Driven and Depleted, Reflections on Orientations to Work

“And the fish in the river died, and the river stank” (1). This is a description of a plague upon the Nile river, at a time that the Hebrews were dehumanised and driven to perform hard labour. In our own time, the depletion of the Darling river system and the death of over a million fish at Menindee is devastating for the people who live near and depend on the river. While this blog post is about depleted human beings, rather than rivers I see a parallel between the ways in which we are taking too much out of rivers and humans. In this blog post I argue that the stresses of modern life can be reduced by de-emphasising materialistic striving and replacing it with a more spiritual and accepting worldview.

I was moved by an article by Dr. Anne Helen Petersen on How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation (2). She describes depleted people. Simple tasks can make millennials feel overwhelmed. “I was deep in a cycle of “errand paralysis.” I’d put something on my weekly to-do list, and it’d roll over, one week to the next, haunting me for months. None of these tasks were that hard: getting knives sharpened, or vacuuming my car. A handful of emails — one from a dear friend, one from a former student asking how my life was going — festered in my personal inbox,... to the point that I started calling it the “inbox of shame.” 

Petersen argues that: “Burnout and the behaviors and weight that accompany it aren’t, in fact, something we can cure by going on vacation. ...it’s not a temporary affliction: It’s the millennial condition. It’s our background music. It’s the way things are. It’s our lives.”

What is going on? Some of the elements in the article by Petersen are the following: 

Purpose: This generation has been “trained, tailored, primed, and optimized for the workplace — first in school...— starting as very young children”. (3)

Expectations: Millenials have great expectations that emphasise individual fulfillment and success: A students told Professor Petersen: “I want a cool job I’m passionate about!” For millenials the job needed to tick 3 boxes; “employment that reflects well on their parents (steady, decently paying...) that’s also impressive to their peers (at a “cool” company) and “doing work that you’re passionate about”. More broadly, there were expectations that the current generation would be better off than their parents’ generation in terms of health and finances. Many millennials have realised that this expectation is not being met. “One thing that makes that realization sting even more is watching others live their seemingly cool, passionate, worthwhile lives online”.  

Work Conditions and rewards: Apart from the distortions created on social media, there are real injustices in the ways that many modern workers are rewarded for their hard work. The nature of the work itself is exhausting for many people. There is a tendency to work 24/7, replying to emails in bed, is one example of this. “The exhaustion experienced in burnout combines an intense yearning for this state of completion with the tormenting sense that it cannot be attained, that there is always some demand or anxiety or distraction which can’t be silenced”. 

How does one respond to this situation from a Jewish perspective? 

Judaism insists that beyond values like progress, and success in the “market”, lies a higher spiritual purpose to life. To protect the earth (4) in addition to working it (5), “The doing of justice, the love of kindness, and to walk discreetly with your God” (6); It is about righteousness (7), and holiness (8) and behaving in way that contributes to the “glory of God” (9). Of course, one does not need to be religious to live for a higher purpose. 

Like life in general, education must also be oriented toward a higher purpose, preparing children for this purpose rather than for work. The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught that education focused on work-readiness was spiritually similar to what the Egyptians tried to do when they threw Hebrew boys into the Nile. The Nile was an Egyptian God and the source of their livelihood. The Rebbe railed against those he believed were “throwing Jewish children in to the river of the customs and mannerisms of the land, ...which to their mind gives them “Parnasa”, their livelihood” (10). 

The disregard for secular knowledge can certainly go too far. Good Jewish schools combine Torah education and excellent secular education. Their students learn; how to be good, well functioning people, good Jews, as well as the skills and knowledge required for the workplace. 

The virtue of diligent work in highly prized in Judaism (11). However, let us not deceive ourselves that preparation and hard work always deliver wealth. Expectation is a great source of misery. It is utter rubbish to believe that if you expect something “the universe will give it to you”. In fact the evidence proves that exclusively positive thinking can reduce your successes  (12). Instead we are encouraged to aspire to equanimity- the ultimate virtue (13), happily accepting whatever outcome we get (14). Not easy, but worth aspiring to. 

