Follow The Staff | Rabbi Ari Kahn | July 3 2025

So this para has multiple mysteries which take place. So depending on what you're focusing on or although the correct thing to do would be to focus on all of the mysteries and not just to make believe that there's only one or the other or the other but I mean you pick your mystery is the mystery if you want to be overly the mystery which is expressed by regarding the parah regarding how he who's pure becomes impure who's impure becomes pure and you have this logical challenge involved in it or do you say that perhaps the mystery over here has to do with what exactly took place whereby Moshe gets this incredible punishment and Moshe is told Moshe and Dyon and they're told that they can no longer continue on their task. A couple years ago I gave a class where I showed that those two questions were interrelated which I'm not going to follow up on now but I I did claim that Moshe did become the poor Aduma and that the two of these were connected. So, if you want, you can go back to the archives and uh and look, you don't remember? Well, no offense, but none of you are getting younger. So, okay. So, I know I I remember it because I particularly liked it and I actually thought it was true. So, let us uh begin. So, we're skipping the whole paradum right now. So I'm I'm I'm stopping already and I'm just going to point out that I know that this is one of these pario like many others that you think that you know. I don't mean to be condescending. It just happens. So it's one of these partial you think you know. You think you know what the words say and you think you know what is going on over here. So I think I'm going to read a little bit and just maybe like point out some things along the way. And what we're trying to do today is really really broad strokes over here. Really something which is much much bigger than what we're looking at right over here because I think that this is part of something which is much broader and hopefully we'll see that sooner rather than later Israel. So stop. What's the first thing that you note and this is going to be a general bid issue every single time. And what is the name that the people are being described in? And the answer over here is Ben Israel. The only problem is that within the same verse, two other terms are going to be used Israel. Now you realize right then that to say after you said Ben is there are other ways of doing that that would have been more succinct. So now you realize there's a bit of a problem. But so why were they called now? And now essentially your questions are which I'm not going to solve for you. if you want to solve them and you'll go and you'll work hard and that is what does mean what does mean and what does mean because for one verse to use those three different terms you realize that that's uh that's an issue but and if already we were talking about death in the previous chapter in terms in terms of par and for that matter one of the things that we also note is somehow between the end of uh the previous par of korak and between Parat Kukat we ended up counting off 38 39 years off of the calendar which means when the whole nation people community who whoever they are are now here Rashi will point out that all those years have now gone by which means that you have 38 years of death to deal with which is really convenient that you have the paraduma to deal with that so I'm I'm just pointing out that thematically whenever you have a mit mentioned in the book of Amidva, you always want to know how it's connected to the narrative. And over here, you've just now realized that we've had lots and lots of death, but compounded upon all the other death, we're about to get some more little foreshadowing. And one of them is going to be Miriam and there was no water. So now this is really the core for the midashic teaching that the beer beer Miriam was based upon Miriam and the once Miriam dies there's no more water. So because of this connection it says that Miriam dies and now there's no water. So there is a wonderful terrible midrash it's wonderful because of how terrible it is and that is is that Mosh and Aaron are now sitting Shiva for their sister and they see a mob coming and Aaron says oh look how beautiful the Jewish people are. They're coming to comfort us. And Moshe looks in says, "You know, my sweet brother, this is a an angry mob. This is not people coming to console." And it's just that disconnect between these people mourning, having a private moment. And by the way, for that matter, you can question the midash and say, "Hold it a second, isn't a coin? Does a coin really mar the opportunity to leave and to mourn for his sister?" And I think that that's a question on the midash. But but nonetheless it it captures the pathos of that particular situation and it highlights the problem. but also will highlight something else as we continue and that is this unfortunate turn of language which again as I said before is that there could be some things which have escaped us but let's just continue reading and it says there is no water so now you're back to another word and they gathered so you have the and now you have so who was who gathered sounds like the adah they gather Moshe, which always sounds like some kind of a term of violence. So again, the disconnect between Moshe and between Auron. Aon feels, "Oh, look at all these nice people coming to see us." And Moshe realizes that these people are actually uh looking for trouble. They quarrel with Moshe. By the way, make a note of this. The Ramban seems to ignore this later on. So just make a note that this is really here right here that they quarrel with Moshe and they say had we only died like our brothers in front of God. Do you realize how appropriate this is to say to