As we mentioned before, the sin of the complainers, the מתאוננים, was a turning point that led the Jewish people to a succession of sins along the downhill path they were now following. The root of it all was their desire not to be overly close to Hashem.
Right after the events of this parshah comes the saga of the Spies, the Meraglim, and what we have been describing was exactly the sin of the Meraglim. When they saw the giants in the land of Canaan it shook them up. Why? Didn’t they just miraculously leave Egypt, and see ten plagues right before their eyes? Is there something Hashem can’t do?
Their attitude was like this: Who took us out of Egypt? Hashem Himself. We don’t want Hashem to keep leading us, because if Hashem leads us, life is too demanding. We want a normal, kosher lifestyle, go to a hotel every once in a while, with a Shabbos elevator and Cholov Yisrael... we have had enough of Moshe Rabbeinu’s style of leadership.
The Meraglim saw Eretz Yisrael as a place too holy for them.
And then comes the parshah of Korach. He, too, claimed: י ִ ו ֵ י ל ֵ נ ְּ ם ב ֶ כ ָ ב ל ַ ר – “You Levites are taking it too far!”
We don’t want Moshe’s leadership. Let us lead normal lives, please.
And when you don’t want Moshe Rabbeinu, you just keep on going downhill all the way to the sin of the women of Moav.
This is how the parshiyos progress from one to the next. Let us learn from these stories that constant relationship with Hashem is the best and indeed the only path in life.