Freed of expectations we can try to ‘go with the flow’ rather than be driven at work. We are instructed to rest on the Sabbath but in six days we should do “all our work” (15). This means that on Friday when we finish work, we regard it as complete and avoid thinking about on the Sabbath (16). Any work not done in the previous week is irrelevant to the week that passed. It is next week’s work! The psalms said it best “It is a falsehood for you, early risers, delayers of sleep, eaters of bread of tension! Indeed He [God] will give sleep to those he loves” (17). 

To change our individual thinking and habits is not enough. Pederson reflects on the fact that despite seeing injustices in the workplace, “we didn’t try to break the system, since that’s not how we’d been raised. We tried to win it”. The Torah demands that “justice, justice you shall pursue” (17). Perhaps we can start with replenishing ourselves by orienting ourselves to a more spiritual sense of purpose and a balanced pace of work and life. The next step is to engage with our communities and politics to ensure that people, the rivers and natural environments that nurture us are all cared for effectively. 

Notes

1. Exodus 7:21
2. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/millennials-burnout-generation-debt-work
3. Malcolm Harris cited in Petersen 
4. Genesis 2:15
5. Ibid and Job 5:7
6. Micah 6:8
7. Genesis 18:19
8. Leviticus 19:2
9. Pirkey Avot, 6:11
10. Likutei Sichos Vol 1, p. 111-112
11. Genesis 29:7, and 31:39-40 and many other sources in the oral law
12. Kappes, H. and Oettingen, in Lomas, T. (2016) The Positive Power of Negative Emotions, Piatkus, p. 48
13. R. Bachya ibn Pakuda (Chovot Halevovot, Sha’ar Yichud Hama'aseh, ch. 5), p. 44 in Feldheim edition,  The Baal Shem Tov, https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/145431/jewish/Tzavaat-Harivash-2-3.htm 
14. Pirkey Avot,4:1
15. Exodus 20:9 
16. Mechilta cited in Rashi
17. Psalm 127:2
18. Deuteronomy 16:20

Self- Worth, Essence vs Concrete Results, Ki Tisa

This is not my daughter. Photo by Christina Rutz.
Used under Creative Commons License Attribution Generic 2.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

I’m reflecting on my trip to Adelaide, on my flight home on Thursday afternoon. There are some times, I make a speech or have a meeting and I walk out feeling like “I hit the ball out of the park”, people were engaged and the objective was achieved. I don’t feel like that right now. Thoughts appear in my mind about whether I could have done this, said that. I have been thinking about the relative importance of concrete realities vs. the essence.  This tension has challenged my people for thousands of years, from the time we wandered in the desert.

On Sunday this week, I felt certain that essence is all important. I wrote:

I am learning that it doesn’t really matter that very much if “I am good”, “professional”, “organised”, “got it right” or wrong.  Yes, I am highly committed to being good and ethical. Yes, it is very important to me and for those I serve that I do competent, organised work. My point is that for me, these achievements and roles have often been essential to my identity and value. Any failure was very personal. No more, with God’s help.  I am none of these things. My value stems from my essence as a human being, as one of God’s children. My 11 month old baby daughter cradled in my left arm as I type, does not need to earn love, it’s her birthright. It is mine. It is the right of every human, regardless of ethnicity, faith or merit.

A few days later, I still think what I wrote about essence is correct. However, it is too optimistic to think I can quickly and consistently change the way I think and feel.  It is tricky because there needs to be a combination of valuing essence with a commitment to concrete good deeds and results that advance justice, truth, acceptance of all people and compassion. 