somebody who's mourning for their sister right now? Had we died like our brothers in front of God. So now you'd have to go back and say which of the numerous episodes have that we've had is the one that they're talking about over here. So again the easy and lazy thing to do which may be the correct thing is just go last week and look at one of the various episodes last week especially the phrase hashem hashem does make it sound like something which is in front of the oh moade and now you can talk about the various people that died last week but it's that word which really troubles me because it's it's really okay had we died already is one thing which is really unfortunate like our brothers when they're mourning for their sister As I said, I uh I don't love that. Why did you bring item? Which is wonderful. You remember all of Moshe's misgivings when it was backed by the you know who am I to take the people out and they won't believe me and so on. Yes. So now they believe him. They believe 100%. This is all your fault. Right. Right. this is like you you always need uh a scapegoat. This is this is all your fault. So it's and I do want you to think about that because again last week as well even though I fully recognize and I think I've articulated that could be that 38 years have gone by. Nonetheless we have the justosition of Korak and within Korak especially Datan we have those who were challenging Mosha's leadership but over here essentially yeah Moshe is a leader and everything he's done has led us in a bad direction. and everything he has done. He has led towards disaster. And yes, you you're the one who's taken us out to die us. We're going to die in our flock mim by the way that also channels dut although I want to be careful again in order to say that with more confidence you'd have to look at every single complaint ever since the beginning of the complaints and see where terminology like this is used but this was used. It is very much it sounds like a post Moraglim right. You didn't take us to the land. Why have you taken us up out of the land of Egypt? Essentially, what have you done? You have failed to take us to the land of Israel. You've taken us to this place. Now, part of the irony with this is that they by the end of this week's para, we're going to start the conquest. I don't know if you realize that but there's going to be a couple of skirmishes and there's going to be a couple of battles which are going to take place and there will be those who will be the beneficiaries of that especially uh let's say ruin god and half of anasha eventually but uh that's because we capture these lands in this week's para this is the beginning of capturing land which will one day become part of the land of the 12 tribes so we're here to say that you know you've taken us over here and make note of the of the flocks as well which is something that Ben Ruven and God are going to make note of later on why they're going to want to stay on the side you've taken us to this terrible place and uh essentially you you have failed that that's what they're complaining okay so we'll pause here up to post of course not of course no of course not some of them maybe were very young under the age of 20 and that that's part of an important background to all of this which means that after everything which has happened you have the next generation channeling the complaints of the earlier generation which itself then becomes interesting in how you're supposed to respond to them do you respond the same way or do you respond in a different way do I say oh no this is a whole new generation or maybe I don't so again the complaints against Moshe but the two of them come now you notice another word here again is They come and they fall which means in pray and God appears. God speaks to Moshe take the staff. Now at this point it doesn't say which staff it is and there are at least two possibilities of staffs. What are the two possibilities? One is Mosha ones is is our own. Last week, by the way, our own staff was mentioned and was used and was utilized and was placed in a particular place. But over here, it uh it doesn't tell us which one it is. And that itself is interesting. And it says just the mate. So God's instruction is to gather the whatever means. And I love the emphasis on the word in front of their eyes that there's a visual. They need to see this and it will give off its water. And you're going to then successfully give water to the and to their flock. And Mosha successfully and correctly brings out the mate as he was commanded. And what's the only problem that we don't know which which mata that would and you could guess I mean if you'd ask me I would say 80% it's a because we're told was placed but I'm only willing to put 80% on that because I can't tell you 100% because you know Mosha's mate was a pretty important mate in terms of Jewish history. And by the way, in terms of the history of magic in the middle ages, Mosha's mate becomes something which is incredibly important. So what happened to Mosha's mate may be a good place to put it in Mosha? Moshe and Aaron gather the other way. Is that what they were told to do? They were told and what does it mean? I have no idea because I don't know what any of these words mean. I just don't want you to feel comfortable. Okay, good. Right. And still in pers and they speak to the people sensibly instead of speaking to the rock. Although you can have people who act like rocks, right? Isn't there a song like this? Right. And notice the word mim. And notice the word Miriam, which is also interesting over here because again, we go back to this point about Miriam dies, there's no water. And now the the use of the word Miam of all the words they could have used. I'm just saying because that's interesting. And