page_title: Behaalotecha
section_title: Numbers chapter 12
hierarchical_section_title: Behaalotecha / In classical rabbinic interpretation / Numbers chapter 12
caption_attribution_description: English: Moses in the BulrushesFrançais&#160;: Moïse exposé sur le Nil
context_page_description: Behaalotecha, Beha'alotecha, Beha'alothekha, or Behaaloscha is the 36th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the third in the Book of Numbers. The parashah tells of the Menorah in the Tabernacle, the consecration of the Levites, the Second Passover, how a cloud and fire led the Israelites, the silver trumpets, how the Israelites set out on their journeys, the complaints of the Israelites, and how Miriam and Aaron questioned Moses. The parashah constitutes Numbers 8:1–12:16. It is made up of 7,055 Hebrew letters, 1,840 Hebrew words, 136 verses, and 240 lines in a Torah Scroll.
  Jews generally read it in late May or in June. As the parashah sets out some of the laws of Passover, Jews also read part of the parashah, Numbers 9:1–14, as the initial Torah reading for the fourth intermediate day of Passover.
context_section_description: The Sifre explained about what Miriam and Aaron spoke to Moses in Numbers 12:1. Miriam found out that Moses had ceased to have marital relations with his wife Zipporah when Miriam observed that Zipporah was not making herself up with women's ornaments. Miriam asked Zipporah why she was not making herself up like other women, and Zipporah answered that Moses did not pay any attention to such things. Thus Miriam realized that Moses has ceased having marital relations with Zipporah and told Aaron, and both Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses. Rabbi Nathan taught that Miriam was standing alongside Zipporah when (as recounted in Numbers 11:27) the youth ran and told Moses that Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the camp. When Zipporah heard the report, she lamented for the wives of Eldad and Medad because the men had become prophets, and the wives would thus lose their husbands’ attention. On that basis, Miriam realized the situation and told Aaron, and both of them spoke against Moses.
  The Gemara cited Numbers 12:3 for the proposition that prophets had to be humble. In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses foretold that "A prophet will the Lord your God raise up for you . . . like me," and Rabbi Joḥanan thus taught that prophets would have to be, like Moses, strong, wealthy, wise, and humble. Strong, for Exodus 40:19 says of Moses, "he spread the tent over the tabernacle," and a Master taught that Moses himself spread it, and Exodus 26:16 reports, "Ten cubits shall be the length of a board." Similarly, the strength of Moses can be derived from Deuteronomy 9:17, in which Moses reports, "And I took the two tablets, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them," and it was taught that the tablets were six handbreadths in length, six in breadth, and three in thickness. Wealthy, as Exodus 34:1 reports God's instruction to Moses, "Carve yourself two tablets of stone," and the Rabbis interpreted the verse to teach that the chips would belong to Moses. Wise, for Rav and Samuel both said that 50 gates of understanding were created in the world, and all but one were given to Moses, for Psalm 8:6 said of Moses, "You have made him a little lower than God." Humble, for Numbers 12:3 reports, "Now the man Moses was very humble."
  A Midrash asked why Moses had to account to the Israelites, seeing as God trusted Moses so implicitly that God said in Numbers 12:7, "My servant Moses is not so; he is trusted in all My house." The Midrash explained that Moses overheard certain Israelites scoffing behind his back, for Exodus 33:8 says, "And they (the Israelites) looked after Moses." The Midrash asked what the people would say about Moses. Rabbi Joḥanan taught that the people blessed his mother, for she never saw him, as he was always speaking with God and always wholly given over to his service. But Rabbi Hama said that they used to remark how fat and prosperous Moses looked. When Moses heard this, he vowed to give an account of everything. And this is why Exodus 38:21 says, "These are the accounts of the Tabernacle." Reading Exodus 38:21, "as they were rendered according to the commandment of Moses," the Midrash taught that the Israelites did everything that they did by the command of Moses. And reading the continuation of Exodus 38:21, "through the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest," the Midrash taught that everything that Moses made was done through others. Even though everything was done with witnesses, as soon as the construction of the Tabernacle was completed, Moses wasted no time to promise the people the complete details of all the expenditures involved. Moses then began to expound in Exodus 38:21, "These are the accounts of the Tabernacle," saying how much he had expended on the Tabernacle. While engaged in this calculation, Moses completely forgot about 1,775 shekalim of silver that he had used for hooks for the pillars, and he became uneasy thinking to himself that the Israelites would find grounds to say that Moses took them for himself. So God opened the eyes of Moses to realize that the silver had 
caption: Miriam waiting for the baby Moses in the Nile (19th-century illustration by Hippolyte Delaroche)
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