An example of this tension: something the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said last week really touched me. He told of his experience as a young man, employed as an opposition political staffer he heard the historic “Redfern Speech” by Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating. Despite it being his job to disagree with ‘the other side’, listening to that speech was a “watershed” moment for him. He accepted that “our failures toward Australia’s first people were a stain on our soul”.  ...“If that hardness of heart was ever really to melt, I thought that change had to include me, because you can't expect of others what you won't demand of yourself”. When I discussed the speech with an Aboriginal elder, he replied that many Aboriginal people were very unhappy with Abbott's government because of funding cuts to their community programs that were working. His actions will matter more than his spirit.

For my ancestors freshly liberated by an invisible God, staying connected to this abstraction was difficult. When Moses disappears on the top of a mountain for forty days they become anxious. “This man Moses who took us out of Egypt, we don’t know what happened to him” (1) the people explain as they demand something else, tangible to worship. The abstract God does not soothe their anxiety. A Golden Calf that they can see and touch is what they think they need to replace Moses (2).

As Moses comes down the mountain and sees the Golden Calf and the dances he becomes very angry (3).   Moses is disheartened by a realisation that the people are focused on the concrete object instead of appreciating the spirit. Moses is imagined as crying out; “do you think I am some kind of holiness, and in my absence you resorted to making a calf? God forbid, I am just a man like any of you. The Torah does not depend on me. If I had not come, the Torah would still have been the same”. Because he understands their mistake he realised that if he brings the people the tablets and destroys the calf, the tablets will simply replace the calf as the object of worship. It is clear to Moses that he has no choice (4), so he throws the tablets (with the ten commandments) out of his hands and breaks them at the foot of the mountain (5) to make the point that the object is not holy in and of itself but only as a means for people to connect with God and the Torah. Indeed as the physical tablets shatter, the verses engraved on them are freed and fly up to heaven (6).

As the plane continues to fly me home I feel at peace with myself and my day. Yes, there was an important meeting that did not seem to go as well as I had wanted it to. Perhaps it will not get the desired result in the end, I don’t know.  Whether it does work or not, matters a great deal, because there are people who can benefit from a “good result”. Regardless, my personal value stems from my essence, not the concrete results I get.

1.    Exodus 32:1
2.    Ramban commentary
3.    Exodus 32:19
4.    Meshech Chochma
5.    Exodus 32:19
6.    Pirkey Drabbi Elazar 45, Midrash Tanchuma Parshat Ekev 11, cited in Torah Shlaima p. 130 

Self Promotion & Trust at Work and Between Groups - Vayetze

Self righteous and occupying the "moral high" ground, or
at least positioning oneself to appear to be good one

One of Orthodox Judaism’s most prominent religious authorities was deeply distrustful of Christian intentions in initiating Interfaith dialogue[1]. He was concerned that it was a plot to convert Jews, a proposition based on generations of bad blood, but one that would be discredited by the evidence of the following fifty years of dialogue. Trust between Jews and Muslims can be particularly difficult to achieve but with many notable exceptions such as my own experience in Together For Humanity[2], and projects such as JCMA[3], Project Abraham[4], the Three Faiths Forum[5] and Jihadi Jew[6].

Another set of relationships that can be difficult revolve around work. In both inter-religious and work relationships one of the destructive dynamics is the attempt by one party or both trying to position themselves as “the good one”, and the other as “the bad one”. Once I became aware of this dynamic, watching people engage it makes me want to scream. This is a discussion about how trust and honour are earned and given, or lost and withdrawn. 

Clear as Mud

Some people like to combine a game of positioning themselves as virtuous, with also keeping things as vague as they can, to maximize their own options later.  An example of this double whammy is when Jacob proposes the payment for his work for Laban, he does so in a manner that has become the standard expression for clarity still in use among religious Jews today, בְּרָחֵל בִּתְּךָ הַקְּטַנָּה. He agrees to work for seven years “for Rachel, your daughter, the younger one[7]”. The decent response to that proposal would be an equally clear confirmation that the terms were either acceptable or not. Instead Laban offers a dishonest[8], “shifty, vague and ambiguous[9]” response with this self glorifying statement “"It is better that I give her to you than I should give her to another man. Stay with me[10]". ‘Trust me’, he seems to say brazenly when he is the last person with the right to demand trust.