it's not the only time we're going to see that where Miriam's mentioned and another word comes up which looks almost exactly the same. And we'll obviously have to see the other example of this. Meanwhile, we're giving Bali Korra the time to process and to uh think about this except except for the good from this rock will we extract water lifts his hands. So, what does that sound like? Yes, that sounds like it's his staff. just in case I told you there's at least 20% till now and this kind of leans it in one direction that it was his staff and that itself becomes interesting because now you have to go back and start thinking where does Mosha's staff come into the story when did it enter in and why is it important along the way and it is important but hold on to that and he hits it twice so I would conclude and say it's a success It goes back to that term in front of their eyes, the eyes of because you didn't believe in me to sanctify me in front of the eyes. Okay, so again, notice and so on. Once again, everything would be good until we get to the final verse here. These are the waters of quarreling where the ben is they quarreled with God. It means the very last verse all the blame is placed upon the people and not as you would have thought till this point that it was blamed upon Moshe. So I'll say it again. If you take out that final verse you can then go on and give the shar that you wanted to give and you can go and say all the things that you want about how Moshe and Aon Aron's the big mystery over here. That's the third mystery by the way. What Aaron had to do with any of this what he did wrong. Right? So o over and the simple answer to that is that Auron's job is to speak and he didn't speak. So by not speaking is what the problem is. But nonetheless you have the mystery of the of the paradum and you have the mystery of what happens over here to Moshe. But then you have that additional mystery. So what is it that happens to our own? But now you have an additional mystery is that the concluding statement over here editorial comment coming from God is name that the problem is as always the problem is with the people. The leaders are good. It's the people that need to be replaced. So, um I hope that that's enough at least as an introduction. I'm going to read a little bit more just because it's here on the page which you know I guess we put it on the page. And Mosha then sends emissaries. By the way, those words itself should remind you of something else. And what's that? And who does Jacob send to? So now I I I hope that you noticed that. That's by the way why we did that is in order to say hold it a second. Maybe we do have to go back to the Yakov story. And of course you're going to say to me, why should we go back to the Yakov story? Well, I just gave you a reason to go back to the Yakov story. But on top of they can say, but now notice before you have Mosha's and Aaron and sister dying. And you have the people saying that only if we died like our brothers. And now guess who shows up then? Their longlost brother, right, is is over there. So I'm just saying is that I don't want to stop that previous section. And that's why I'm saying there's something broader over here which is taking place. And there's also going to be a problem with the people which I'm going to say it again. The odds are pretty stirring that you didn't necessarily note it. But let let's take a look because it will become very obvious in a moment and and I want to connect it to this episode as well and not just make believe it's a new episode. We went down to Egypt and life was difficult which is interesting because you have again just in a because we've done this before as well. So I'll just do this in a in a very uh brief way that essentially there are two things that one could do. One can speak to the rock or hit the rock which is a question of yad right or pet So what happened over here that he used and who shows up then Edom shows up on right on the other hand you were supposed to speak to the rock which was the pen. Now when Moshe says but we use the we prayed and God responded but right right do you now see that this is connected or no? I don't know how hard I have to work to try to convin you're a tough audience so I I don't I I I I don't know but it's no I I hope that that's really uh let me put it this way if you don't see it it's all on you again we have to replace the the audience but which is interesting and he sent him and who's the who took him out of Egypt so I'm just going to leave that as a second because that's really interesting And here we are at the, you know, the edge of the border. Let us pass by. We won't drink any of your water. Now, that's really interesting because I now can go back to the previous section and say, you guys need to practice not drinking because we're going to have to go through an area now where you're not going to drink. It's okay. You can live without drinking a little bit. Well, we have money. We have other things to bring us nourishment. and instead they are they they freak out because they have nothing to drink. But it's really interesting because Mosha says we're not going to drink that and it's as if again maybe I'm overstating it. He's saying no you can do this. No, you're not going to come by because I'm going to come out with the sword. Why would we come out with the sword? Because he is as Okay, see how easy it is? All of you can become paranim. See that? It's it's simple. But y love Ben Israel and and of course you do want to note once again the different terms used but love who who were they speaking to? They decided to have a second track of negotiations. Ignore the official leadership. Look at this. You see the politics on this. You have a direct Torah now. Still not. Okay. But And if we