Chukat | Maturity and Independence

Summarized by Avishai Moshayav
Translated by David Strauss

The Test That Ended in Failure

This week’s parasha tells us of the sin at Mei Meriva – the people are thirsty and quarrel with Moshe, who causes water to issue from a rock but transgresses God’s will in the process. This account parallels an incident in the book of Shemot,in Parashat Beshalach:

And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, by their stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and encamped in Refidim; and there was no water for the people to drink. And the people quarreled with Moshe, and said: Give us water so we may drink. And Moshe said to them: Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moshe, and said: Why is this [that] you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moshe cried to the Lord, saying: What shall I do about this people? A little more and they will stone me! (Shemot 17:1-4)

And there was no water for the congregation, and they assembled against Moshe and against Aharon. And the people quarreled with Moshe, and spoke, saying: If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! And why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, to die there, we and our cattle? And why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of seed, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink. And Moshe and Aharon came from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tent of meeting, and they fell upon their faces; and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. (Bamidbar 20:2-6)

The similarity of the people's complaints is most striking, but Moshe's response is very different: In Parashat Beshalach, he cries out to God for guidance, while in our parasha, he simply falls upon his face, an action that expresses frustration and an inability to cope. Why does Moshe exhibit such a feeling? Rav Yosef Soloveitchik explains that in the book of Shemot, the people of Israel have just emerged from slavery. They need Moshe Rabbeinu, and such behavior, shouting and quarreling with the leader, is understandable. But forty years have now passed from that time, during which the people should have matured and prepared themselves for independent life in the land of Israel – and it was Moshe Rabbeinu's role to educate them and prepare them for this. The fact that even after such a long period, the Jewish people behave exactly as they did immediately after leaving Egypt, indicates a lack of progress on the part of the people and a failure of Moshe's educational efforts. He has not been able to change them. In frustration and despair, he falls upon his face.

However, it seems that despite the similarity of the complaints – regarding which, Rav Soloveitchik notes that it is part of human nature to return to the same weak points – there was a certain difference between them, and some progress was indeed made since the first complaint. This is implied by God's instructions to Moshe in the two cases, the first being to strike the rock and the second to speak to it:

And the Lord spoke to Moshe, saying: Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aharon your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give forth its water, and you shall bring forth for them water out of the rock, and you shall give the congregation and their cattle to drink. (Bamidbar 20:7-8)

The command here is to speak to the rock in the presence of the people of Israel, and it seems that the intent is not to (el) the rock but about (al) the rock – i.e., that Moshe should utter words of rebuke to the people of Israel, akin to those that Rashi mentions: "If this rock, which cannot speak and cannot hear and needs no maintenance, fulfills the bidding of God, how much more should we do so!" (Rashi, v. 12).

To sum up, it would seem that there has been some degree of progress and change in the spiritual maturity of the Jewish people, but Moshe failed to discern the development – and so he fell upon his face and then struck the rock without attempting to admonish the Israelites, and for this, God was angry with him.

Education as a Story of Success

The story of Mei Meriva ended in a mood of bitterness, failure, and disappointment on the part of Moshe, and an impression that the people had not advanced in any significant way. But the continuation of the narrative attests to clear progress on the part of the people, and to their ability to take responsibility and act on their own.

This is what happens in the war against the king of Arad:

And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel came by the way of Atarim; and he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord, and said: If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy (ch/r/m)their cities. And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities; and the name of the place was called Chorma. (Bamidbar 21:1-3)

Here, the nation encounters difficulty and defeat, and they do not cry out to Moshe but turn to God on their own – and not just in prayer, but with a willingness to forgo future gain and dedicate it to God.

Despite the victory, however, Israel continues on a roundabout path and they sin again:

And they journeyed from Mount Hor by way of the Sea of Suf, to encompass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became impatient on the journey. And the people spoke against God and against Moshe: Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul loathes this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moshe, and said: We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord, and against you; pray to the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us. And Moshe prayed for the people. (Bamidbar 21:4-7)

The people's sin is serious, and the punishment is commensurately severe – but now they are able to recognize and confess their sin. Their salvation from the punishment comes not through Moshe's prayer, but through the people's repentance, as they say for the first time: "We have sinned."

