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The Hidden Reason Moses Hit the Rock - Parshat Chukat - Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

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Hidabroot - Torah & Judaism

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Here's a beautiful idea that I I saw written by Rav Mordechai Bennett. Why did Mosha hit the rock? Well, one idea is as follows. The manna the manna that the Jewish people ate in the desert was given to them directly by Hashem, not by an angel or some other intermediary. As it says in the Torah, "Behold, I'll rain down bread from heaven upon you." Now, this parallels Avraham Avinu, Abraham, who also served his angelic guests, if you remember, himself, as it says, "I will take bread." Whereas the water that was brought was brought by a servant. It says over there, "Let a little water be taken." In the passive. Now, this explains why Mosha hit the rock and didn't speak to it. Our Rabbis teach us that when Mosha Rabbeinu spoke, the Shechinah, the divine presence, spoke from within his throat. Had Mosha Rabbeinu spoken to the stone to give forth water, it would have been, so to speak, as though Hashem himself had spoken to the stone, and the water would not have been brought by a shaliach, as it was with Abraham. Therefore, Mosha hit the stone as a shlichut, as an act performed independently by an agent, because although the Shechinah spoke in Mosha's throat, Mosha Rabbeinu's hands were still under his own control. Mosha's hands would be Hashem's shaliach, Hashem's agent. All well and good, had Mosha not hit the stone in anger. Chazal teach us that anyone who gets angry, the Shechinah leaves him. Says it in Nedarim in 22A. When Mosha rebuked the Jewish people saying, "Listen, you rebellious ones," the divine presence departed his throat. And so now he could have just as easily spoken to the stone as to [music] hit it. Now, even his words would be considered a shlichut, an agency. The need to hit the stone was quite superfluous.