Bs”d
Parshas Chukas (5762)
By Mordechai Dolinsky
In this week’s parsha we have the vital and significant incident of Moshe Rabeinu and the rock. The following is a structure of the sequence that emerges from the psukim according to Rashi.
The petirah of Miriam HaNevia
The be’er ceases to give water and goes away
This cuts off the source of water for Clal Yisroel
(The sequence of the following items is not clear)
HaShem gave the command to Moshe Rabeinu to speak to the special rock in order to extract water for Clal Yisroel
Because the be’er went away the special rock likewise followed its example and stationed itself incognito among the other stones
An ordinary stone positioned itself in the place of the special stone
The multitudes of Clal Yisroel miraculously stationed themselves in positions whereby they were able to observe the stone
Clal Yisroel realized that this was not the special stone but could not identify the special stone because of its incognito position
Clal Yisroel adopted the position that the procedure of speaking to the stone should be done to the ordinary stone that was sitting in the place of the special stone
Moshe Rabeinu disagreed with Clal Yisroel and criticized them for taking an unqualified stand on the issue and it is at this point Rashi explains that this is the significance of Moshe Rabeinu’s statement (20:2) “Shimu Nah HaMorim”
Moshe Rabeinu nevertheless proceeded to speak to the wrong stone
It produced no results
Because of the failure it was decided to hit the stone instead
At this point the special stone returned to its original position
Moshe Rabeinu proceeded with his above decision and hit the stone (it is not clear whether Moshe Rabeinu was cognizant of the fact that the special stone had returned to its original position)
A small amount of water emerged
Moshe again repeated the process and hit the stone
This time an abundance of water which was sufficient for all of Clal Yisroel and their flocks emerged.
The following questions emerge from all the above.
Why did the special stone go away?
Why was Bnei Yisroel of the opinion to proceed with the strange stone?
Why did Moshe give in and agree to speak to the strange stone?
When this failed why did Moshe opt for hitting the stone instead of using it as a demonstration that it was wrong to proceed with the strange stone?
Why did he actually hit the stone when HaShem had told him specifically to talk to it?
Why did the special stone return at this point?
Why did the special stone give water when it wasn’t supposed to do so when hit, only when spoken to?
What was Moshe Rabeinu’s actual transgression, since he did attempt to speak to the stone but it didn’t work?
With a new approach in understanding the whole episode of Moshe Rabeinu talking to the stone we can perhaps have way to solve these difficulties. The conventional perspective of deriving water from a stone is of kabalistic, metaphysical significance. Perhaps we can add that even more significant was the involvement and the input of the personal ‘avoda’ of Moshe Rabeinu and Clal Yisroel in the area of emuna and bitachon, their level of faith and confidence they had in Hashem. We shouldn’t forget and overlook the fact that the “special rock” definitely did have some aspect of intrinsic significance and input enabling it to access the water. Likewise the miracles of the ten plagues and the splitting of the sea were closely connected with the avoda of emuna and bitachon of Moshe Rabeinu and Clal Yisroel. This was also true regarding the miraculous supply of water all the years in the desert which was brought about with the involvement of the avoda of Miriam and the level of emuna of Clal Yisroel.
After the passing away of Miriam the be’er ceased to produce water and left. The special stone feared that Clal Yisroel was no longer on the level of bitachon that they merited that it would miraculously produce water despite the command of Hashem to Moshe Rabeinu. The stone suspected that a major chilul Hashem would ensue and it would be more beneficial for it to hide thus disenabling Moshe Rabeinu to proceed. The stone was sure that Moshe would not attempt to perform on a different stone and thus no chilul Hashem would result and Hashem would supply the water from some alternate source. This is exactly what transpired–Moshe Rabeinu refused. Clal Yisroel, however, insisted that they and Moshe Rabeinu were indeed on a high level of emuna and the water could be accessed even from a strange stone, which is technically correct and possible, if they were truly on this high level. “Mi Sheomar L’Shemen V’yadlik Yomar L’Chometz V’yadlik”—He who created the oil with the power to ignite can likewise ignite vinegar.
When the special stone saw that instead of abstaining and declining to act, Moshe Rabeinu used the ordinary stone and was not successful. It realized its grave error and returned to its place without Moshe or Clal Yisroel being aware of its act. Moshe Rabeinu then reasoned, and correctly so, that since this was not the Divinely prescribed procedure since it was being done (so he thought) on the ordinary stone he was likewise able to improvise and attempt the hitting of the stone. This is known as an increase in ‘hishtadlus’ which compensates when there is a lack of bitachon.
If Moshe Rabeinu had realized that the special stone had returned he would have attempted to speak and he probably would have been successful. If Clal Yisroel had sufficient bitachon that even the ordinary stone worked with hitting then the special stone would have certainly worked with speaking.
(We can perhaps conjecture and say that the special stone in hoping that it would be noticed and as a means of attracting attention first produced the small amount of water that it did. Upon seeing that this didn’t work, the second time it produced the full amount).
A clear possible explanation of the sin, the shortcoming of Moshe Rabeinu emerges from this. Moshe Rabeinu perhaps should have been more scrupulous in suspecting that the special stone returned whereupon it would have been indeed sufficient for him just to speak. This can be the explanation of the complaint that Moshe didn’t “speak”. The original commandment and the ultimate Kiddush Hashem would have then come about.
We should all be worthy of making a Kiddush Hashem in the world. Have a wonderful Shabbos.
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