Parshat Chukat-Balak  12 Tammuz 5762, June 22 2002

By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - After a catalogue of the transgressions of the nation of Israel in the desert - the sin of the golden calf, the sin of the querulous complainers, (mitonenim), the sin of the scouts, the sin of the wicked attempters to conquer the land (ma'apilim), the sin of the rebels against Moses and Aaron - we come now to the saddest and most perplexing of transgressions: the sin of Moses himself.

As the Bible records the tragic happening, the Israelites once again find themselves in the desert without water and complain bitterly to Moses and Aaron:"Why did you bring th congregation of the Lord to this desert to die?" (Numbers 20:4). G-d instructs His leaders to"take the staff, gather the nation and speak to the rock in front of the (Israelites') eyes... You will then bring forth water from the rock and provide drink for the community and their cattle... . Moses lifts up his hand and strikes the rock with his staff twice; much water emerges, an he gives drink to the community and their cattle. The Lord then says to Moses and Aaron, 'Since you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me before the eyes of the children of Israel, you will not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them' " (Numbers 20: 8,9,11,12).

The punishment which G-d metes out to Moses and Aaron is indubitably clear: they, too, will die in the desert, they will be denied their life-long goal of entering the Promised Land. But as to the nature of the sin which warranted such an extreme penalty, the Biblical text is much more ambiguous. Was it that Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to the rock as G-d had commanded? Then why did G-d begin his instruction to Moses by telling him to take the staff in the first place? (Numbers 20:8). And does not the punishment seem to be rather severe for so minor an infraction? Would the miracle have been so much greater had the water emerged after Moses spoke to the rock rather than after Moses struck the rock? Do rocks ever give forth water, no matter what is done to them?

Before attempting to understand the nature of Moses' transgression, it is important to compare this Biblical account with Moses' own interpretation of the incident when he himself refers to it in his farewell address to the nation. Moses is reviewing the history of the Israelites in the desert, recounts the sin and punishment of the ten scouts and the generation swayed by their evil report, and then adds: "G-d then became angry also at me because of you, saying 'You too will not enter there (the Land of Israel)' " (Deuteronomy 1:37). Apparently Moses himself links his punishment to the sin of the scouts and blames the Israelites for his being barred entry to Israel; he doesn't mention his striking of the rock at all! How may we better understand the true reason for G-d's anger as well as the significance of the severity of His punishment?

Perhaps further illumination can come from continuing our comparison of the events as the Bible describes them with the events as later interpreted by Moses. Moses recounts the incident of the scouts, insisting that the initiative for dispatching the envoys emanated from the nation:"And you, all of you, drew near unto me, and you said, 'Let us send men before us, and let them dig out (va'yahperu) for us the land, bringing back to us the way: the road by means of our approach to it, and the cities we have to enter through" (Deuteronomy 1:21). Yes, it was the people who made the suggestion of the scouts, but not as a commission of inquiry or even a committee of assessment; they merely wanted to ascertain the safest and most effective access roads, the best approach to the land they were about to conquer. It was Moses himself who broadened the instructions, who mandated the messengers to"scout out" (va'yaturu) the land and assess the military capability of the inhabitants as well as the fortification of the cities (Numbers 13:17-24).

To be sure, Moses never expected that they would return with a negative report, that they would convince the Israelites that, given the bellicose strength of the inhabitants and the protective walls around the cities, attempt at conquest would be folly. After all, for Moses the Divine command - and promise - was more than sufficient. But herein lies the rub, the fatal flaw in Moses' leadership: he did not adequately assess the mood of his nation. He thought he could broaden the mandate to the envoys - after all, the more intelligence information the Israelites had going in, the easier it would be for them to properly prepare the conquest - but never expected the possibility that panic might set in and thwart the entire venture of entry into the Promised Land. He overestimated his people! They lost their courage and their will, and that entire generation was doomed to die in the desert.

At that time, however, Moses is not yet punished; true the greatest of prophets misjudged, but it was because he trusted his people, he believed in Israel, too much. But a leader can not be condemned for overestimating his nation. However, now comes the follow-up test. The people are thirst fully complaining for water. Moses and Aaron fall on their faces in prayer before G-d. The Almighty tells Moses to take the staff - the symbol of leadership - and speak to the rock. G-d is about to perform a miracle - a miracle which is meant to teach the subsequent leaders a crucial lesson. The rock is an inanimate object, but it also symbolizes the Israelite nation, a stiff-necked people, hard and obstinate as a rock. "Speak to it", says G-d, with words of persuasion and love, and you will extract life-giving and Torah-true waters even from this stubborn nation. Moses misses the point. Instead of seeing a frightened, thirsty people in need of help, he sees a willful band of upstarts. "Listen now you rebels" (Deuteronomy 20:10), he shouts at them, striking out against the rock - nation, instead of loving them. (see Maimonides, introduction to Avot). This time in his assessment of the situation he under-estimates his people, refusing to recognize their objective suffering as well as their ability to repent under the proper loving guidance of speech and persuasion. Now G-d punishes him - divinely understanding that a shepherd who underestimates his flock, who loses proper love and appreciation for them cannot continue to lead them.

Shabbat Shalom.

A Present Day Israeli Post-Script

Soon after the initial Oslo accords, and while terror attacks were still raging, then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (May his soul rest in peace) armed the Palestine Police Force with automatic weapons. At a personal meeting with him, I questioned the wisdom of such an action. He maintained that the Palestinian Authority would use the weapons against Hamas and Islamic Jihad. I raised the possibility - which unfortunately came to pass - of their joining hands with the terrorists and using the weapons against us. "We've got to take the risk," he said. "Our people are too tired for another war."

Tragically Mr. Rabin was wrong on the first issue; fortunately Mr. Rabin was also wrong on the second. Despite these most difficult and precarious times, the Israeli populace - and especially my people in Efrat - are standing courageous and resolute, proud to be fighting in our extension of the War of Independence, proud to be protecting Jews the world over, proud to be waging the battle of the just and the free against the primitivism of terrorist suicide bombers. Mr. Rabin, sadly underestimated his nation - and we are now paying a bitter price...

Return to Ohr Torah Stone