Parshat Behaalotecha, 7th Portion (Numbers 11:30-12:16), June 7, 2014

The people ask for meat, and God sends them quail from the sea. And the quail are at chest height so that they can catch them easily. And some of the quail kill the men, for God is angry at their craving.

In the next chapter, we discover that Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because he married a Cushite woman. Miriam learns about this inadvertently, but by relating what happened innocently is still punished for criticizing Moses. Aaron intentionally criticizes Moses which was worse. God gets mad at Miriam and Aaron, and causes an affliction (tzara'ath) on Miriam. Moses cries out to God to heal her. She was confined outside the camp for seven days and then could return.

Lessons: Don't speak poorly of another, even by accident.

And don't complain when you are released from slavery because you don't have meat. Take what you have.