Why was it a sin for the Israelites to ask for meat in the desert?

Rabbi Landau explains that the sin of the complainers was not the meat itself. “There's nothing wrong with asking for meat. You can ask Hashem for anything.” The problem was how small their request was compared to what stood before them.

They had Hashem with them, manna from heaven, and miracles every day, and all they could think about was meat. They had access to the Infinite, and their prayers never rose above their cravings.

In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau notes that the Torah calls it “evil in the ears of Hashem,” sharper language than it uses even about the Golden Calf. The people did not worship idols. The evil, he writes, was a flaw in how they saw Hashem: they shrank the Creator of all worlds down to the size of a passing craving.

Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level

Surface claim

The sin was not in what they asked for but in how small they asked.

Deepest human truth

Standing before the Infinite, a person is meant to ask big.

More questions from this teaching

• What is the difference between praying and complaining to God?