Vague Language

A Laban type response is particularly frustrating if one is already concerned about the honesty of the other party or whether their expectations will be realised in the end, as Jacob was[11]. Commentary[12] suggests that Laban had already decided then to give Jacob his daughter Leah instead of Jacob’s beloved Rachel. Craftily, he also uses the word “give” which implies a gift to Jacob rather than an exchange and weakens Jacob’s position. Then in the guise of wanting the pleasure of Jacob’s company he throws in a clause “Stay with me” that will force Jacob to work under the watchful eyes of Laban.  Laban will later swindle Jacob, by repeatedly changing the terms of the deal between them[13].  

Over the years in my interfaith work, I have received some meaningless vague big-picture-yes responses to interfaith cooperation that in fact turned out to mean “I don’t have any desire to be involved but I want to sound good, or maybe make you feel good so I will imply a yes when the real answer is no”.

Brother in Scams?

A natural response to feeling cheated whether at work on in the inter-group context is to respond in kind. My assumption would be that “two wrongs don’t make a right” and that one should never cheat and that while it is a better use of time to focus on sincere people, it is wrong to give up on sincerity.  I wonder what messages can be found in the story of Jacob and Laban. The Talmud[14] elaborates on Jacob’s comment to Rachel that he was her father’s brother[15], with the following exchange.

Jacob to Rachel: Mary me.

Rachel: Yes. But my father is a swindler and you won’t be able to manage with him.

Jacob: I am his brother in swindling[16]

Rachel: Is it allowed for a Righteous person to engage in swindling?

Jacob: Yes, “with a pure one you show yourself pure; but with the perverse one, you deal crookedly[17]”.

Implications of a Licence For the Low Road

One recent article, discusses the difference between Jacob’s two names. It relates the name Jacob to his grabbing Esau’s heel during their birth and represents “attacking at the heel; … to deal, sometimes, deceitfully and surreptitiously”. It also makes a link to current political realities, making the comment that “when we are surrounded by 140 million people wishing to destroy us, we cannot always go with the 'high-road' behaviour. We have to come back to the practices of 'Jacob’[18]”. I lack the expertise to comment on matters of defence and I do not presume to give anyone advice about the Torah sanctioned right to self defence, yet this type of interpretation is one that would make me and many other Jews both in Israel and outside it very uncomfortable.

Jacob’s Actions; a Licence?

A simple reading of the text might yield the conclusion that Jacob carried out his threat to be Laban’s brother in deception. Consider how he creatively implements a profit sharing agreement with Laban. The deal was that Jacob would remove all the speckled and spotted goats and all the brown sheep, then any animals that will be born with these characteristics will belong to Jacob[19]. Jacob then puts spotted or brown sticks in front of the animals when they are in heat, this tactic results in many goats and sheep being born with the appearances that lands them in Jacob’s possession. 

Interpretations of Sticks as Evidence against Defrauding Fraudsters

Commentaries seek to justify Jacob’s action. The simplest is that the sticks method of genetic modification does not work, and the result was due to divine intervention[20]. Another view is that there was a condition in the agreement with Laban that allowed Jacob to use the sticks and he had his permission[21].

Alternatively, Jacob only used this practice after some goats were born with the spots without intervention. He was concerned that these goats would have offspring without spots that would rightfully belong to him, but Laban would claim them because they have no spots. He used the sticks only for his legitimately earned spotted goats[22].

One can argue about the plausibility of these justifications, but that is less important than the implication that it would have been wrong for Jacob to rob Laban, even though Laban was a thief. There are other interpretations that might not support this approach[23]. Perhaps the most compelling point is Jacob’s assertion that he served Laban loyally with all his strength[24], working and be consumed by scorching heat during the day and frost by night[25].