drink from your water, it's okay. We'll pay for it. You realize this is very different from what Moshe said. So Moshe says, "Could we pass through? We're not going to drink anything." And then some and they say, "No." And then some people decided, Ben Israel decided, "Listen, we know how to do the negotiations better than Moshe. What does Moshe know at all? These are luft mench. What does he understand from uh from negotiations? What does he understand for the real world? Offer some money. Everything will work out. Let's pay you off for this. And they say no. So I'm just saying but that is so undermining. That's un unbelievable. You know, most of you have a suggestion. This is Mosher Abenu, right? Of all the imagin they did things without asking Moshe. Come on. This this is absolutely terrible. I hope you understand that. It's absolutely terrible because they're undermining the leadership of Moshe and essentially they're saying we know better. We're smarter and we will be more successful. Oh, and by the way, it didn't work. Didn't work. But again, I wonder to what extent this section is a comment on the previous section. So again, I used it a little bit, but but I hope that you all noted. It continues then doesn't allow you again. But similar terminology and over here over here goes up and the end of and afterwards again those things that were missing before that they're supposed to do this and Leaam and now something does happen in Leam. And what is this? Instead, it's the death of of Aram. So, I'm going to say it again is as as we moved further a little bit, we've noticed that it wasn't just this little isolated episode that we should read by itself. There's something which is a little bit broader. Now, before I I move on, I'm going to say something which is going to be obviously true, but then I'm going to shift a little bit. This whole episode that took place, most of you, I would say all of you, if you've been paying attention through the Torah, will have this kind of a sense. We've seen this before. We've experienced this before. We've had a very similar, if not the same type of uh of episode. So now the only question is going to be is how do I formulate it and that is that somehow getting water from the rock and right if I'll put it like that. So that's where I'm going to go to a place that you didn't expect because I know where you think I'm going to go. So instead I am going to go to source number two which of course will lead us back to Yakov. And that is that when Yakov ends up by Rael's house what does he see? He sees a beair. But what's the problem with the beer? there's an Evan Gdullah Alpia and what does he then do right he sees that the people that take the rock off in order to be able to access the waters now all of you would have told me but that has nothing to do with anything because it's not the same and I'm going to say it again it's getting water from Iraq but not in the miraculous way that you would have thought unless of course Yakov by himself being able to do this and then he goes and he gives water for the flock which at least I hope that some of the what's being described over here has uh some familiarity on the other hand and and at this point we're going to channel some of our inner vil nagon and this also I at least on two occasions gave a complete shear on this and I'll tell you what the exact topic is and that is Yakov's leaving as a prototype of AmIrael leaving Mitraim essentially the only gone claims that every single element of the two stories is exactly the same for those who understand. So those of you who don't understand, he was not including you. But one of the things which is obviously the case and so this is all based on a on a passage in the tune zohire. So one of them is going to be based upon source number three. We have a couple of verses here, three verses. Now, all of this is stuff we don't understand. Here is when we got this the animals, the stripes and whatever where YaKob is going to end up taking away the wealth that was owed to him and leaving. Now, as far as the Zohar and the G then developing the Zohor is concerned is that Yakov will leave Gadul. Yakov was enslaved, right? And he actually used the terminology. He's enslaved. He works for free as it were. When it comes time to be paid, how is it that YaKob leaves? Well, he uses over here the Mel. It's the fourth word in the verse. It's the last word in the verse in again. And if you look through each time it says I bolded it for you which of course you should recognize from your and the and you should probably look at the vagon's commentary to the because he absolutely understands that's the mael this is the ml and later on Mosh is going to do all the miracles in Egypt with the muel as well so yakov leaves by using the hutra by using the mel in order to leave Bush Gad and Amis Isis leaving will also take place by using the Mel which will end up doing all kinds of uh all kinds of miracles. So is the same the Aramaic the Aramaic is the same word and the and I'll say it again and the Aramaic is the same word. