ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף בראשית 14:14

Moses heard the people cry in family groups, it was bad in his eyes." Moses had only seen the outer manifestations of the people's complaints. He did not realise that the word "families" mentioned here, alluded to the deeper cause of the Israelites' dissatisfaction, namely the laws of purity forbidding various incestuous relationships. Moses therefore thought that it was the manna itself which was the cause of their dissatisfaction. The word ra, needs to be understood as tzorat ayin, envy, jealousy. The Torah commands that when the year of release approaches shemittah, overdue loans must be "released," i.e. forgiven. Prior to that, loans should not be refused out of fear that the debtor would be tardy in repayment in order to take advantage of the "release" mechanism. (Deut. 15, 9-10) According to the Sifri, Moses, in this instance worried less about G'ds honour. He was concerned that the people's request should not be granted, since it was unjustified. This is the reverse of what had happened at the time of the golden calf, when it had been Moses trying to convince G'd that it was not worth getting angry about. (Exodus 32, 11) For that reason, Moses did not even relay the people's request to G'd. Moses saw himself as unfit to provide satisfactory leadership, therefore he asked for help from G'd in the form of a management team. Failing this, he asked to be relieved through death, so that he would not have to witness the failure of his efforts to date. Moses listed three possible causes that can commit a man to provide for others. 1) Begetting a human being. This makes the one who begets responsible for his offspring's continued life and well being. 2) The natural instinct to raise one's young, something observed even in the animal kingdom. 3) Freely assumed obligations such as marriage, purchase of slaves etc. Moses underlines that in the case of the Jewish people, he has no responsibility for them arising from any of the causes listed. (compare chapter 11, verse 12) Foreseeing his own ultimate death as being due to frustration, he asks to be released before that happens, in the event G'd does not agree to appoint assistants for him. Verse 15, i.e. horgeyni na harog, "kill me dead," means "if You kill me, You will be killing someone who is already dead. A further argument used by Moses was that a leader who has at his disposal the means to satisfy his people's request, does have some responsibility in the matter. Since he, Moses, was however, in no position to provide the meat asked for, he felt no obligation in the matter. (4) G'd was displeased by Moses' request, although He acceded to it. By not providing additional ruach, spiritual power, but merely redistributing it amongst Moses and the seventy elders, i.e. "I will delegate from the spirit which is upon you" (verse 17), He demonstrated that He did not feel that the task allotted to Moses had been beyond his capacity. (6) Moses seemed unconcerned about G'ds reputation in the matter, concentrating on his own role in providing the meat, not worrying about the damage to G'ds image in the eyes of the people as an inadequate provider. G'd wished to show that even henceforth with the seventy elders, the combined leadership of the people would not be able to draw on an enlarged reservoir of spiritual resources.

The Torah has always taught that a man is permitted, indeed, has a sacred obligation, to ‎defend ‎himself. With the verse, “If a burglar is caught in the act of breaking in” (Exodus 22:1), the ‎Torah ‎establishes the halakhah that one may defend not only one’s life but his property as well.⁷ If ‎the ‎thief who comes to take the property of the householder is capable of killing the ‎householder ‎‎(should the householder not comply with his demands), the householder may rise up ‎against the ‎criminal and kill him. For good reason the Torah relates that two of its great heroes, ‎Abraham and ‎Moses, took sword in hand to defend their brethren: “And when Abraham heard ‎that his kinsman ‎was taken captive, he led forth his retainers” (Genesis 14:14). “And when Moses ‎saw the Egyptian ‎smite a Jew … he struck down the Egyptian” (Exodus 2:11–12). This behavior ‎does not contradict ‎the principle of loving-kindness and compassion. On the contrary, a passive ‎position, without self-‎defense, may sometimes lead to the most awesome brutality. “And I will ‎gain honor from Pharaoh, ‎and all his hosts, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians will ‎know that I am the Lord” ‎‎(Exodus 14:17–18). God did not seek honor and recognition. He wanted ‎Pharaoh, Moses’ ‎contemporary, to know that he must pay a high price for his edict that “Every ‎male child born shall ‎be cast into the river” (Exodus 1:22). His present desire is that the blood of ‎Jewish children who ‎were slain as they recited the eighteen benedictions of the daily [Amidah] ‎prayer shall also be ‎avenged. When God smote the Egyptians, He sought to demonstrate that ‎there will always be ‎accountability for the spilling of Jewish blood. At present, it is necessary not ‎only to convince the ‎dictator of Egypt [Nasser], but the self-righteous Nehru, the Foreign Office in ‎London, and the ‎sanctimonious members of the United Nations, that Jewish blood is not cheap. ‎Therefore, how ‎laughable it is when they try to persuade us to rely on the declaration of the three ‎Great Powers ‎guaranteeing the status quo. We all know from experience what value can be ‎attached to the ‎pronouncements of the British Foreign Office and the so-called friendship of ‎certain officials in our ‎State Department. In general, how absurd is the request that an entire ‎people be dependent on ‎the kindnesses of others and remain without the ability to defend itself. ‎Public and private honor is ‎dependent upon the possibility of defending one’s life and one’s honor. ‎A people that cannot ‎defend its freedom and tranquillity is neither free nor independent. The third ‎of the phrases of ‎Divine redemption is “And I shall redeem you with an outstretched hand and ‎with great ‎judgments” (Exodus 6:6).Thank God we have lived to see the day when, with the help ‎of God, ‎Jews have it within their power to defend themselves.‎