From:          "Yeshivat Har Etzion's Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash"
To:            yhe-intparsha@vbm-torah.org
Subject:       INTPARSHA -35: Parashat Chukat

                        YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
           ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
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                 INTRODUCTION TO PARASHAT HASHAVUA
                                
                          Parashat Chukat
                                
                        Leading by Example
                                
                     by Rabbi Jonathan Mishkin

     Our  essay this week concerns one of the more  famous
of  the desert episodes - Moses' encounter with the  rock.
It  is  due  to  this tragic tale that  God  decrees   that
Israel's  two leaders, Moses and Aaron, will not accompany
their people into the Promised Land. In a rare display  of
divine punishment, God's response to the Lawgiver's  crime
is   immediate  and  direct.   No  amount  of   prayer   or
repentance  succeeds  in changing  God's  mind  and  Moses
eventually accepts God's judgment.  And yet, although  the
consequence  of Moses' sin is clearly stated by  God,  the
actual  nature of his error has been the subject  of  much
debate among the commentators.
    
     Following  the  nation's complaint about  a   lack  of
drinking  water, God prepares once again  to  satisfy  the
Israelites' needs.
    
     "Moses  and Aaron came away from the congregation   to
     the  entrance  of the Tent of Meeting,  and   fell  on
     their  faces.  The Presence of the Lord  appeared   to
     them,  and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'You  and
     your  brother  Aaron take the rod  and   assemble  the
     community, and before their very eyes order the  rock
     to yield its water.  Thus you shall produce water for
     them  from  the  rock  and  provide   drink  for   the
     congregation  and their beasts.  Moses took  the   rod
     from before the Lord, as He had commanded him.  Moses
     and  Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the
     rock; and he said to them, 'Listen, you rebels, shall
     we  get  water for you out of this rock?'  And   Moses
     raised  his hand and struck the rock twice  with   his
     rod.   Out came copious water, and the community   and
     their  beasts drank.  But the Lord said to Moses   and
     Aaron  'Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm
     My  sanctity  in  the sight of the Israelite   people,
     therefore  you shall not lead this congregation  into
     the  land  that  I have given them.'  Those   are  the
     Waters  of Meriva - meaning that Israelites quarreled
     with  the  Lord  -  through  which   He  affirmed  His
     sanctity."  (Numbers 20:6-13)

In analyzing this story we will employ the explanations of
three early Torah commentators - Rashi, Rambam and Ramban,
in  chronological  order.   But before  looking  at   these
writings  we must introduce one important factor  critical
to   our  understanding  of  the  story:  the   concept  of
Sanctification of the name.  When God chastises Moses  and
Aaron  He  claims that they lacked faith in Him  and  that
they failed to sanctify Him.  What exactly does it mean to
sanctify God?  We refer to a Biblical source of this idea,
Leviticus chapter 22:
    
     "You  shall faithfully observe My commandments: I   am
     the Lord.  You shall not profane My holy name, that I
     may  be  sanctified  in the midst  of   the  Israelite
     people - I the Lord who sanctify you" (verses 31-32).

     The  simple or literal meaning of this text  is   that
mere  observance  of  God's commandments  will  result  in
KIDDUSH  HASHEM  - sanctification of the name.   The  idea
seems to be that if Jews follow God's will, His name  will
be  publicized  throughout the world as  the  God  with  a
unique  law-based  relationship with  His  people.   These
verses  also contain a reminder that God provides for  the
sanctity   of  the  people  -  Israel  achieves   holiness,
separation  from the nations, by fulfilling the  Torah,  a
state  which in turn identifies the Lord as the  one  true
God.  Was  this  element of holiness absent  in  the  rock
episode?  Let us turn to our first commentator.

      Rashi  (Rabbi  Shlomo  ben  Yitzchak   11th  century)
provides  us  with  the most well known  understanding  of
Moses' mistake.  Commenting on the words 'To sanctify  Me'
of verse 12, Rashi writes:
    
     "For if you had spoken to the rock and it had brought
     forth water I would have been sanctified in the  eyes
     of  the  congregation, and they would have said:   'If
     this  rock, which does not speak and does  not   hear,
     and does not require sustenance, fulfills the word of
     the Omnipresent, then certainly we should do so.'"
    
