Behaalotecha - בְּהַעֲלֹֽתְךָ֙ - Numbers 8:1-12:16 Making Torah Personal

יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and say to him, “When you mount the lamps, let the seven lamps give light at the front of the lampstand.”

(27) The lifebreath of man is the lamp of the LORD Revealing all his inmost parts.

alternate translation:

The candle of Hashem is the lifebreath of each person, searching all the inward parts. ~RS

(23) On a sign from יהוה they made camp and on a sign from יהוה they broke camp; they observed יהוה’s mandate at יהוה’s bidding through Moses.

(1) The people took to complaining bitterly before יהוה. יהוה heard and was incensed: a fire of יהוה broke out against them, ravaging the outskirts of the camp. (2) The people cried out to Moses. Moses prayed to יהוה, and the fire died down.

The riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving; and then the Israelites wept and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Now our gullets are shriveled. There is nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!”

Now the manna was like coriander seed, and in color it was like bdellium. The people would go about and gather it, grind it between millstones or pound it in a mortar, boil it in a pot, and make it into cakes. It tasted like rich cream. When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall upon it.

Moses heard the people weeping, every clan apart, at the entrance of each tent. יהוה was very angry, and Moses was distressed. And Moses said to יהוה, “Why have You dealt ill with Your servant, and why have I not enjoyed Your favor, that You have laid the burden of all this people upon me?

Did I produce all this people, did I engender them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a caregiver carries an infant,’ to the land that You have promised on oath to their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people, when they whine before me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’

I cannot carry all this people by myself, for it is too much for me.

If You would deal thus with me, kill me rather, I beg You, and let me see no more of my wretchedness!”

Moses had not been careful in this respect, had said "please kill me." The previous occasion had not been so serious, since Moses asked to die if G–d would not forgive the Jewish people for their involvement in the golden calf. It was part of his prayer for someone else. This is why his punishment at that time consisted only of his name not being mentioned when the work of the Tabernacle was carried out. This time, however, there were no such extenuating circumstances.

Then יהוה said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy of Israel’s elders of whom you have experience as elders and officers of the people, and bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them take their place there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will draw upon the spirit that is on you and put it upon them; they shall share the burden of the people with you, and you shall not bear it alone.

Students increase their teacher's wisdom and broaden his horizons. Our Sages declared: "I learned much wisdom from my teachers and even more from my colleagues. However, from my students [I learned] most of all."
Just as a small branch is used to light a large bough, so a small student sharpens his teacher's [thinking processes], until, through his questions, he brings forth brilliant wisdom.

And say to the people: Purify yourselves for tomorrow and you shall eat meat, for you have kept whining before יהוה and saying, ‘If only we had meat to eat! Indeed, we were better off in Egypt!’ יהוה will give you meat and you shall eat. 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 יהוה who is among you, by whining before [God] and saying, ‘Oh, why did we ever leave Egypt!’”

But Moses said, “The people who are with me number six hundred thousand foot soldiers; yet You say, ‘I will give them enough meat to eat for a whole month.’ Could enough flocks and herds be slaughtered to suffice them? Or could all the fish of the sea be gathered for them to suffice them?” And יהוה answered Moses, “Is there a limit to יהוה’s power? You shall soon see whether what I have said happens to you or not!”

Moses went out and reported the words of יהוה to the people. He gathered seventy of the people’s elders and stationed them around the Tent.

(25) Then, after coming down in a cloud and speaking to him, יהוה drew upon the spirit that was on him and put it upon the seventy participating elders. And when the spirit rested upon them, they spoke in ecstasy, but did not continue.

Two of the participants, one named Eldad and the other Medad, had remained in camp; yet the spirit rested upon them—they were among those recorded, but they had not gone out to the Tent—and they spoke in ecstasy in the camp. An assistant ran out and told Moses, saying, “Eldad and Medad are acting the prophet in the camp!” And Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ attendant from his youth, spoke up and said, “My lord Moses, restrain them!” But Moses said to him, “Are you wrought up on my account? Would that all יהוה’s people were prophets, that יהוה put [the divine] spirit upon them!”