{"id":57878,"date":"2019-06-20T13:07:01","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T10:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=57878"},"modified":"2022-07-29T14:51:09","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T11:51:09","slug":"behaalotcha-a-nursing-mother-provides-a-sibling-intercedes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/behaalotcha-a-nursing-mother-provides-a-sibling-intercedes\/","title":{"rendered":"Beha’alotcha: A Nursing Mother Provides, A Sibling Intercedes"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[384,368],"acf":{"old_id":"57878","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36663,"related_cahpter":"1049","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"God is the breast feeder-in-chief for the Israelites","content":"

Moses complains to God about his role with the Israelites, whining in response to the people’s weeping (Numbers 11:10), \u201cWhy have you laid the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived this people and birthed them that you should say to me, \u2018Carry them in your bosom as a lactating mother carries the child nursing to the land you have promised on oath to their fathers?’\u201d (11:11-12).<\/p>\n

He is so overburdened that he says to God \u201cif you would deal thus with me, kill me\u201d (11:15). God provides relief by appointing seventy elders to share the spirit of God and the burden of the people (11: 16-17).<\/p>\n

Moses\u2019 complaint here should be seen as a flaw in his leadership: he thinks he is expected to do something a man cannot do.\u00a0 For me, nursing is a privilege rather than a burden. Personally, as a mother who has spent a cumulative 53 months nursing her children, I felt fortunate to be physically equipped to provide for all of their needs. It can be tiring to nurse when they are tiny and relentlessly hungry, but nursing an infant is the only time that a parent can truly provide everything her child needs; in that way a nursing mother is very much behaving in imitation of God.\u00a0 Moses, in complaining that he is not a nursing mother, burdened with children, is misunderstanding what it means to nurse, which is not something burdensome, but a powerful ability to nourish while providing love and comfort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When God provides manna, which has the taste of \u201crich cream\u201d (11:8), God is providing for the people in the same way a nursing mother does. In fact, the Talmud in Yoma 75a says that \u201cJust as a baby tastes different flavors from the breast, since the taste of the milk changes somewhat depending on what foods his mother eats, so too with the manna, every time that the Jewish people ate the manna, they found in it many different flavors.\u201d\u00a0 The rabbis here portray the manna as akin to breastmilk, which would make God the breast feeder-in-chief for the Israelites when manna is distributed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moses\u2019 complaint then, is misunderstanding the mother\/child relationship, and shows Moses is not succeeding at his job leading the people. Moses should relish the ability to work with God to feed the people, not feel it burdensome.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet Moses does not remain mired in resentment. When his siblings Miriam and Aaron critique him (12: 1-2) and God takes his side (12:6-8), Moses does something extraordinary: he prays five words to God on behalf of his sister, \u201cO God heal her please\u201d (12:13) the model we still follow for prayers on behalf of the sick. He can\u2019t nourish others himself, but Moses learns to ask for compassion on their behalf.\u00a0 I believe his mother, who nursed him at Miriam\u2019s request (Exodus 2:7-9) would be proud.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moses may not be a nursing mother, but he learns to act as an excellent sibling advocate.<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":102636,"id":102636,"title":"-6223cf765634e--6223cf7656350gen21-baby bottles nursing.jpg","filename":"6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/feast-of-weaning-the-renewal-of-an-ancient-tradition\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":37323,"date":"2022-03-05 21:00:38","modified":"2022-07-29 11:51:07","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Parashat Beha'alotcha 5779","main_caption":"A Nursing Mother Provides, A Sibling Intercedes","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"God is the breast feeder-in-chief for the Israelites","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":102636,"id":102636,"title":"-6223cf765634e--6223cf7656350gen21-baby bottles nursing.jpg","filename":"6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/feast-of-weaning-the-renewal-of-an-ancient-tradition\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":37323,"date":"2022-03-05 21:00:38","modified":"2022-07-29 11:51:07","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6223cf765634e-6223cf7656350gen21-baby-bottles-nursing.jpg-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57878"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57878"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106794,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57878\/revisions\/106794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}