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's in both uh in both cases. It's also interesting is that essentially it's wood. It's wood which maybe we should just think about a little bit. It's wood which then becomes something which causes miracles and miraculous to take place over here by Jacob. We just don't understand what happened. So I can't even begin to talk about it. We'll let our uh you know biologists or whatever try to describe how exactly gen Genesis what exactly happened and I don't know if if we're meant to understand exactly what happened. I think the villagon was understanding it a little bit more miraculously and he sees this as the same prototype as what's going to happen when uh when it is that Mosha is going to take by the way where does Moshe first you take the m the mate in his hand where where do you see that the first time by the burning bush by the burning bush right by the burning bush and then uh you know what's in your hand right and then throw it down and what happens then it becomes a nash I will point out that show up in this week's para. So just as far as you know where we start with Moshe and the mate and this is Mosha's mate. I'm I'm just I I think that we've gotten to that point already. This is Mosha's mate. So maybe part of this whole issue is is follow the mate, right? Follow the mate, which again I said follow the mate. But if you follow the mate, then you also get to an origin story of the mate. The origin story of the mate arguably at this point is to although what is what is it of so I'm just saying is that this is a this is an Israel right this is an that has right so follow the mate or follow the ml or follow the hutra right follow the hutra because it's very easy to uh lose track um those of you who thought I was going to go someplace else and say hold it. We did have another episode like this and that took place right before we got to hersai right where we had a problem with water and so on which is source six but before we get to source six I'm just going to note that if you want you can take a look at theorhore who drives everybody crazy and he works very hard at this I actually took out most of the footnotes to the horseshore and if you're really going to want to pursue it you have to do this on your own I don't want to facilitate it because I don't believe it's correct and I believe it's so far from correct it's like a little crazy. But uh he suggests that the two episodes in Schmote Peric Zion and in Bameidbar are the same story. It's not 38 years later. Same story. This the same story just being told twice, but it's the same story. Now, it's the same story being told twice except for all the differences. And he Yeah, that sometimes happens when stories are told more than once that some elements are different. So instead of saying, "Oh, look at these two similar stories and look at how similar they are." He goes, "Oh, look at the same story how being told in two different times, how we should compare them and then create one larger narrative based upon the two times that it's being told. So I'm not going to read this." Again, if you wanted to read, I mean, I don't want to overstate this, but he um he does develop this idea. And again, it's just gonna a it'll give the bizarre teacher something to say to shock their audiences and b it will give normative refers something to a foil to argue with and say you can't say that. What are you talking about? So we'll we'll surprisingly enough be try to be normative today. So let let's continue then and instead look at source number six. And this is in parade Zion. And source number six should not be seen in an in an isolated sense either because there's a background there as well. But let's just start here. Now, which words interest you here and Israel and so on, right? So you notice also that there is something silly. So again, just in case you say, okay, theore had a bad day. I'm not saying that there's nothing here to be developed. just saying that it just it's it's really far from one another. By the way, that's pretty similar also. Yes. So immediately he brings God into the story. By the way, now you have to ask yourself the other question. Is this the children who now remember what their parents had complained? Oh, look, they were right. They were right when they said this that you're going to kill us and our and our children. Look at this. We're still suffering from the leadership of uh of Moshe. But Mosha and Moshe prays soon. They're going to stone me. Which is really interesting because Moshe eventually will be killed based upon hitting a rock and in a sense. Hashem passed by the by the way notice again. So again if you want to do this seriously you have to go and use all of the terms over here and line them all up make it color coordinated and so on. And that's interesting. That's the part I like the most over here because you know what it just now did? Well, first of all, you all know what you're supposed to be doing. And what's that? Follow the mate. So now you realize that we follow the mate in the other narrative which is similar to this narrative and and creates the basis for this narrative. And what are we told really specifically? If you want to understand this, you now you have to go back a little bit and where too you have to go back to the splitting of the sea because that's the mate that we're talking about. So I said I I hope that that helped a lot. And then it says also just now got involved in all of all of this and is not in the other story. And I hope the eyes but by the way note it's not the it's not it's right it's the elders and what happens immediately afterwards I hope you like the so yes do I have to uh do I have to explain this or uh or at least now you notice something. By the way, that's what I said before. There's just so many elements over here which are staring at you, but you don't notice it because I don't know why you don't notice it. But over here, immediately after the water rock story, you have Amal Lake there. Immediately after the water rock story, you have Edom. immediately after the Yakov and using the mate or the or the Mel in order to become wealthy and then leave and and cross the water by the way cross the water over to come and then what happens afterwards and then you have is so therefore so I I think that you realize that there's some kind of of of a connection over here which is taking place in source number seven of course we go back to to um the splitting of the sea or at least the