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Parshat Chukat: THE ROCK!
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Press Your Luck
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"Hit or Speak to the ROCK?"

Bang the Rabbi, "In the Parsha" Series, Presents:

Parshat Chukat:
Times Are A-Changin'

by  "Brooklyn Bas Torah" correspondent Rivka Friedman,

(adapted from R' Kenneth Waxman Shiur)

For most of us, retribution is a frightening but logical concept. We sin, we get punished. Simple right? What about the punishment, though? Logic tells us it should fit the crime, and the Torah’s laws provide us numerous examples of punishment that fits the crime. However, it is in the example of crime and punishment dispensed by HKBH Himself described in this week’s parsha that the punishment seems out of step with the crime. When reading Parshat Chukat, we come to the story at Mei Merivah. Here Moshe hit the Rock rather than speak to it, (and Aharon stood idly by) and as a result, HKBH decrees that they can not enter Eretz Yisroel. In reading the text, it seems as if their punishment is extremely severe for the acts they committed. Moshe and Aharon have been preparing themselves and Bnei Yisroel for 40 years in the desert in order to enter into Eretz Yisroel. By losing themselves in a moment of frustration the goal of their 40 year trek through the Midbar was suddenly forever out of reach. Not only does the severity of the punishment not seem logical, it is frightening if one were to relate it to our own personal experiences and transgressions that result from our momentary frustrations. In evaluating both the parsha and our individual lives we come to a question - What was it that Moshe and Aharon did that made them deserve such a harsh punishment?

Moshe and Aharon’s sin starts with story of Bnei Yisroel’s complaints for water. While in the desert Bnei Yisroel ask for water twice – once in Shemot perek 17, and the second time in our parshah, bamidbar prerek 20, pesukim 3-13. Even though both stories contain similar language, and have strong thematic connections, they are substantively different. In both instances Bnei Yisroel complained to Moshe that they were thirsty. In response to their outcries, HKBH instructed Moshe in both instances to gather the nation, and take a stick. In Beshalach, Moshe is instructed to hit the rock, while in Chukat, he is told to only speak to the rock.

Moshe is given different instructions in the two cases, because he is speaking to two very different nations. In Sefer Shemot, Moshe is leading a nation that has been out of Egypt for only 2 years, while the story in Bamidbar takes place 38 years later with a nation well worn by the desert and by the lessons learned during their wanderings. Shemot 17 describes a slave generation, one that understood power and force. Thus, Moshe needed to guide them with the same imagery. Here, he was instructed to hit the Rock with a stick, because it represented might and power. These were concepts that Bnei Yisroel could relate to at this point in their development as a nation. The nature of their relationship with HKBH was dominated by power, and physical strength. HKBH had just split the Yam Sof for them, defeated the world’s only superpower and put a spectacular display of force at Har Sinai. This generation had a lack of understanding of HKBH’s subtle presence amongst them. This is illustrated by the lack of usage of HKBH’s name as they complain for water and is contrasted by the language of the second generation where they do invoke HKBH’s name as they complain for water. It was only after they lived in the desert for 40 years and experienced the daily portion of Manna at their doorstep and the Shechinah dwelling among them had they were able to come to the recognition that God is not only powerful but is involved in the minutiae of their everyday existence.

As the nation changed so did the requirements for their leader. Now a leader of words, not of force, was necessary to act as the leader for this young nation as they enter Eretz Yisroel. Indeed, Yehoshua’s conquest of Yericho displays how the call of the shofar, not the sword was God’s weapon of choice. Words not force. Moshe should have been able to fully subvert the image of power symbolized by his staff but failed to do so. He hit the rock instead of merely speaking to it. He was unable to react to the needs of this new generation.

Thus, it was not necessarily the action that led to Moshe and Aharon’s punishment, but the changing needs of the nation, and the inability of their present leaders to change along with them.

send comments about this article to "In the Parsha" correspondent,
Rivka Friedman.

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