Mitzvah d'var

From Scarlett:   
Is complaining bad? That is a great question. Complaining happens a lot in the Torah and especially in my Torah portion here is what some rabbis have to say about complaining in my portion.

Rabbi Judah identifies the moment of complaining as one of the ten trials in the wilderness. In my parshah the Israelites had many trials for example, they were fleeing slavery in Eygpt in the hopes of finding a better life and while they were in the desert instead of being grateful for being out of Egypt they complained about the manna they were being given to eat.

Rabbi Morris Adler of Detroit (1906-1966) refused to excuse the Israelites for their complaints instead, he believes that the Israelites “did not remember the lashes… the brutal hand of the oppressor… they remembered the food they used to eat, the security they used to have. In this situation I think that the Israelites were forgetful of how bad their lives were before they were free, instead they only remember how good the food was, that is what they complained about.” They again should have been grateful for being free and out of slavey and not complaining about food.

W. Gunther Plaut in his book The Torah: A Modern Commentary, “The cry of the rebels was for meat and variety, not for food as such, for there was no hunger among the people.... boredom, lack of challenge and the inconveniences of nomad existence were seeds of discontent as potent as want and poverty. The Israelites weren’t really hungry but they complained to God.” In my opinion they should have been grateful. They all had enough food to support themselves, but in the Israelites minds it wasn’t enough, they needed more.

When I complain I don't always get what I want. My dad is a chef, he is a really good one. Sometimes when we have dinner he doesn't always make something I like, mind you I am not a very picky eater, but on occasion I don't like his meals. When I don't like his meals I tend to complain about them and be like I don't want to eat this, sometimes my dad is like ok I will make you something else, but other times he's like no you have to eat it. At the time I think this is unfair but after really reading through my portion I have learned that I should be grateful that I even Have food on my table and I am able to eat breakfast lunch and dinner every day, not to mention having a chef for a dad!, whereas some people aren't as fortunate as I am.

I found this poem that I think really connects to my Torah portion. In this poem the poet whose name is MVP—which stands for most valuable Poet—talks about how the Israelites complained when they had been freed from Egypt and how they should have been grateful. It also talks about how in modern days society people complain about things too. MVP is a counselor who through his education and his love for God, focuses on helping young people strive to achieve goals both in and out of school. As an educator, he believes in a philosophy of "don't be comfortable, be uncomfortable because every day, there is urgency in being the absolute best".  This has taught me that people can complain for some silly reasons and I have learned that I should be grateful instead of complaining. Now I will read the poem to you all...

the whining goes way back in the days of exodus
where hebrews were enslaved by pharaoh
whose language of freedom was absent like a person wandering aimlessly
god saved you
and you complain
the moping of not able to drink water
when god instructed moses to strike a rock
water gushed out powerfully so one dies from dehydration
you crying like a baby because god's plan
was questioned when he gave his word that you will all be fed with bread and meat
it still wasn't enough
the audacity of mumbling utter nonsense under your breath
that you wanted to go back to egypt
that same place where you were all walking down memory lane all over again
where slavery was 1st commence
how ungratefully unappreciative you are
reminds me of people in this day in age
where bickering is everyday rituals
that fails to recognize the sacrifices one makes in creating a platform so life can be a little bit easier for you
people complain there is no snow
so when there's snow
people still grumble with annoyance that is insensible
if its cold, you're moping
if it's hot, you're fussing....
do me a favor, and stop whining
you get what you deserve
unless you're going to do something that contributes importance, stop complaining, and deal with it

-Stop Complaining by MVP.

After listening to this poem, what did it make you all think about? How did it make you feel?  It made me think about how sometimes we don't always get what we want and how sometimes when life throws us curve balls we should learn from them and grow rather than complain.

Finally, I’d like to end by talking about my Mitzvah Project where I am working with Food Gathers, a local organization in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Food Gatherers was created to alleviate hunger and eliminate its causes in our community. I am working with Food Gathers because it is critical for people to be able to eat 2 to 3 meals a day. 