introduction to the splitting of the sea. And what happens over here, the people are being chased and Egypt has found has found out. By the way, over here it is the same language as it is by Lavan. And they hear that they left and there's a three-day head start and then they start chasing after them and they and there's going to be this um confrontation by seven days. All of that is the same. And over here if we go to they lift their eyes and they're coming Egypt is coming. So this may be one of the first times that we're uh hearing this just in case you're looking for uh you know where they start complaining that no graves in Egypt again already complaining as Moshe Moshe what did you do by taking us out leave us alone let us serve Egypt it's better for us to serve Egypt than to die in the desert and again you have to pay attention See, one of the things which is missing in our story about hitting the rock is God is never mentioned in this. And again, you just think of what you forgot where we are already, right? You got lost in what was Mosha supposed to say to the rock? God said, "Give forth your water to the people." God was removed from the conversation. Remember? Okay. I'm sorry. Sorry for doing this right now, but I guess we have to do this. What does God say in source number one? So, what do you say to a rock? Good morning, Mr. Rock. How are you doing? Have you slept okay? Like, what's going on? Tell me what are your dreams and aspirations, right? Where did you go to college? Right? What's your favorite color? I mean, what's your astrological sign? Like, I don't know. How how do you chat up a rock? What are you supposed to say to a rock? So, speak to the rock. What are they supposed to say to the rock? And afterwards, what is it that God says? So, some type of was supposed to happen. So what are they supposed to say? They're supposed to say kdish. So what do you say when you say kdish? Right? God created everything and God created you rock and God said to you Mr. Rock that you are going to be a part of the divine plan and God asked you to please give water to his people because they need some water right now. So please obey the will of God and give some water. And that would have been very impressive. So I'm going to say it again. When you see the word vadesh over here and that's what's missing. So what's missing? Now you have an easy answer. Kdish was missing. They forgot to say, he forgot to say Kdish. What does he say instead? He says to the people, he goes, "You rebellious people, whatever. What is it? What was missing from this narrative?" Not just that kittish is missing. What's missing? God. God is missing from the narrative. Which means, of course, if you were to ask Moshe, you know, where did the water come from, he would look you like you're crazy. What do you mean where did the water come from? It came from God. What are you talking about? And then you say to Moshe, "Did you mention that to the people?" And right, well, they know that, they understand that. Did you mention that to the people? And right there, you begin to understand what exactly is the problem. Yes. Was that uh did that help us at all? And over here, so what could have Moshe had said to the people? Again, you realize what we did. We followed this to the previous episode. Not Mr. Not the same episode, the previous episode. And what did we learn at the previous episode? Previous one we learned which mate has been used the one that was used by the splitting of the sea. And what did we find before the splitting of the sea? We find Moshe saying to the people, "Okay, you're afraid. You have the same complaints. Why do you take us out? We're all going to die." And so on and so forth. And you're going to see So again, the word sing is really interesting. [Music] Lift up your staff. By the way, is that the same arm? I think it is, but we can discuss it. Lift up your lift up your staff and stretch out your arm. By the way, you know what's also interesting about all of this? It's a separation of water from an other elements, which again, water separating from the rock is taking it out of rock. over here you're separating water from this other element over here creating two separate things which is probably more connected to taking water from a rock than we've ever considered before in say so does that mean with the mate or without the mate and I didn't know what what it is because again he says lift up the staff and then stretch out your arm and what does he do he stretches out his arm so what did he do with the mate I didn't know this until I get to the part with the water. Use the staff that you use back by the water. So now I know that the staff was used there as well. And then it says, [Music] right? [Music] Again, it's interesting. The hand And it's interesting again because the the staff isn't mentioned but it is there but should keep going. There's one thing I want to get to and that's the very end which is interesting because Mosha's hand keeps being stretched but what do they realize that it's God because this was done in the proper way and what righte and they believed in God and in Moshe his servant. Now why is that particularly interesting to me today in par because what does it say? [Music] So when it says that you did not bring about the situation of whatever it means in order to sanctify me. So what do I need to do then? I need to go back and find a case that it did happen. I go to the other water rock episode and it tells me oh you want to know what's going on? go back to what happened by the splitting of the sea and lo and behold we have and then we have another element which actually shows up in our para as well and what's that right and God will there is a shir in our para do I have to convince you of that or yes no what am I going to