The Pasuk says: The People complained badly like mourners, Hashem became angry and His fire burnt them…11-1.  The Verse does not describe their sin and what were they complaining about.

Rashi explains: that they were complaining about their travels, since they had been traveling for three days without stopping.

The Ramban points out, that the verb used to describe the negativity of their complaints is “to mourn”, in other words they were lamenting about their lots as a mourner does for his loss. Their moaning, complaining and negativity were “bad in the eyes of Hashem” because a Jew should always be happy with his lot and accept the fate Hashem gives him with joy and gratitude.

Hashem is our Creator and Loves us like His Children, all He Has at heart is our best interest. Especially after Hashem demonstrated to them the miracles in Egypt, on the sea, and on the Sinai while giving us the Thora. They should have known better and should have followed Him with joy and with a good heart, for all the kindness Hashem gave them. They were acting like they were being forced, didn’t they remember the bitter suffering they endured in Egypt?

The Ben Ish Chai crystallizes beautifully this concept. In Hebrew חוב , which means debt, is a root to the verbs meaning hardship and problems its numerical value is 16. On the other hand the wordטוב ,[which means good, goodness]its numerical value is 17.So between Goodness and problems is 1, the very One we usually tend to forget when He showers us with Goodness. So when Hashem is not with us we’re left with 16, which refers to problems. However, as soon as we add Hashem, the One and only One, the goodness returns to our lives. By Rabbi Shimon Fridmann Din Torah of NMB, FL 305.399.0393 * [email protected]