     According   to  Rashi,  Moses'  sin   lay  in   simple
disobedience of God's command.  God ordered the leader  to
address  the  rock  with a request  for  water  but   Moses
reacted  by striking the stone.  Moses' actions have  been
defended   by   claims  that  two  points    led   him   to
misunderstand God's wishes.  This is not, after  all,  the
first time that God's power has been used to extract water
from  stone.   Soon after the escape from Egypt  when  the
nation,  dropped into the parched desert begs  for  water,
Moses is told
         
     "Pass  before the people; take with you some  of   the
     elders  of Israel, and take along the rod with  which
     you struck the Nile, and set out.  I will be standing
     there  before you on the rock at Chorev.  Strike   the
     rock  and  water will issue from it, and  the   people
     will drink."  (Exodus 17:5-6).
    
     Now,  finding  himself in a similar  situation   Moses
remembered that he had learned the way to get water from a
rock  -  touch it with the Miracle Staff.  His expectation
for  what is to come is supported by God's instruction  to
"take the rod and assemble the community."  Why would  God
tell  Moses  to get his staff ready if not to  repeat  his
earlier performance?  But, explains Rashi, Moses neglected
the  end  of  God's command, "and before their  very  eyes
order the rock to yield its water," and that was the  sin.
Moses and Aaron failed to sanctify God's name because they
did not follow His command to the letter.
    
     In  chapter 5 of his Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah,  Rambam
(Rabbi   Moshe  ben  Maimon  12th  century)  divides    his
definitions  of  Kiddush  HaShem  into  two  categories   -
sanctifying God's name through death and sanctifying God's
name  through  life.   Through the first  nine  paragraphs
(halakhot) Maimonides describes the conditions under which
a  Jew  must  sacrifice his life to protect the  image  of
Judaism, and when a Jew may violate the Torah in order  to
save his life.  For example, when threatened with death by
a non-Jew unless he perform an act that is contrary to the
Jew's  Torah,  the nature of the act and the circumstances
of  the  threat dictate the Jew's response.  Nevertheless,
dying for one's belief is termed a sanctification of God's
name  -  the  sacrifice is the ultimate  declaration  that
God's will is the Jew's supreme value.
    
     But   of  course,  even  in  life   the  Jew  has  the
opportunity to announce God's greatness.  In the following
description  Rambam takes the interpretation of  Leviticus
22 a step beyond its literal meaning.
    
     "There are other things that are a profanation of the
     name  of God.  When a man, great in the knowledge   of
     the Torah and reputed for his piety does things which
     cause people to talk about him, even if the acts  are
     not  express  violations (of the Torah), he   profanes
     the  name of God.  As, for example, if such a   person
     makes  a purchase and does not pay promptly, provided
     that  he  has means and the creditors ask for payment
     and  he puts them off; or if he indulges immoderately
     in  jesting, eating, or drinking, when he is  staying
     with ignorant people or living among them; or if  his
     mode  of addressing people is not gentle, or he  does
     not  receive  people affably, but is quarrelsome   and
     irascible.  The greater a man is, the more scrupulous
     should he be in all such things, and do more than the
     strict letter of the law requires" (5:11).
    
     As  their  leader,  Moses was being  watched   at  all
times;  as their teacher his every move and utterance  was
seen  by the people as an indirect communication from God.
Beyond following the law exactly as he taught it in  order
to demonstrate God's will, a man in Moses' position had to
rise above the law and display purity of character - never
losing  patience, getting angry or losing control.  Rambam
thus identifies the sin of our tale as contained in Moses'
terse  statement to the people "Listen, you rebels,  shall
we   get  water  for  you  out  of  this   rock?"   In  his
introduction  to  Pirkei  Avot (Shemoneh  Perakim  4)  the
philosopher writes:
    
     "The  Holy  One blessed be He censured him for   this,
     that  a man of his stature should give vent to  anger
     in  front  of  the whole community of   Israel,  where
     anger  was not called for.  This behavior in  such   a
     man  constituted a profanation of the name since  was
     the model of good conduct for all the people."

     Thus, when God declares that Moses and Aaron did  not
sanctify  Him, it is because sanctification  of  the  name
requires exemplary behaviour at all times.
    