do with you people you could be part of our class action suit. Look at um look at source number nine. Right after dies to go around that whenever there is a perceived doesn't mean it's real or perceived detour. They all get depressed and they complain against now against God and Moshe. And they start complaining now about not just the lack of water. Now they're complaining about the month as well. By the way, in which para does the month start in para bash, right? Just realize bashal is really important. Right? We had our staff which became a nash but then it become Moshe was able to control it over here the come and over and again you pray to God and and so I'm not going to do this whole thing but move a little bit further where it says we'll go to so now suddenly we find out that in this week's para it wasn't their last. One second. It wasn't there last year. So I I What? So I shouldn't be upset. Oh, one second. Should I be more upset that you didn't know it or should I be less upset that you didn't know it? I don't know what to say. Do you realize now that there's an aashir over here as well? which is really really interesting because in paral is where it's it's again in a certain sense it's origin even though I said we should go back to Yako for the real origin but we have also the stop along the way by which is really where the water is flowing from but is where Moshe has the mate for the first time Yakov's mate or Mel is one that came from Israel and it was used in order to leave Brush Gadul and Moshas was used in order to all these kinds of miracles and we're told to go back to specifically the splitting of the sea. But by the splitting of the sea, something important took place. And what is it that took place? What is it that took place? What what took place was that uh the people Yeah. uh and then I'll point out one more interesting thing then if we're already going to look at our uh which of course now now you tell don't tell me you don't remember this because in uh still in source number eight in source number eight right they start singing And what happens in which means here is where Miriam shines and here's where Miriam also sings the Yashir and so on which which leads me again that maybe Miriam also helps bringing about this sense of the divine and this being able to respond with real joy and rapture and so on which is really what a song is. That's what a Shira is. And then what happens immediately afterwards? We get our episode of having no water. What's the next word? And you look at those letters again and you say, "Wow, that's interesting." Because you have the Mirim episode and then the Mim. You have the you have the Mirim. You have the Miriam episode and death and then you have Mim. And you and you just look and say no this is not connected unless of course it's connected good. So it's also interesting how was the water sweetened there and that is in a tree or some kind of wood is being used to solve the problem. So I that's why I said that what I'm doing today is really broad strokes and I hope that you see this but I hope that once you see this you can't unsee it and you could be you'll be upset with me at the end that I'm not going to explain everything but that's fine doesn't bother me at all. what maybe I don't know um I want to come back to where I left off after the hitting of the rock and that was back in source number one God's editorial in Gimmel which sounds like it's all Israel's fault so let's now look at what Rashi does with Source 10. Source 10. This is fascinating because this goes back to the beginning of the Mosha story. It's that it was always known that Mosha's downfall is going to take place with water. And that's why they try to throw all the babies into the water. And that's why they followed him into the sea because they knew that Moshe is going to die in water. And it ends up being this over here. So this is great and terrible that Rashi is now connecting this to the Egyptian thinking, right? They killed Mosha which I think you remember from the story is what Rashi brings there as well. Essentially what he's saying is that God is acting within extreme and extreme is one which results in the death of Mosh Aaron. By the way, once you hear this that the death of Mosha Aron is because of extremely daadin, what it's telling you right now is that you don't understand what's taking place because you don't understand extreme daddin. You understand the normative way of how God works with the world. But that's part of what he just now said. It's all their fault and God now has utilized. By the way, you also have part of the theological trouble with the splitting of the sea. If you remember, so let's treat the Egyptians within but let's treat the Jews which mean and how does that exactly take place? By the way, that dual treatment is really interesting because there's a dual treatment right over here. By the way, go back to my paraduma problem. Why does this one die and this one sorry why is this one tame and this one is Tahar? Why is it that the Jewish people live and why is that Mosha Aron die? If it's a normative way of doing things, if anything, then the one who is tahor should remain tahar. The one who's tame, if it's fault, no is that they're being treated with raim and they're going to be able to continue. But God is treating Mosha with extreme din, which is essentially what Rashi said and Ezra agrees in 11. I will treat those closest to me with in a holy way, and I will treat them in the way that I desire. The Ramban in most of source number 12 doesn't like this. He quotes them and he does not agree. Um he says some things which I noted it before are challenging and I don't think I'm going to engage more than that. In source number 13, you could uh look at the Mosheim on on on your