Commento su Numeri 20:4

זלמה הבאתם את קהל ה׳ אל המדבר הזה, "and why did you bring this community to this desert, etc.?" Their second complaint was why Moses had chosen a route through the desert. Their reasoning was that seeing Moses was unable to provide water in the desert, by whose authority had he chosen such a route?

ולמה הבאתם את קהל ה' אל המדבר הזה “and for what purpose did you bring the congregation of Hashem to this wilderness?” Why, at this juncture, did the people describe themselves as Hashem’s congregation? They implied that up until now when the presence of Hashem had not seen fit to reside with the people until the last of the survivors of the people tainted by the sin of the spies had died, there might have been some justification for their grueling march through these inhospitable deserts; but now after the last of these people had already died, why did they still have to be in the desert although they had regained their status as קהל ה', “Hashem’s congregation? Why would they need to die from thirst?

V. 4. ולמה הבאתם, das ist nicht Gotteswille, das ist eure Veranstaltung, damit übt ihr Verrat an קהל ד. Gott will uns erhalten, nach Gottes Absicht sollen wir leben bleiben und in das verheißene Land kommen, ihr aber habt dieses ganze Kahal, diesen ganzen Gott eigenen Menschenverein, den Gott für die glücklichste Zukunft erhalten will, in diese Wüste geführt, damit sie und ihre Tiere des schrecklichen Todes sterben. Bezeichnend ist der Ausdruck בעיר gewählt, dass das Tier unter Herrschaft seines Naturtriebes (siehe Schmot 22, 4), hier des unabweisbaren Bedürfnisses zu trinken, vergegenwärtigt. Der Vorwurf lautet: schon um unserer Tiere willen hättet ihr das nicht tun sollen, hättet mit den unschuldigen Kreaturen Erbarmen haben sollen!

They said ולמה העליתנו, "and why did you bring us up from Egypt (verse 5)? They argued that if Moses were to reply that there was no other safe route to bring them to the land of Canaan and he therefore had to bring them to this inhospitable location, why did he bring them out of Egypt altogether? Our sages in Chulin 88 already defined a desert as a place where there is no vegetation.

They spoke about אל המקום הזה with the letter ה as a definite article to indicate that the negative qualities of that location had been well known. They added: ומים אין לשתות, "and there is no drinking water," to underline that not even the most basic fundamentals for survival existed in that area. Moses was unable to answer the people and both he and Aaron stood in prayer before the Lord. This is the meaning of "they fell on their faces."