Netvort, Chukas 5773 Geburtstag Edition:       Stick to It

By Rabbi Joshua (illegally known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

            As it happens, this coming Shabbos is my birthday according to the Hebrew calendar, although in the Gregorian calendar it occurs a week later. Chukas also happens to have been my bar mitzvah Sedrah, and, in fact, my bar mitzvah Shabbos also fell out on my Hebrew birthday. In any case, although I don’t remember a lot about that occasion, I do remember one remark that one of the speakers, who was an administrator in the school I attended, made at the meal that Shabbos afternoon. He said that it was appropriate for my bar mitzvah to fall out on Shabbos Parshas Chukas, because like the rock that gave forth water after being struck by Moshe, so too, sometimes they couldn’t get anything out of me unless they hit me. This comment reflects the fact, that although there is among the commentators a multiplicity of explanations of what Moshe’s sin consisted of, the most popular explanation is that of Rashi, who says that it was that he hit the rock instead of speaking to it. The Ramban disagreed with this explanation, arguing that, after all, God did tell Moshe to take his staff with him, and if it was a sin to hit the rock with it, why should he have been told to take it.

            Rabbi Aharon Dovid Goldberg, in his Shiras Dovid, although citing the medieval commentator Rabbi Yosef Bechor Shor as bringing another difficulty in saying that Moshe’s sin consisted in hitting the rock, brings a midrash which he explains in a way that can answer the Ramban’s objection. The Midrash says that Moshe was to use his staff to gather the elders around the rock and teach them a chapter of Torah, or a Halacha. Rabbi Goldberg explains that this gathering was meant to demonstrate that the divine presence can be brought to the camp through Torah leaning even outside of the context of the Mishkan. Moreover, this act of teaching was to serve as a kind of re-enactment of the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, at which time the “zuhama”, or spiritual stench that came through sin, was removed, and death thereby conquered, only to return with the sin of the eigel. By re-enacting the giving of the Torah, says Rabbi Goldberg, Moshe could also have re-enacted the process of conquering death. His sin was his failure to accomplish this task. 

            The Netziv in his Ha’amek Davar, offers a different explanation of the Midrash, which also entails a different explanation of the purpose of Moshe taking his staff with him. He says that, while in the wilderness the people were led in a miraculous way, once they entered Eretz Yisrael they were to live in a more natural way, although guided completely by divine providence. Thus, the Mishnah in Ta’anis tells us that when the people experienced a drought, they were to be gathered together and addressed by an elder, who would lead them in prayer, which would, hopefully, lead to rainfall coming down in a natural way.  Moshe’s task at this point in time was to gradually lead the people in a transition from their heretofore miraculous form of existence, to the more natural way to be followed in Eretz Yisroel. Thus, he was to gather the people around the rock, teach them some Torah and lead them in prayer, which would result in a natural form of rainfall. He was to take his staff as a contingency plan, in case he would not be able to lead the people in that way.  In such case, he would strike the rock with his staff, which would miraculously supply the people with water. Moshe, by resorting to this contingency, demonstrated that he would not be able to lead the people in this more natural way, and, because of that, was not the proper person to lead them in Eretz Yisroel. 

            Rabbi Avraham Aharon Yudelovitch, famed rabbi of the historic Eldridge Street shul on New York City's Lower East Side of Manhattan, gives, in his Darash Av, yet another explanation of the Midrash.  He explains that everything in creation has two parts – chomer, the material, or physical aspect, and tzurah, the formal, or spiritual aspect, which constitutes its essence.  In Torah, as well, there are two parts – the oral law, which is the physical aspect, or the raw material, and the written law, which is the formal, spiritual aspect. There are also four levels of creation: the inanimate, for example, a rock; the vegetative, or growing, such as plants; the animative, such as non-speaking animals; and the speaking creature, namely, man.  Moshe, by taking his staff and teaching Torah to the people, was to demonstrate that Torah, as the tzurah, or formal aspect, of creation, brings spirituality to all four levels of existence; the rock, representing the inanimate; the vegetative, represented by the staff; the living, represented by the people standing silently around the rock; and finally, the speaking, represented by Moshe and Aharon teaching Torah to the people. The Torah that they would teach would bring forth water from the rock, thus demonstrating that Torah tied all of creation together.  We may add, that this message was especially appropriate for the generation about to enter Eretz Yisroel, where, as the Torah repeatedly tells us, the success of the people is directly connected to their fealty to the Torah and its mitzvos. Moshe’s failure to sanctify God’s name by conveying this message by speaking to the rock, then, brought about his punishment of not being the one to lead them into the land.