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Behaaloscha: What do you Want?

A peculiar turn of phrase is used to describe when the Jews complained for meat rather than mun. The passuk says they were התאוו תאוה, desiring a desire. What does that mean?

The Akeidas Yitzchak explains that the nation did not actually desire meat. They were not hungry. They did not see anybody else eating meat or smell it’s tantalizing aroma. Rather, what they wanted was something to want. They desired to have something that they could desire, something to feel a passion and longing for. This is far worse than desiring something specific that you happened to have come across.

R’ Aaron Lopiansky takes this a step further. He explains that one who is searching for something to desire only does so because they feel a sense of emptiness in their own life. A basic human need is to feel like one is pursuing something that they want. But the proper way of channeling this feeling would have been for the Jewish nation to seek spiritual pursuits to be busy with, to fill their days chasing opportunities to do Mitzvos and to help others.

The fact that the nation chose to try to build up an appetite for physical rather than spiritual things showed that being an elevated nation was not high up enough on their priority list.

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