The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
R' Frand began his first vort by noting that after Aharon's death, the Annanei HaKavod returned shortly thereafter in the zechus of Moshe. But after Miriam's death, the well did not return immediately. But why was this different?
R' Frand answered by quoting the Klei Yakar who notes that after Aharon died the Torah writes that all of the Jewish people cried for thirty days. Similarly after Moshe died in Parshas V'Zos HaBeracha, the Torah writes that the Jewish people cried (although not all of the Jewish people, like when Aharon died).
But after Miriam dies, the Torah does not disclose any crying or mourning. Because the Jews did not mourn the death of this righteous woman, the well needed to cease providing water. R' Frand said that we learn from this that if we don't appreciate someone when they are here, Hashem may give us a reason to feel after the person died that we did not properly appreciate that person in his lifetime. Since the Jews did not appreciate Miriam, Hashem gave then a reason to feel her loss.
The second vort related to the Jews complaints about the Manna. Specifically, why should they have complained about this miraculous food which tasted like whatever they desired and was so efficiently processed by their bodies that there was no waste to be exrcreted?
R' Frand answered by quoting the Gemara in Yoma which asks - why did the Manna not fall just once a year? The Gemara answers with a parable about a king who used to give his son a year's worth of food annually. The son would come visit his father only that one time per year and it distressed the king, so he required his son to come daily for food.
The Jewish people's complaint about the Manna was that it did not last beyond the day it fell (outside of Shabbos & Yom Tov) so they were dependent on gathering it every day. This required them to be reliant on Hashem and to be careful in their actions so that the Manna would continue to be there for them...and they were not happy about that. After all, the other nations of the world had food without this daily stress.
R' Frand said that the Meforshim say that the Jews were punished with the snakes. The snake in Bereishis was given a curse that it would eat dirt. Seemingly this was not a curse as it had all the food that it wanted. But it also meant that Hashem did not want to see the snake. The Jews similarly wanted to be independent from needing Hashem like the snake, so they were punished with snakes.
The final vort related to the pasuk in Bamidbar 21:27 - עַל־כֵּ֛ן יֹֽאמְר֥וּ הַמּֽשְׁלִ֖ים בֹּ֣אוּ חֶשְׁבּ֑וֹן. R' Frand remarked that Sichon was riding high, because he thought that he had been Moshel on Moav by capturing their lands. But he did not realize that his conquering of Moav was the precursor to the Jews acquiring this territory, which they were barred from taking from Moav.
This is the message to the Moshlim - there is an accounting and what you think may be positive may not be in the end.
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