     The  first two forms of sanctifying God's name  share
the  same  philosophy: by behaving in a holy way  the  Jew
publicizes  God's  existence  in  the  world.    Non-Jewish
people (or indeed other Jews) who witness a Jew's behavior
are  impressed  by a high moral standard,  a  devotion  to
ritual  and  tradition,  a  sense  of  purpose,  and   this
reflects  well  on the Torah and God.  There  is  a  third
manifestation  of  sanctifying  God's  name  which    finds
expression  in  the daily prayers and that is  simply  the
declaration  that  God  is great.   The  Kaddish,   recited
several  times  during  each  service  begins  with    this
statement  "May His great name be exalted and sanctified."
The  heart of the prayer is this line "May His great  name
be  blessed forever and ever."  Now, it could be that this
prayer  reflects  a promise that the Jews  will  obey  the
Torah and thereby automatically sanctify God's name.   Or,
these  declarations  could  in  themselves  represent  the
sanctification  of  God's name.  In  other  words,  merely
exclaiming  that God exists, that God is great, publicizes
Him  and  that  fulfills the commandment of Leviticus  22.
With this in mind, we move to the Ramban.
    
     Rabbi  Moshe ben Nachman (13th century) has a  fairly
long  essay  on our topic in which he first dismisses  the
interpretations of his predecessors before presenting  his
own  theory.   In  terms of Rashi's understanding,  Ramban
asserts that God couldn't have really cared whether  Moses
struck  the  rock or spoke to it - either way, water  from
stone  is an impressive miracle, it's all the same to  the
rock.
    
     Rejecting Rambam's reading Ramban argues that in  His
reaction to Moses, God does not rebuke him for being angry
but  for  lacking faith.  The Torah does not suggest  that
Moses  was  angry - when he calls the people MORIM  (verse
10)  he's  labeling  them 'defiant.' Were  God  to  resent
Moses' anger, a more appropriate occasion to chastise  him
for  losing  his cool would be following the  battle  with
Midian  during  which  soldiers made  off  with  Midianite
women. Moses became angry with the commanders of the army,
the  officers  of  the thousands and the officers  of  the
hundreds,  who  had come back from the military  campaign.
Moses said to them:

     "You have spared every female!  Yet they are the very
     ones  who,  at  the  bidding of Balaam,   induced  the
     Israelites to trespass against the Lord in the matter
     of  Peor, so that the Lord's community was struck  by
     the plague" (Numbers 31:14-16).

     There   are  other  places  too   where  Moses   grows
impatient  with the people but they do not lead to  divine
rebuke or punishment.
    
     Quoting   Rabeinu  Chananel  (11th   century)   Ramban
suggests a different meaning to the story: Moses' sin  was
in  his  saying 'Shall WE bring (NOTZI) you forth  water,'
instead of saying 'Shall GOD bring you forth water' as  he
and  Aaron  said  when they promised God  would  give  the
people  meat to eat, and as they said with all  the  other
miracles - they explicitly made it known that God  wielded
the  force  behind  all supernatural events.   The  people
might  have been misled into thinking that in their wisdom
Moses   and  Aaron  brought  the  water  from    the   rock
themselves.   This is why God says 'You did  not  sanctify
Me.'  In the first episode of the water-from-the-rock  God
stated that He would 'be standing there before you on  the
rock  at  Chorev'  which meant that the  presence  of  the
pillar of cloud guaranteed that God would be credited with
the miracle. But here, the people saw nothing, and because
of  Moses'  slip  the  chance for another  opportunity  to
proclaim God's greatness was lost.
    
     In  his  commentary to Leviticus 22, Ramban does   not
explain  that sanctifying God's name involves  publicizing
His  greatness in the world.  Nevertheless,  I  feel  that
Ramban's  interpretation of our story accurately  reflects
the  philosophy behind the Kaddish prayer - a  decleration
that there is no power like God's.
    
     Finally,  let  us return to Rashi for help  with   the
last  verse in the story.  "Those are the Waters of Meriva
-  meaning  that  Israelites quarreled  with  the  Lord   -
through  which He affirmed His sanctity."   The  last  two
words  in  the Hebrew text are VA-YEKADESH BAM -  God  was
sanctified  through them.  Through whom?   Rashi  explains
that  the  deaths of Aaron and Moses as a result  of  this
episode sanctified God's name.  "When the Holy One blessed
be  He  executes judgment upon His holy ones, He is feared
and  sanctified among mankind."  All the people knew  that
the  leaders  had  erred and that God,  ever  present  and
watchful, intended to punish them for it.  Although  Moses
and  Aaron  tragically missed a chance to  sanctify  God's
name,  in  the  end, and through them, His  existence  and
might were declared.

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ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH
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