Swallowing the Tablets Called Torah

Parshat Beha’alotcha begins with the instructions of making and lighting the Menorah (candelabra), and then tells us that Aaron did as he was told (8:3). The Sifri explains that the Torah is telling us that Aaron did as he was told, and didn’t deviate from it. Then, almost a whole chapter later, the Torah tells us that G-d showed the Jews where to camp, and for how long (sometimes for a long time), and that the Jews adhered to those directions, and didn’t travel when they shouldn’t have (9:18-23). If G-d told Aaron how
to make the Menorah, isn’t it obvious that Aaron followed those
instructions? And if G-d showed the Jews when and where to travel, isn’t it obvious that they’d listen?

The Lekach Tov explains these with a story of 3 people that were afflicted with the same disease. They all saw experts, and they all got the same remedy. The first person did everything the doctor ordered, and was cured. The second patient had some knowledge about medicine, and researched the medicine he was given, taking only the ones he recognized. Eventually, the disease overtook him, and he died. The third patient also understood
medicine, and also researched what he was taking, but took the medicine despite not yet understanding their effects. He too was cured.

The Torah is attesting to the fact that although Moshe was there to help explain G-d’s commandments (Mitzvot), the Jews did as they were told despite not yet understanding why they were told to do so. We too are “diseased” with influences of today’s world, and are lucky enough to have a code of morality and truth to live by. The Torah expects us to accept its written and oral laws, and expects us to diligently work to understand them all. Limiting our
performance to those laws that we can understand would be like having the cure to a happy, fulfilling life, but failing to take the pills. Perhaps we can all swallow those two tablets we call the Torah, and commit to reading the instructions on how to use them
best!

by Shlomo Ressler