This connects to my Torah portion because the Israelites were very dependent on God for food, because while in the desert they had no food and water and didn’t know if they would eat that day. This is similar to someone who may be food insecure because they don’t know where and even when they may get a meal. 1 in 9 Americans are food insecure. This means that over 37 million adults and 11 million kids are food insecure. The food insecurity rate since Covid has drastically gone up because there are over 7 million people in the US who have lost their jobs due to Covid, and are having harder times providing for themselves and their families, if they have them. I will be doing a food drive to get food and will be donating all the proceeds to food gathers. I'm sure in all of your communities there is a place like food gatherers that provides meals and services for those suffering from food insecurity. I hope you will all join me in making a commitment to ensuring that all people never have to want for food.  Thank You.  Shabbat Shalom.

From Noa:
Scarlett focused on the negative aspects of complaining in her d’var, and I am going to talk about the opposite. There are many times in our Torah portion when complaining occurs and something good happens because of it. 

First I would like to explain what the definition of complain is. To complain means to express dissatisfaction, pain, uneasiness, censure, resentment, or grief.  So to say that someone is complaining is implying that what they were experiencing was something negative from which they want relief.  Their intentions are not always selfish, sometimes complaining is the same as advocating for self.  

In my Torah portion, one example of complaining in the form of advocacy was when Moses was really stressed out and just could not handle the pressure of leading the people anymore so he complains and asks  G-d for help. Moses said “I cannot carry all these people by myself, for it is too much for me.”  G-d responded telling Moses to gather seventy of Israel’s elders who have experience, and to bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them take their place there with Moses. Moses complaining in this case resulted in not only him getting help but in the creation of a new form of leadership for the Israelites that was much more sustainable in the long-term. 

One form of complaining is when people ask for something selfishly without thinking about others and the way they may feel or the way it will make them feel. Another form of complaining is  advocating or speaking up about something that you believe in or something that you feel strongly about. Advocating is standing up for what is right. 

You may be wondering why Moses needed help with the Israelites in the first place. While they were traveling through the desert the Israelites were complaining to Moses and to G-d about how they wanted something other than manna to eat. They said “we remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” Now the Israelites said all we have to look to is the manna (which was like wheat). Let me just remind you all that the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt and they may have had some better food but now at least they were free. So you can imagine why G-d was upset that they were complaining that all they had to eat was the manna. So G-d’s response to their complaints was to teach them a lesson. So G-d gave them what they wanted. G-d gave them meat. G-d gave them meat and said “you shall eat not one day, not two, not even five days or ten or twenty, but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you. For you have rejected the LORD who is among you, by whining before G-d and saying, ‘Oh, why did we ever leave Egypt!’” The question that I was wondering about is why does G-d treat Moses complaining differently than the Israelites?

I think that G-d treats Moses complaining differently than that of the Israelites because G-d gets that there is a lot of pressure on Moses and that it can be hard to carry the weight of all of the people by himself.  Maybe G-d even understands that what Moses was doing was not really complaining but advocating for his needs. The Israelites were complaining about things that G-d had done to save their lives. G-d had gotten them out of slavery and led them through the desert and gave them food everyday. Yet they still complained that they did not have what they wanted. This is a perfect example of complaining for a selfish or self benefiting reason. 

Though advocacy has not changed much over the years, the topics that people are advocating for have. Back when the Israelites were traveling through the desert they were not advocating for saving our planet before it gets destroyed by climate change and they were not advocating for Black Lives Matter. And they were probably not advocating for LGBTQ plus rights but these are all problems and things that people in the present are advocating for. 

My mitzvah project has a lot to do with advocating. I decided to work with Mosaic Vermont which is an organization that helps people of any gender, race, and ethnicity who have been or who are being sexually assaulted. I chose to work with this organization because I think that what they do is really important. As I started researching what Mosaic does I found some alarming facts. There are at least 4.8 million people in the world who have experienced sexual violence and one million of those are children. And one in every three women will get sexually harassed in their lifetime. Mosaic’s mission is to heal communities and end sexual violence. Their mission states “we envision a world with resilient communities, free of sexual and gender-based violence, where all people are supported in healing from harm.”  I envision a world where people can live together without having to worry about what others may think of them and where everyone can be who they are. And instead of complaining about injustice and violence I will use my voice to help get our world to a better place. THANK YOU AND SHABBAT SHALOM