The Face Game

Laban works relentlessly on putting Jacob down in comparison to his righteous self. When he first invites him to stay he declares but you are my brother. The word “but” is interpreted as “you have been distanced from all your relatives because of your deceiving your brother twice but you are my relative and I won’t distance you[26]” (because I am so good of course). When Jacob finally escapes from the toxic situation with Laban, Laban pursues him and offers this gem. “What have you done?! you lead my daughters like captives of the sword…why didn’t you tell me and I would send you away with songs, drums and the lyre. You didn’t let me kiss my sons and daughters, now you have done foolishly[27]”. 

Laban then accuses Jacob of stealing his occult artefact called the Teraphim[28]. Jacob explodes, after a fiery defence of his integrity he makes a curse for anyone who stole Laban’s Teraphim. Unbeknown to him Rachel had stolen them[29]. Our tradition teaches us that Jacob’s curse was realised[30] when Rachel died a short time later at the age of 36[31]. While her sin of stealing the Teraphim is said to have caused her not to be buried in the cave of the righteous (in double cave in Hebron)[32], but it is also a direct result of Jacob’s curse. This is the second error in judgement that Jacob makes, the other he is assuming that the shepherds he sees hanging around a well are neglecting their duties when in fact they had a perfectly legitimate reason to be there[33].  

Conclusion

Rather than using our energy convincing people that we are “the good one”, we should just be good and let our behaviour and character speak for itself. It is very sad that people so often demand trust when they don’t deserve it. Perhaps we can resist judging people who like our prominent Rabbi at the beginning of the post who might have heard or seen too much to be able to trust again. Yet, we must thank God, there are not that many Laban’s around and we should not assume that “they are all like that” or that the way things were, is the way they still are. We must pick ourselves up after our trust has been betrayed and trust all over again, albeit a bit more alert.  There are many decent beautiful people in our world of all faiths and skills sets, let us work with them. 

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[1] Feinstien, R. Moshe, Igros Moshe, vol. 6, p 278, letter with a ruling dated February or March 1967, Adar 1, 5727

[2] http://togetherforhumanity.org.au/

[3] http://jcma.org.au/

[4] http://www.projectabraham.org.au/

[5] http://www.threefaithsforum.org.uk/

[6] http://www.facebook.com/groups/jihadijew/

[7] Genesis 29:18

[8] Targum Yonatan Ben Uziel, adds the word “Rmiyu”, deception, to his translation of “And Laban said” in verse 19.

[9] Leibowitz, N, New Studies in Bereshit, p.321, Jewish Agency, Special Edition, Lambda Publishers, Brookly New York

[10] Genesis 29:19

[11] Rashi Genesis 29:18

[12] Ohr Hachayim on Genesis 29:19

[13] Genesis 31:7

[14] Talmud Megilah 13b

[15] Genesis 29:12

[16] Targum Yonatan Ben Uziel has Jacob saying “I am a swindler, and clever, more that he is is and he will have no permission/ability to do bad to me as the word of God is in my assistance”

[17] Samuel II, 22:27, with slight variation also in Psalms 18:27

[18] Frand, Rabbi Y, http://www.torah.org/learning/ravfrand/5757/toldos.html

[19] Genesis 30:32

[20] Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch

[21] Bchor Shor, Ohr Zarua Hagadol, evidence for this proposition is the fact that Jacob did this openly in full view of all the shepherds for six years where it would have been impossible that it would not become known to Laban

[22] Radak in the name of his father

[23] Daat Zekainim Mbaalei Hatosafot and Ohr Hachayim both have explanations that involve Laban violating the agreement which justifies Jacob taking counter-measures to protect what was his, with the former referring to the phrase “with a pure one you show yourself pure; but with the perverse one, you deal crookedly”.

