Parshat Behaalotecha can break your heart. In Torah we feel pathos many times for many characters. The books of Breisheet and Shemot are filled with characters who suffer and we suffer along with them. In this parsha, B'haalotecha, we see Moses, the person we depend upon for stability, begin to fall apart. A good amount of text has been devoted to how the Israelites are to prepare for their journey, but as this large group of people begin their trip, everything breaks down quickly. Almost immediately after they begin, a loud protest begins over the food. Moses breaks down from the pressure that the loud, complaining group places upon him. God comes through to help Moses, which is an important step forward in building a leadership team instead of placing all of the burden on Moshe's shoulders.
This poem, entitled The Road Trip, explores the beginning of this period of wandering, and compares it to a family road trip.
The Road Trip
The car is piled high.
Maps, brochures,
bikes stacked on the rack.
Roof piled high,
a household in a minivan.
Inside cool AC
Packed like sardines
leg to leg
Snacks, goody bags, books,
lollipops, wet wipes, diapers.
Smiles all around and optimism.
A road trip is never what it promises to be.
"Are we there yet?"
The car is crowded,
someone is carsick
fighting,
nagging,
complaining
about the good old days
at home
where everything is
hunky dory.
A road trip is
a microcosm of the world
all around us
compressed into the three rows
of a minivan
Kids sneeze and noses run.
Pitstop after pitstop
Fighting in the back seat.
The navigator is snoring in the passenger seat.
You can't hear the books on tape
so
you listen to the radio
and
you can’t
believe what you are hearing.
The rest rooms are dirty.
It’s not quite as you planned.
Smiles turn to frowns
The best intentions are overturned
like the pieces of a puzzle,
their pieces laying face down
on the crummy car floor
alongside a spilled juice box.
Kids will be kids
And adults are just kids
with bigger shoe sizes.
"Are we there yet?"
A brochure is not real life.
The internet shows only sunny skies
The real sky is not as blue
as in the photos.
Sometimes cold wind blow
and you forgot the rain ponchos.
Sometimes it rains.
There are black flies on the mountains.
There are bears at the campsites.
Mosquitoes bite.
Scratching is the new hobby.
Tics crawl up ankles
and lodge behind ears.
Lines snake around
and the wait is more than an hour
to get on the ride.
The coffee is cold.
The food is expensive.
The children whine.
But the road trip goes on.
To turn around and go home
is not part of the playbook.
One day all of you will all look back on this
with a smile.
***
Long ago thousands embarked upon
a God inspired road trip
The trip planners used no maps,
no Travelocity.
They followed
a cloud by day
and a fire by night.
The trip planners stayed up nights
and organized for the trip.
Everything and everyone had their places.
Their tents were packed up,
directions followed to a tee.
All were alert and ready.
The desert welcomed them.
Heat rose from the ground like waves
and the blue sky beckoned.
Destination "Promised Land."
All were ready for the destination,
but maybe not the ride.
A road trip is never what it is promised to be.
"Are we there yet?"
The complaining started immediately.
When will we get there?
"I'm hungry."
"I'm really hungry."
"These snacks aren't what I wanted."
"I can't wait."
"I won't!"
"I want to go back!"
"I want the good old days.
Those days of
cucumbers and leeks.
Those good old days of
slavery in Egypt."
The organizers were caught off guard.
Hadn't they planned for everything?
Smiles turn upside down to frowns.
The best made plans overturned,
like a complicated puzzle,
their pieces laying face down
on the hot desert floor.
It was just a little too much for the organizer.
It broke him just a little bit.
But he had no choice
but to continue.
The road trip must go on.
Kids will be kids
And adults are just kids
with bigger shoe sizes.
All road trips are different
They never go as it reads in the travel guide.
To turn around and go home
is just not part of the playbook.
You plan and plan
and hope for the best
and know that it's going to be a bumpy ride.
Desert or mini-van.
Somehow you get stronger along the way.
Numbers11:4-6 (Translation from Sefaria)
וְהָֽאסַפְסֻף֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּקִרְבּ֔וֹ הִתְאַוּ֖וּ תַּאֲוָ֑ה וַיָּשֻׁ֣בוּ וַיִּבְכּ֗וּ גַּ֚ם בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ מִ֥י יַאֲכִלֵ֖נוּ בָּשָֽׂר׃ The riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving; and then the Israelites wept and said, “If only we had meat to eat!
The riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving; and then the Israelites wept and said, “If only we had meat to eat!
זָכַ֙רְנוּ֙ אֶת־הַדָּגָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־נֹאכַ֥ל בְּמִצְרַ֖יִם חִנָּ֑ם אֵ֣ת הַקִּשֻּׁאִ֗ים וְאֵת֙ הָֽאֲבַטִּחִ֔ים וְאֶת־הֶחָצִ֥יר וְאֶת־הַבְּצָלִ֖ים וְאֶת־הַשּׁוּמִֽים׃ We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
וְעַתָּ֛ה נַפְשֵׁ֥נוּ יְבֵשָׁ֖ה אֵ֣ין כֹּ֑ל בִּלְתִּ֖י אֶל־הַמָּ֥ן עֵינֵֽינוּ׃ Now our gullets are shriveled. There is nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!”