THE WELL, THE ROCK, SPEAKING AND
STRIKING
Pinchas Leiser
“Now they came, the Children of Israel, the entire
community, to the Wilderness of Tzin, in the first New-Moon. The people stayed
in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and she was buried there. Now there was no
water for the community, so they assembled against Moshe and against and
Aharon; the people quarreled with Moshe, they said, saying: Now would that we
had expired when our brothers expired before the presence of God! Now why did
you bring the assembly of God into this wilderness, to die there, we and our cattle?
. . . Moshe and Aharon came away from the presence of the assembly to the
entrance of the Tent of Appointment, and flung themselves upon their faces. The
Glory of God was seen by them, and God spoke to Moshe saying: Take the staff
and assemble the community, you and Aharon your brother; you are to speak to
the boulder before their eyes so that it gives forth its water, so that you may
give drink to the assembly and their cattle.
So Moshe took the staff from before the presence of God,
as He had commanded him. And Moshe and Aharon assembled the assembly facing the
boulder. He said to them: Now hear, you rebels, from this boulder must we bring
forth water? And Moshe raised his hand and struck the boulder with his staff,
twice, so that abudant water came out; and the community and their cattle
drank. Now God said to Moshe and to Aharon: Because you did not have trust in
me to treat me as holy before the eyes of the Children of Israel, therefore:
you two shall not bring this assembly into the land that I am giving them. Those
were the Waters of Meriva/Quarreling, where the Children of Israel
quarreled with God, and He was hallowed through them. (Bemidbar
20:1-13)
When
Chazal and the traditional commentators read these verses, they found in them
an endless source for derashot, drawing from them – through speech
- “many waters”. . . and, as is
known, “Water is none other than Torah”. They homiletically expounded the
juxtaposition of the parasha of the red heifer to that of Miriam’s death.
Similarly, with great sensitivity, they noted the connection between the death
of Miram and the death of water:
“Rabbi Yossi, son of Rabbi Yehudah, said: Israel had three
great leaders: Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam. And they gave Israel three fine gifts:
the well, the cloud, and the manna. The well – thanks to Miram; the pillar of
cloud – thanks to Aharon; manna – thanks to Moshe. Miriam died – the well
disappeared, as is written (Bemidbar 20)
“There Miriam died” and this is
followed by “there was no water for the assembly”. (Bavli, Taanit 9a, and elsewhere).
Chazal,
and in their footsteps Rashi and others, describe a non-conventional reality –
a well which accompanies the Children of Israel in the wilderness. This well is
mentioned in Tractate Avot (5:6) among
the ten phenomena which were created Sabbath Eve at sunset. The author of the
Siftei Chachamim points out that the well was attributed to Miriam because “she
waited near Moshe on the Nile, to see what what would happen to him when he was
thrown in the basket.”
The
waters which flowed from the well were the source of life. When Miriam died,
the well disappeared, the source of life disappeared. The people react to the
lack of water and Miriam’s absence indirectly, with feelings of desperation and
death wishes (Rabbi Efrayim of Lunchitz, author of “Kli Yakar” explains that
they did not eulogize Miriam properly and did not mourn her death in a direct
manner). Moshe and Aharon cannot cope
with these feelings, and they flee to the entrance of the Tent of Appointment.
Some commentators understand this flight as a failure of leadership, which
finds expression further on in the parasha. Many commentators, Rishonim and Achronim, dealt with the question
of “the sin and its punishment” of Moshe
our teacher (an extensive summation of the different approaches may be found in
Prof. Nechama Leibowitz’s STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF BEMIDBAR) and they found
different reasons for the prevention of Moshe’s entry into Eretz Yisrael.
A
plain-reading of Chapter 20:7-13, must call the reader’s attention to the
connection between the striking of the rock and Moshe and Aharon’s not entering Eretz Yisrael. :
God spoke to Moshe saying: Take the
staff and assemble the community, you and Aharon your brother; you are to speak
to the boulder before their eyes so that it gives forth its water . . . And
Moshe raised his hand and struck the boulder with his staff, twice . . . . Now
God said to Moshe and to Aharon: Because you did not have trust in me to treat
me as holy before the eyes of the Children of Israel, therefore: you two shall
not bring this assembly into the land that I am giving them”.
The
Holy one, Blessed Be He, commandes Moshe “to speak” to the rock so that it
release its waters; Moshe does not speak, but he “strikes” the rock. True, “many
waters” flow from the rock after its
being struck, but Moshe and Aharon are accused of a lack of faith, and of
missing an opportunity to publicly sanctify the Lord, and therefore it was
decreed that they may not enter Eretz Yisrael, - or, more in keeping with the
text – they will not bring the assembly into the land. In other words, their
leadership responsibility will end before the entry into the land.
This
reading ignores the wider context which includes the death of Miriam, the
disappearance of the well, and Moshe and Aharon’s inability to cope with the
despair which infects the nation after Miriam’s passing. Perhaps this is the reason why the commentators
do not consider the striking of the rock to be sufficient reason for the
punishment given Moshe.
Close
study of the verses permits a reading with reveals a connection between the
different events described in the parasha – with ramifications for future
generations.
The
Generation of the Wilderness was an impatient generation. When it left Egypt,
it was promised that it would reach its destination, a land flowing with milk
and honey. The desert reality slaps the face of the generation, crises often
marked by expressions of despair are heard; no food, no water, no hope. In
these situations, the nation comes with harsh complaints to the leaders who
brought them to “die in the desert”. We find different manifestations of
this hopelessness. The sin of the Calf, Korach, the spies, the Waters of
Controversy, Baal Pe’or, all these express the difficulties of this generation
to manage a situation of uncertainty. Sometimes, in especially difficult
moments, Moshe does not have the strength to contain the despair and the anger.
When
the life of her younger brother was in danger, Miriam the prophetess, sister of
Aharon, waited until Pharaoh’s daughter discovered Moshe’s basket and saved
him. Thanks to that waiting, to that patience, that ability to contain unclear
situations which usually arouse great apprehension, Miriam – and with her all
the Children of Israel – acquired a well which was a source of life, a source
of hope in a situation of wilderness uncertainty.
With
Miriam’s death, the people’s ability to wait disappeared – “And when Miram
died, the well was taken away”. The patience vanished. The people’s capacity
(and also, temporarily, that of Moshe and Aharon) for accommodating uncertainty
disappeared. Perhaps the Generation of the Wilderness – of which Moshe and
Aharon were a part – is so-called because of its inability to cope with
wilderness situations.
Different
periods in the life of a nation are characterized by uncertainty; in order to
deal with the ‘wilderness’ uncertainty, patience and moderation are needed,
belief in a better future is required. Leadership which can lead a generation
in wilderness situations is a “leadership which speaks”, not one which
“strikes”. Only despair, resulting from lack of faith, hope, and tolerance, can
create the dangerous illusion that complex situations can be resolved by use of
force. The parasha of ‘Mei Meriva” –The Waters of Rebellion – and its
adjacency to the death of Miriam teach us the perils attendant upon the
blurring of boundaries between power and holiness. Sometimes, an entire
generation pays the price of such
blurring of boundaries.
Pinchas Leiser, edotor of “Shabbat
Shalom” is a psychologist.
אין תגובות:
הוסף רשומת תגובה