Parashat Chukat

Troubled Waters

By Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon

Founder and Board Chairman, JobKatif

In this week’s parasha the classic picture is painted of the Jews in the desert. Once again the nation of Israel is complaining about lacking something, even though they have the very presence of G-d hovering over them.

The people begin to complain about not having enough water and Moshe is commanded to speak to a rock and water would then stream out. This story is a bit nostalgic since previously; in Shemot 17:1 there was a similar story where Moshe was commanded to hit the rock. In the first story when Moshe hit the rock, water came out of it, and the nation was amazed and, most importantly quenched.

Our story however, is bit different. As Rashi explains, Moshe speaks to the rock and water just trickles out. He remembers how, a few parshiot ago, he hit the rock and water began flowing out, so he decides he will hit it this time as well. We then see that Moshe is harshly rebuked for doing such a thing. “You didn’t have enough faith in me to sanctify me in the eyes of Israel” (Bamidbar 20:12). Why in the first case was it legitimate to hit the rock, but this time it was rebuked?

G-d repeats this point two more times, in Parashat Pinchas (Bamidbar 27:14), He says, “For when you were in the Zin Desert…you disobeyed my commandment to sanctify me in front of them by means of the water.” In Parashat Ha’azinu (32:51) “for you broke your faith with me among the people of Israel at Mai Mirivat Kadesh in the Zin Desert, by failing to sanctify My name in front of the people of Israel.”

Why is G-d unsanctified by that action of hitting the rock?  After all, the collective didn’t know what Moshe was actually commanded; they just wanted water!

It seems that the problem was that the nation had seen the miracle of hitting the rock already, and so doing it again wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary. Water coming out of a rock by hitting it became natural to them. Moshe therefore needed to do another miracle to WOW the people and by hitting the rock he missed that chance.

The Meshech Chachma written by Rabbi Meir Simcha from 20^th centaury Eastern Europe describes a midrash that says that after the splitting of the Red Sea, G-d would create even more miraculous events. The Meshech Chachma asks, “Weren’t there enough miracles that were done on the sea?”

The answer is that unfortunately human nature allows us to become jaded rather quickly. We can see this with modern technology, when something new comes out everyone is excited, but soon enough it just becomes something that exists.

Water that comes out of a rock by hitting it is a great miracle, but after the Jews saw it once, they would not be awed by seeing it again. This is why Moshe needed to do a greater miracle by speaking to the rock and reprove G-d’s greatness to the people.

G-d is always around us creating miracles in our lives. Man wakes up in the morning healthy, he has a family, he has many beautiful things in his life, and these ARE miracles. But good things become the norm rather quickly, and we forget to thank G-d for them. Let us learn from our nature as human beings not to take the things in our life for granted and to take a step back once and a while and see how blessed we truly are!

Shabbat Shalom!