[24] Genesis 31:6

[25] Genesis 31:39

[26] Chizkuni

[27] Genesis 31:26-28

[28] Ibn Ezra describes the Teraphim as being part of a practice in which a skull of a first born would be used in magical practices

[29] Genesis 31:31-32

[30] Beresheet Rabba 74, Rashi

[31] Seder Olam (Order of the World) Chapter 2, an alternative view is that she was 45 (Sefer Hayashar, cited in Torah Shlaima)

[32] Midrash Aseret Hadibrot 40, cited in Torah Shlaima vol 2, p1236

[33] Genesis 29:7-8

Tensions and Trials of Trail Blazers - Bahalotecha 2011

Innovation will meet resistance.  Our Torah reading offers some insights into some expressions of resistance to a new path and some lessons about how to respond to these.

Losing a Mentor and an Elder Champion

A colleague told me about how she often feels like picking up the phone to call her recently departed mentor in matters of peace and conflict, the late Stella Cornelius. In the Torah reading, Moses anticipates losing a mentor-like figure with the announcement by his father in law, Jethro that “I will not go (with you to the promised land) rather I will go to my land and my birthplace[1]”.  Moses responds with a heartfelt plea, “please do not abandon us, for you have known our camping in the desert and you have been like a pair of eyes for us[2]”.  

Moses plea is interpreted as meaning “being that you see this people, that is in a bad state and all our encampments are with grumbling, controversy and complaints …I am afraid that (your) leaving us is related to the grumbling against the divine presence (and) the fact that we strayed from following God, therefore I worry that if you go away you will not return to us and even when you are with us, your thoughts will be on your birthplace, thinking ‘oh, who would give me a limb like a dove? I will fly and dwell[3] in peace’ there not like these encampments…therefore I request that you don’t leave us…(if you stay) the eyes of the Israelites will be on you and to learn from your example[4]…the main need for you to stay is that you will be thinking about your birthplace when you see the crumbling order between us (and the contrast)…and you will be the reason for us fixing our matters”[5].

Moses plea, reminds me of how I felt when more experienced people who have supported my work have told me, we don’t have the time to devote to this. My first impulse is to think but “I need you, I need your faith in me and the innovative work I am doing”. But of course, the Jethro’s and the Stella’s and others must move on and those who have drunk of their wisdom must continue without their presence, but still thinking “what would Stella say to this?”.

Fears justified – Complaints ostensibly about cucumbers and fish

Moses frustration with his people is given fresh justification only six verses later. The people were “like mourners[6]”. They were seeking a pretext[7], the complaints change quickly from a desire for meat[8], to memories of “free fish” in Egypt, to cucumbers, watermelons, leeks, onions, and garlic[9], then the nature of the Manna[10], and finally crying in their families which is interpreted to be about recently forbidden sexual relationships[11] such as between nephews and aunts. These laws were not a theoretical matters, Moses own parents were nephew and aunt[12] and therefore needed to divorce[13].   

Despair

Moses responds bitterly to this new challenge. In contrast to an earlier time, when his loyalty to the Jewish people leads him to say to God if you don’t forgive the Jews erase me from your book![14], he is ready to give up. His anger leads him to spurn his mission that was entrusted to him by God[15]. He cries out, “"Why have You treated Your servant so badly? …You place the burden of this entire people upon me? Did I conceive this entire people? Did I give birth to them, that You say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom as the nurse carries the suckling,' to the Land You promised their forefathers?...Alone I cannot carry this entire people for it is too hard for me. If this is the way You treat me, please kill me if I have found favor in Your eyes, so that I not see my misfortune.[16]"

Variation of Jethro’s advice

God’s response sounds remarkably like the suggestion Jethro’s made to a less tired and worn out Moses years earlier[17], delegate! Moses is instructed to gather 70 elders, some of his spirit of prophecy will be given to them and they will help him lead the people[18].  

