Reply To: Short & Sweet

Bahaloscha: What Do You See

When the people who were טמא were informed that they wouldn’t be allowed to bring a קרבן פסח, they were devastated. למה נגרע, they asked; “why should we lose out” on this opportunity to do a mitzva? These people recognized that each mitzva is not a burden, but rather a precious opportunity to come closer to Hashem that they couldn’t bear to miss out on.

Contrast this with a story from later on in the Parsha: ויהי העם כמתאננים, רע בעזני ה׳. The people complained about the toils of the travel, despite the fact that Hashem was leading them to ארץ ישראל for their own good. Then they complained that they didn’t like the food, although they had herds of cattle. Despite all that Hashem was doing for them, they chose to only focus on the difficulties. They saw their mission as a burden, not as the opportunity that it really was. What a tragedy.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום