The People Were Like Complainers
“The people were like complainers, evil in the ears of Hashem…” Opening The Torah says: “The people were like complainers, evil in the ears of Hashem.” A great Hasidic master looked closely at the words of this verse: “evil in the ears of Hashem.” It does not say “a sin.” It does not say “a wrongdoing.” It says “evil.” It also says “in the ears of Hashem,” as if Hashem heard it and saw it, so to speak, as a kind of insult. What is this special “evil”? Why does the Torah sound the alarm about it so sharply, even more sharply than it speaks about the sin of the Golden Calf? The point is deep and delicate. If you pay close attention, you will see that it touches your own prayer directly. It touches every day, in the morning, afternoon and evening prayers. Two Kinds of Prayer We need to make a basic distinction. There is prayer, and there is complaining. At first glance the two look alike. A person stands before Hashem and asks for something. But the two are worlds apart. A big prayer comes from a place where a person recognizes how great Hashem is. He knows he is standing before the One who, as King David wrote, “opens Your hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing.” He is standing before the Infinite, before the One whose power has no limit. Because he knows this, his request grows wide: “Hashem, open up my life. Make me who I am meant to be. Pour an abundance of greatness upon me.” This is asking from an expanded, open mind. Complaining is the opposite. It is prayer from a small, narrow mind. Yes, the person is standing before Hashem. But his whole world, everything he sees, is squeezed into the small, passing, physical need that is pressing on him right now. “Hashem, fix this little thing for me so I can feel comfortable.” That is not a connection. That is a grocery list. The Complainers’ Sin in This Light Now we can understand “The people were like complainers.” After all, this was not open denial of Hashem. The people did not worship idols. They asked for meat, something physical, but something that seems to be allowed. So why does the Torah say, “Hashem’s anger burned against them”? The answer is that the flaw was not in what they asked for. It was in the state of mind they asked from. They were standing face to face with the miracles of leaving Egypt, with the pillar of cloud that led them, and with the manna, the bread that came down from heaven. These were open, everyday revelations of the Infinite. And what interested them? A passing craving for meat. They did not ask, “Hashem, widen our lives.” They did not ask, “Make us worthy of the land You promised us.” Their whole “prayer” came down to this: “We wanted meat.” This is exactly what complaining means: you stand before the Infinite, and you shrink yourself down into a small craving. Shrinking Hashem Inside And here is the key new point. When a person complains, he is not only “grumbling.” He is doing something deeper and more serious. He is shrinking Hashem. He takes the Creator of all worlds, the One whose power has no limit, and fits Him into the size of his own small problem. He turns Him from “the Infinite” into “someone who fixes one particular problem.” He turns the Cause of all causes into “the One who will take care of this little discomfort for me.” This is the “evil” in the verse. It is not a sin that shows up as an action. It is a flaw in how a person sees Hashem Himself. That is why the Torah says “evil in the ears of Hashem” in this place and nowhere else. It touches, so to speak, on how Hashem is known and recognized. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, author of the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, explains it this way: A small, narrow mind is a state in which a person does not grasp how great Hashem is, and his prayer closes in on itself. An expanded mind is the opposite. It means truly thinking deeply about the greatness of the Infinite. This is what opens a person up to real blessing and to deep closeness with Hashem.
Putting It into Practice
Tomorrow, before you stand before Hashem in prayer, ask yourself one simple question: Am I complaining, or am I praying? The Book of Psalms says: “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Hashem is saying: Open your mouth. Do not open it for the small complaint. Open it for the big request. Do not say “Fix my problem for me.” Say “Hashem, You are infinite. Open up my life. Widen my mind. Help me fulfill what I came into this world to do.” When you ask from a big place, you allow Hashem to pour an abundance of greatness upon you. When you shrink your request down to the size of your small trouble, you shrink, so to speak, what is able to reach you. True prayer is an act of widening the mind, not of shrinking it.
Questions and answers
Q: Why does the Torah call the people's complaining "evil in the ears of Hashem" and not a sin?
Rabbi Landau answers: The Torah says: “The people were like complainers, evil in the ears of Hashem.” A great Hasidic master looked closely at the words of this verse: “evil in the ears of Hashem.” It does not say “a sin.” It does not say “a wrongdoing.” It says “evil.” It also says “in the ears of Hashem,” as if Hashem heard it and saw it, so to speak, as a kind of insult. What is this special “evil”? Why does the Torah sound the alarm about it so sharply, even more sharply than it speaks about the sin of the Golden Calf? The point is deep and delicate. If you pay close attention, you will see that it touches your own prayer directly.
Q: What is the difference between praying and complaining?
Rabbi Landau answers: We need to make a basic distinction. There is prayer, and there is complaining. At first glance the two look alike. A person stands before Hashem and asks for something. But the two are worlds apart. A big prayer comes from a place where a person recognizes how great Hashem is. He knows he is standing before the One who, as King David wrote, “opens Your hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing.” He is standing before the Infinite, before the One whose power has no limit. Because he knows this, his request grows wide: “Hashem, open up my life. Make me who I am meant to be. Pour an abundance of greatness upon me.” This is asking from an expanded, open mind.
Q: Why was asking for meat in the desert so serious if it wasn't idol worship?
Rabbi Landau answers: Now we can understand “The people were like complainers.” After all, this was not open denial of Hashem. The people did not worship idols. They asked for meat, something physical, but something that seems to be allowed. So why does the Torah say, “Hashem’s anger burned against them”? The answer is that the flaw was not in what they asked for. It was in the state of mind they asked from. They were standing face to face with the miracles of leaving Egypt, with the pillar of cloud that led them, and with the manna, the bread that came down from heaven. These were open, everyday revelations of the Infinite. And what interested them? A passing craving for meat.
Q: How does complaining shrink Hashem in a person's mind?
Rabbi Landau answers: And here is the key new point. When a person complains, he is not only “grumbling.” He is doing something deeper and more serious. He is shrinking Hashem. He takes the Creator of all worlds, the One whose power has no limit, and fits Him into the size of his own small problem. He turns Him from “the Infinite” into “someone who fixes one particular problem.” He turns the Cause of all causes into “the One who will take care of this little discomfort for me.” This is the “evil” in the verse. It is not a sin that shows up as an action. It is a flaw in how a person sees Hashem Himself. That is why the Torah says “evil in the ears of Hashem” in this place and nowhere else.
Q: What should I ask myself before I pray tomorrow, according to "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it"?
Rabbi Landau answers: Tomorrow, before you stand before Hashem in prayer, ask yourself one simple question: Am I complaining, or am I praying? The Book of Psalms says: “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Hashem is saying: Open your mouth. Do not open it for the small complaint. Open it for the big request. Do not say “Fix my problem for me.” Say “Hashem, You are infinite. Open up my life. Widen my mind. Help me fulfill what I came into this world to do.” When you ask from a big place, you allow Hashem to pour an abundance of greatness upon you. When you shrink your request down to the size of your small trouble, you shrink, so to speak, what is able to reach you.