Loss of Control

There are those who say “if you want something done well, do it yourself”. Others wish to delegate but keep absolute control. It seems to me that great leaders are those who can point a direction and leave it to others to freely work on the mission within certain constraints. The Lubavitcher Rebbe would say “God did not tell Abraham to take a knife” (when he commanded him to sacrifice his son). Moses’ planned 70 prophets, sees a curve ball when two more unauthorised prophets appear in the camp, Eldad and Medad[19]. Joshua is alarmed, my master Moses, destroy them![20] Load them up with communal work and that will destroy them automatically[21], or lock them up in jail[22].

Confidence and Vision

Moses response is “Moses said to him, "Are you zealous for my sake? If only all of God's people were prophets, that God would bestow His spirit upon them!" This shows Moses great humility, although this is something which every other person would be jealous of, he did not display jealousy[23]. Moses’ answer remains an example for all teachers and leaders, to make themselves, superfluous so that people will not require teachers[24]. Or as the then chairman of Together For Humanity’s board, Peter Stephinson, would often tell me, “Zalman, we want to make you redundant”.  The confidence Moses displays here, is also seen when he is approached by people who had not brought the Passover offering because they were impure with the impassioned complaint “Why should we lose out?![25]”, when Moses tells them stand (and wait) and I will hear from God what he will command for you[26], knowing that in fact he can count on it[27].

Conclusion

To lead and effort off the beaten track, requires courage and perseverance, some chaos and challenges should be expected when the status quo is challenged. Mentors and champions are invaluable, for as long as they are available. When they need to go, soldier on, their wisdom remains after their presence has moved on. Above all, the work must always be bigger than the worker, and as best as is practical and responsible, let go and see the movement grow.

(note: my first choice for this week was to discuss Moses’ “Black Wife” but someone beat me to it, see http://rchaimqoton.blogspot.com/2007/07/moses-black-wife.html . Perhaps another time I can add my own thoughts to this)

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[1] Numbers 10:30

[2] Numbers 10:31

[3] Psalms 55:7

[4] By a means of a “Fortiori” (Does anyone really use that word?), in Hebrew a Kal VChomer meaning a “Light and Heavy”, in which any heavy aspect found in a light/less serious case would be assumed to apply in a more seriour “heavy” case. Eg. If Jethro who has a comfortable life chooses to stay in the desert and follow the path God has set for them how much more so the Jews who had no other options should certainly stay on the path.

[5] Klei Yakar (Shlomo Ephraim ben Aharon Lunschitz, 1550-1619 Poland)  on Numbers 10:31

[6] Numbers 11:1

[7] Rashi on Numbers 11:1

[8] Numbers 11:4

[9] Numbers 11:5

[10] Numbers 11:6

[11] Talmud Yoma 75a, and Rashi quoting Sifre

[12] Moses’ father Amram was the son of Kehat who was one of Levi’s three sons (See Numbers 3:17 & 19), Moses’ mother was Jocheved the daughter of Levi (See Exodus 2:1 and Rashi’s commentary) and the sister of Amram’s father. 

[13] Targum Yohatan Ben Uziel (Hillel's most distinguished pupil Talmud Sukkah, 28a- last century BC)  on Numbers 11:26, Rosh, Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel - (1250-1328)

[14] Exodus 32:32

[15] Akedat Yitzchak Rabbi Yitzchak Arama, (1420-1494)

[16] Numbers 11:11-15

[17] Exodus 18:17-26

[18] Numbers 11:16-17

[19] Numbers 11:26, amazingly one commentary, Targum Yonatan Ben Uziel states that they were Moses’ half brothers, their father Eltzafan son of Parnach who married Jocheved when Amram divorced her before Moses was born, .

[20] Numbers 11:28

[21] Talmud Sanhedrin 6, quoted in Rashi

[22] Sifre, also in Rashi

[23] Akedat Yitzchak Rabbi Yitzchak Arama

[24] Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch  first published 1867- 1878

[25] Numbers 9:7

[26] Numbers 9:9

[27] Midrash Hagadol, cited in Torah Shlaima