BEHA'ALOTEKHA

With all the signs and wonders they'd been shown,
The people still at times seemed unaware:
Beneath the cloud of glory they could moan
For leeks and garlic! Moshe was in despair.
G-d let him call the Seventy to bear
The load with him. When Moshe's spirit shone
On them, they grasped his teaching then and there,
But could take no step further on their own.
Thus when Eldad and Medad prophesied
And loyal Yehoshua, in dismay,
Urged him: "Cut down this growth you did not tend" --
"I wish they were all prophets," Moshe sighed,
Glad of each word that might in any way
Assist the people's spirit to ascend.