In the following verses, the Torah recounts the incident that befell the people of Israel at the Arnon River:

From there they journeyed, and they camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that comes out of the border of the Amorites. For Arnon is the border of Moav, between Moav and the Amorites; therefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord: Vahev in Sufa, and the valleys of Arnon. And the slope of the valleys that inclines toward the seat of Ar, and leans upon the border of Moav. (Bamidbar 21:13-15)

This is a sequence of very obscure verses, regarding which Rashi brings the following midrash:

“Therefore [it is said]” – about this encampment and the miracles that were wrought at it, it will be told in the book of the wars of the Lord – whenever people narrate the miracles that were wrought for our fathers, they will declare: "Et Vahev in Sufa."

“Et Vahev” – is equivalent to "et yahev"; just as va'ed is said from the root yod-ayin-dalet, so from yod-heh-bet, "to give," one may say vahev. The vav is a root-letter. It means to say: they will relate what (et) He gave (yahev) to them, i.e., the many miracles at the Sea of Suf (be-Sufa).

“And the valleys of Arnon” – just as they relate the miracles of the Sea of Suf, so too should the miracles at the valleys of Arnon be related, for here, also, great miracles were wrought. And what were those miracles?

“And the slope [eshed] of the valleys” – the Targum translation of shefekh, "pouring forth," is eshed. [Consequently, these words signify] "the pouring forth in the valleys," for at that place there was poured forth the blood of the Amorites who had concealed themselves there. As the mountains were high and the valley deep and narrow, and the mountains were so close to one another, that a man could stand upon the mountain on one side and speak to his fellow on the other mountain, and the road passed through the valley, the Amorites said: When the Israelites are about to enter the land by passing through the valley, we will come out of the mountain caves above them, and we will kill them by arrows and stone missiles. And those caves were in the mountains on the Moavite side, and on the mountain that was on the Amorite side, opposite those caves, there were projections like horns and breasts jutting out. When Israel were coming to pass, the mountain of the land of Israel [i.e., the one on the Amorite side, which afterwards came into the possession of the Israelites] was set in tremor, like a handmaid who goes forth to receive her mistress, and moved nearer to the mountain of Moav, and these breast-like projections penetrated into the caves and killed them [the Amorites who were hidden in the caves]. And this is the meaning of "that inclines toward the seat of Ar" – which means that the mountain moved from its place and approached close to the mountain on the Moavite side and affixed itself to it: and this is the meaning of "and leans upon the border of Moav." (Rashi, Bamidbar 21:14-15)

Rashi explains that there is a parallel between the miracle that occurred here, at the crossing of the Arnon River, and the miracles of the splitting of the Sea of Suf. We will not go into the details of the event – Chazal describe mountains being uprooted and moved, and Harav Medan, in accordance with his general approach, has a more "realistic" explanation of what exactly happened – but in any case, there was a great miracle.

Along with the similarity to the parting of the Sea of Suf, a significant difference between the two stories also stands out. After the splitting of the sea, Moshe initiated a song to God: "Then sang Moshe and the children of Israel this song to the Lord" (Shemot 15:1); the people of Israel participated in the singing of the song, but it is clear that Moshe was the leader and the people followed him.[1] In contrast, the expression of gratitude for the miracle in our parasha is not initiated by Moshe; rather, the people sing to God of their own accord: “Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well; sing to it” (Bamidbar 21:17).

Maturity

We have thus seen that throughout the parasha, the people of Israel continue to mature, assume responsibility, and act on their own. This comes at the expense of Moshe Rabbeinu's involvement and activity, as part of an inevitable process – the way children seek to emerge from the shadow of their parents and act independently.

Harav Amital was wont to bring the following midrash in this connection:

"And Yaakov said to his brothers: Gather stones" (Bereishit 31:46) – and were they his brothers? Were they not his sons? This comes to teach you that a person’s sons are like his brothers. (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 36)

Part of proper education is knowing how to turn sons into brothers, into people of sound judgment whom one can consult about things, and how to allow them to grow up and find their own way in the world, without it becoming a rebellion against or an insult to the parents.

[This sicha was delivered by Harav Mosheh Lichtenstein on Shabbat Parashat Chukat 5783.]

(Edited by Sarah Rudolph)

[1] The Mishna in Sota (5:4) likened this to a prayer leader who recites Hallel and the people respond to every sentence after him.