Saturday, February 21, 2015

Direct Trip To Moav

Unlike what we said in the previous post, "BaMidbar 11" is usually considered part of E. Why? Because, I guess, the reference to the Manna. It says in "BaMidbar 11":

וְעַתָּה נַפְשֵׁנוּ יְבֵשָׁה, אֵין כֹּל--בִּלְתִּי, אֶל-הַמָּן עֵינֵינוּ. וְהַמָּן, כִּזְרַע-גַּד הוּא; וְעֵינוֹ, כְּעֵין הַבְּדֹלַח. שָׁטוּ הָעָם וְלָקְטוּ וְטָחֲנוּ בָרֵחַיִם, אוֹ דָכוּ בַּמְּדֹכָה, וּבִשְּׁלוּ בַּפָּרוּר, וְעָשׂוּ אֹתוֹ עֻגוֹת; וְהָיָה טַעְמוֹ, כְּטַעַם לְשַׁד הַשָּׁמֶן. וּבְרֶדֶת הַטַּל עַל-הַמַּחֲנֶה, לָיְלָה, יֵרֵד הַמָּן, עָלָיו

However, in the beginning of Parshat Vayisu, the E-source says:

וַיִּסְעוּ בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵרַעְמְסֵס, סֻכֹּתָה. וְגַם-עֵרֶב רַב, עָלָה אִתָּם, וְצֹאן וּבָקָר, מִקְנֶה כָּבֵד מְאֹד. וַיֹּאפוּ אֶת-הַבָּצֵק אֲשֶׁר הוֹצִיאוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם, עֻגֹת מַצּוֹת--כִּי לֹא חָמֵץ: כִּי-גֹרְשׁוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם, וְלֹא יָכְלוּ לְהִתְמַהְמֵהַּ, וְגַם-צֵדָה, לֹא-עָשׂוּ לָהֶם

The question is which עֻגוֹת are the better fit to the E-source text:

וַיְדַבֵּר הָעָם, בֵּאלֹהִים וּבְמֹשֶׁה, לָמָה הֶעֱלִיתֻנוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם, לָמוּת בַּמִּדְבָּר: כִּי אֵין לֶחֶם, וְאֵין מַיִם, וְנַפְשֵׁנוּ קָצָה, בַּלֶּחֶם הַקְּלֹקֵל

What is לֶּחֶם הַקְּלֹקֵל, the miserable bread? It must refer to the bread that they brought from Mitzrayim. From our point of view, it is obvious. It could not refer to the Manna, because of what we said about Pesach, that the Manna is a notion of J.

And the question raises itself. If Israel had only bread from Mitzrayim, how long can the trip through the Desert have lasted? The answer of E is in its silence. It is silent about the Meraglim, and the punishment. It is silent about Edom, and the neccessity to go around it. It is silent about the wars with the Amorites (BaMidbar 22:2 is from the J-source; Balak is introduced in verse 4), and Sichon, et cetera. What we know is that it took too long for the bread to stay good. It seems that in E, Israel made a direct trip from the Mountain of G-d to Moav.