Yeshiva or Bais Yaakov our service to Hashem must include intensive study and we are charged to avoid anything that distracts us from that. When we enter the world of commerce our service must include integrity, kiddush Hashem, and of course, to maintain as rigorous a Torah study schedule as possible, albeit it will not be as intensive as it was during our Yeshiva days.

Not to distinguish between one set of life challenges and another partakes of the sin of the Meraglim. That must be our big takeaway from the juxtaposition of these two Torah portions.

Part V – Korach

Consequences

Perhaps a failure to appreciate this lesson was a factor in the rebellion of Korach, which appears in the next Torah portion. Korach and his cronies were frustrated: “What does Moshe want from us? First, we get into trouble for not being frum enough! So we “reboot” and become super-frum and we get into trouble for that! Moshe is just looking to get us into trouble!”

What they failed to appreciate is that there is a time and place for a variety of different modes of service to Hashem, and the consequences for Korach for that failure and his subsequent rebellion were to be permanently removed from the service-to-Hashem “playing field” entirely.

There are many lessons in these three parshios; may we take them all to heart!

This article is dedicated in honor of the upcoming wedding of our dear son Dovid to Perry Jerusalem, on the first day of Rosh Chodesh Tamuz. May they be zoche to build a bayis ne’eman b’Yisroel together, l’shaim, u’l’tiferes, and to be a source of nachas to myself, my wife, to our future mechutanim, Rabbi and Mrs. Akiva Jerusalem, and to all of klal Yisroel!