Hello, hello! It was another great week over here. I got to spend the morning with my two youngest at our absolute favorite outdoor playground this week (see photo above), with iced coffee, snacks -always snacks- a good friend, and her children. Summer vibes, strong! Though we still have a solid two weeks of school left for my older two children.
This weeks Parsha deals with two large themes that we’re all familiar with: complaining and jealousy. It’s interesting to me that both of these topics are thrown together, back to back. So let’s get into them both!
Constant Complaining
Chapter 11 deals with the constant complaining of the Israelites, mainly about… FOOD. You guys. They just witnessed miracle, after miracle, after miracle all from the hands of God. No other soul has been so blessed to be so close to God, to be held so tenderly by Him, and yet, these people, these insufferable people, are complaining about the lack of cucumbers, melons, leeks, and onions out in the desert. I’m just as furious as God.
And then, after sitting with this chapter for a bit, it didn’t take long for me to think back to my own food-related complaining (amongst other complaints): “ugh, I have to pack school lunches for the week,” “grocery shopping week after week, with a baby in tow, is such a drag,” “The Costco parking lot is so annoying,” “mom, what’s for dinner?” Meanwhile, God blessed my husband with a good job, we have the means to buy whatever my heart desires at Trader Joes. God blessed us with not one, two, or three, but four, healthy children to pack school lunches for, and a beautiful family to cook dinner (yet again) for. And, let’s not forget, Costco and the grocery stores are a modern day miracle, we can buy whatever we want, whenever we want: 2-pounds of blueberries in February? You got it! What a miracle! THANK YOU HASHEM. And yet, I do find myself complaining. Not as much as I used to, but in a bad headspace, you bet. And I’m sure you do too. And if there is one lesson we can take from the Torah, and God Himself, it’s contempt for ingratitude.
Constant complaining is like a poison. It’s a sign of ingratitude, unhappiness, it’s contagious, it can ruin relationships, it prevents you from improving your circumstances, and worst of all, its denies Gods goodness.
Ooh, jealousy, La-la-la-la-la, la
You know I booted up Natalie Merchant’s ‘Jealousy‘ to write this section, right? Definitely, yes. Chapter 12 in Numbers opens with Miriam and Aaron talking smack about Moses’ wife (so rude and hurtful), and also verbalize their open jealousy that God communicates through Moses, and not them. They want what Moses has with God, and their envy is the type that can lead to dangerous places that are explicitly hard lines in our Ten Commandments – coveting, which can lead to stealing, potentially infidelity, and in extreme cases, even murder. All of these are big no-no’s to live moral and ethical lives in the way God has expressed desire. In some cases, envy can spark people to work harder, to achieve something another has that they want, but a lot of times, it can be a slippery slope to some pretty terrible things. There is a very fine line here, and I think this entire chapter is a really good example of God showing us He: 1. Isn’t a fan of sh*t talking, and 2. Jealousy can be a wicked thing.
Jealousy is like a poison. It’s a sign of ingratitude, unhappiness, it’s contagious, it can ruin relationships, it prevents you from improving your circumstances, and worst of all, its denies Gods goodness. Yes, I said this twice in the same blog post, because I think we should really stress the importance of gratitude for what we have, not what others have, or the lack of what we have.
A Gratitude Journal
This was a really great weekly Parsha because of the two major themes, which are 100% relevant to modern day times: complaining and jealousy. And while we likely won’t break out in leprosy in the way Miriam did, it’s a great reminder that we need to watch the words that come out of our mouths. Every March, our local St. Louis Jewish Community comes out with a Clean Speech program, each day focusing on a topic to help improve and shape the words we choose the speak. It’s a program that everyone can benefit from. I feel so blessed to be apart of this Jewish Community.
We can all benefit from a gratitude journal, or at the very least, in your morning prayers to God, thank Him for three things He’s blessed you with. In addition for the big one: breathing your soul back in your body. That’s a pretty big one, which is why reciting the Modeh Ani should be your bare minimum before getting out of bed. Starting the day off with a grateful heart is the right tone for whatever the day brings.