Let’s not wait for something tragic and painful to wake us up to the Word of God.
By Rabbi Ari Enkin, Rabbinic Director, United with Israel
This week’s Torah portion in Israel is “Chukat” (Numbers 19:1-22:1), and it we read about one of the most painful and frustrating events that took place during the Jewish nation’s 40 years of wandering the desert. I refer to the episode known in Hebrew as “mei merivah,” and in English, “The Waters of Strife.”
This is the event in which the Jewish people needed water. After asking God for some help in this regard, God told Moses to speak to a certain rock that would provide water, but instead, Moses hit the rock. According to most interpretations, this was deemed to be the serious sin which got Moses banned from entering the Land of Israel, as is says, “Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the Children of Israel, therefore, you will not bring this people into the Land that I have given them” [Num. 20:12].
It is explained that –this time- God wanted Moses to speak to the rock that would provide water in the desert, rather than hit the rock, which had indeed been the command on a previous occasion when the Jewish people needed water. If Moses had spoken to the rock as instructed, the Jewish people would have realized that if even a rock listens to the word of God, how much more so should we, the Jewish people, listen to the word of God! The hitting of the rock lost this opportunity.
What many people don’t realize, however, is that the fiasco at the rock was not merely a tragedy for Moses…it was a tragedy for the entire Jewish people. Our sages tell us that had Moses spoken to the rock, instead of hitting the rock, the Jewish people would have been so influenced to be loyal to God that they would not have made all the mistakes they made throughout history. Who knows…maybe the destruction of the two Holy Temples (and the subsequent exile) would have been prevented.
Here’s something to think about: The rock eventually obeyed God’s command, but only after it was hit. Unfortunately, we see the same situation in so many different ways nowadays. So many people have a problem with listening to the “Word” (with a capital ‘W’) of God. Sometimes, people need to be “hit” in order to be awakened to the word of God.
Ultimately, both paths eventually lead a person to God, but I’m sure you’ll agree, the “Word” path is much better than the “hitting” path.
Let’s not wait for something tragic and painful to wake us up to the Word of God. Let’s accept the word of God because He Created the world for us to observe his commandments and through it merit blessing and a meaningful life.
For more insights by Rabbi Enkin on this week’s Torah reading, click on the links below.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/living-torah-lessons-from-aarons-helpfulness/
https://unitedwithisrael.org/living-torah-properly-eulogizing-the-dead/