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The two backward and upside down “nuns” in this week’s Torah portion of B’haaloscha symbolizes a demarcation between two tragedies that occurred during the Jewish people’s time in the desert. In between these two “nuns” are the famous pesukim we say when taking out and putting back the Torah (Bamidbar 10:35, 36):
| “So it was, whenever the ark set out, Moshe would say, Arise, O Hashem, may Your enemies be scattered and may those who hate You flee from You.” | להוַיְהִ֛י בִּנְסֹ֥עַ הָֽאָרֹ֖ן וַיֹּ֣אמֶר משֶׁ֑ה קוּמָ֣ה | יְהֹוָ֗ה וְיָפֻ֨צוּ֙ אֹֽיְבֶ֔יךָ וְיָנֻ֥סוּ מְשַׂנְאֶ֖יךָ מִפָּנֶֽיךָ: | |
| “And when it came to rest he would say, Repose O Lord, among the myriads of thousands of Israel.” | לווּבְנֻחֹ֖ה יֹאמַ֑ר שׁוּבָ֣ה יְהֹוָ֔ה רִבֲב֖וֹת אַלְפֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל: |
The gemara in Shabbos 116a discusses why these pesukim were placed where they are, “Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says, this section is destined to be uprooted from here and written in its proper place. And why was it written here? In order to separate between one tragedy and a second tragedy. What is the second tragedy? ‘And the people took to seeking complaints’ (Bamidbar 11:1). What was the first tragedy? ‘And they traveled from the mountain of Hashem’ (Bamidbar 10:33). And [regarding this pasuk] Rebbe Chama the son of Rebbe Chanina commented, [within three days of their setting out from Har Sinai] they turned away from Hashem. And where is this section’s proper place? With the topic of the flags (Bamidbar 2:17).” Rashi says, “In the future (in the times of Moshiach, may he come speedily in our days,) when all tragedies will cease to exist and there will be no worries about tragedies, and the yetzer hara (evil inclination) will be no more, that is when this portion will be moved to its proper place in the Torah.” (click here for Hebrew text.)
The Chiddushei HaRa”n gives two explanations of what exactly was the first tragedy of “that they turned away from Hashem”: (1) “The explanation of Rashi is that the troublemakers and complainers that were among them had strong physical desires, and when they traveled from the mountain of Hashem all this started. For with this in mind they traveled from there and starting from there they had these thoughts [of complaining about no real food]. That is what the pasuk means when it says they traveled from the mountain of Hashem, meaning they traveled away from Hashem. (2) And I (the R”an) heard that they removed themselves away from Hashem so that they wouldn’t pile upon themselves a lot of Torah and mitzvos. And what they did accept they felt bad about and that’s what it means ‘they traveled from the mountain of Hashem.'” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
When deeply analyzing this Ra”n, one will find two totally different explanations of what went wrong by the first tragedy. To put it simply, one explanation is that these troublemakers and complainers were driven by their physical desires and the other explanation is that they were driven by a lack of an appreciation for the Torah and mitzvos.
The last mishna in gemara Makkos 23b concludes, “Rebbe Chananya ben Akashya says, ‘The Holy One Blessed Be He desired to confer merit upon Israel therefore He gave them Torah and mitzvos in abundance. As it says (in Yeshayahu 42:21), Hashem desired for the sake of Israel’s righteousness, that Torah be expanded and strengthened.'” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
Hashem out of His infinite abundance of love and kindness towards His dearest children showered us with opportunity to gain the ultimate levels of pleasure, as the opening words of the Mesilas Yesharim in its first chapter speaks of. This pleasure is ultimately in the World to Come, but it is earned in this world by performing and observing Torah and mitzvos. The Torah and its mitzvos, being the guidebook for mankind and the Blueprints of Creation, is the perfect conductor for how to live a healthy and meaningful life. It is authored by The Perfect, Almighty, All Powerful, All Knowing King Of All Kings, Master Of The Universe, and these troublemakers and complainers knew that. They received the Torah days before, “face to face” with Hashem, and they had said “naaseh vinshma,” with blind pure unwavering faith at the time they wholeheartedly accepted the Torah, saying “we will do and then we will listen.” How then could they just run away from Mount Sinai with an attitude that these mitzvos were too much, quite a bit of a hassle, burdensome. and afraid to learn more? What happened to their strong faith and trust in Hashem that He had given them a gift for their wellbeing? We have to say, according to the second reason given by the Ra”n, that on some level they had not fully appreciated what Hashem was giving them. They didn’t put enough focus into the positivity of the treasure they received; therefore it caused them to feel that Torah and mitzvos were a burden, and it gave them an excuse to complain. The lack of focus in appreciating the gift Hashem gave them was the first tragedy according to the second interpretation of the Ra”n.
However, according to the first interpretation, we can infer that they did have the proper focus and appreciation of the gift, the Torah and mitzvos that they received. Indeed, they might have been excited to strive for the ultimate pleasure that they could earn by performing Torah and mitzvos, because who doesn’t like pleasure? Yet they weren’t careful enough to keep their physical desire for pleasure in check; their cravings overcame them and the great spiritual height they had reached on Mount Sinai, on some level, they felt they had to escape in order to fulfill their physical desires. That in itself was a tragedy.
A lack of focus or care for Torah and mitzvos can be tragic!