own. He ends up with Moshe being guilty of five different sins in this episode. I mean there is old commentaries that have all kinds of things. He gets them up to number five to five different sins over here. I mean if you want I I could uh look at it but it it's not as interesting to me other than he does address some of the point about the different audiences that are supposed to be involved in this. Was this supposed to be something speaking specifically to the zakanim which is what we did see by the other water I rock episode or is this something which supposed to be the entire people which is actually sounds more like what Moshe did but as I said he puts in a couple of other uh sins as well. Yeah. Yeah. Now if you look at the malim in source 14 the first thing you notice is that he goes on for a while. Part of what he does, especially where it's bold in that second paragraph, is that he essentially argues the kind of argument that most of you would argue, and that is in the modern Hebrew would be zilopair. Um, it's not proportionate, right? This disproportionate punishment and he goes into some other places which is really much more of a of a problem. But his first problem is it's it's disproportionate. It's the way that I've articulated this in other years. It's almost like Moshe what we would call this when I was a kid is Simon says right and uh what right I told you that's the other mystery what Aaron did but with with Moshe okay hit the hit the rock speak to the rock last time he speaks to the hit the rock why take the staff to why take the staff to speak to the rock you take a staff in order to hit the which means it was somewhat misleading and it was difficult and so on and I'll say it again, it seems disproportionate and and and that's part of the challenge that we have. And then he goes in which for me or people who've heard me discuss this kind of an issue, he says something which I've said word for word. I I don't know if I've ever seen this particular mal before, but Rav Salvichuk was very fond of this kind of an approach as well. And what it essentially leads us towards and as I said, it's worthwhile reading this. But what what he leads us towards is this understanding that and then I want to explain it. Okay? It's that Moshe can't go in. What Moshe can't go in not because of Moshe's inadequacy, not because Moshe did something wrong. It's the opposite is true. God had to engineer that Mosha do something wrong in order to create a situation that Moshe can't go in. Why? Because if Moshe goes in, then everything changes. If Moshe goes in, then he builds the beta mikdash immediately. If Moshe goes in, then uh everything tap the conquest, everything happens immediately. And if Moshe goes in, essentially we we have this quick start toward the end of days. And the answer is we're just not ready for that yet. It's just it's just not ready. We're not ready. So the way that I want to frame this now, and as I said, it's worth reading it because he really goes into detail of how if Moshe goes in, everything is good. And that's why Moshe can't go in. But which by the way turns his question into the answer. It's disproportionate. It's not fair. And the answer is correct. It's disproportionate and it's not fair. But it can't be. We can't. We can't. And he's saying, look, because of this little thing, look at all these good things that didn't happen. Exactly. Exactly. It's not that Moshe did something that he's guilty. Is that Moshe did something that it's not possible for Moshe to go in because of uh of other considerations. So I I just want to maybe phrase it like this. The selection of Moshe which goes back to his birth. The selection of Moshe which goes back to the burning bush. The selection of Moshe which is connected to Herci. And and again I skipped over the the sea a splitting of the sea. The selection of Mosha we see all kinds of places and there is this tragedy about the selection of Mosha in terms of his own feelings of inadequacy and which only makes him more attractive by the way. It only makes him us feel all the more so that he's the right person and his humility and his ability of prophecy and his uh ability to fight for the people and constantly to fight for the people. But it's at some point Moshe is told that your your your task has come to an end not because you're not good enough because you're too good and you can't continue to that next place. And therefore I need to have just like I I I created you and just like I gave you this staff and now I'm taking away the staff. Just like I created a situation that all the people are going to believe in you which is what he doesn't believe is how can that happen? How? No. God's going to create a situation they're going to believe in him. They're going to believe in him by the splitting of the sea. They're going to believe in him at her. So now there's going to be a situation that because of the slightest turn of phrase that he did not use the situation to create amuna and to and to say kdish is the way I put it and to create this god consciousness which is what really is is necessary and so therefore okay good you're relieved of your duty but it's disproportionate of course it's disproportionate because Moshe didn't do anything to not deserve to to continue is that these people can't have Moshe continue because mo the consequences of Moshe continuing are simply too great. And just like God one day chooses Moshe to lead, one day God chooses Moshe to step aside and say time has come someone else to take over and that's it. And I think that's the reason why we get such a sense in this week's para of the inverse or the flip side of all those things that were happening from the beginning. the mun falls. Here the complaining about the mun again of the the water is presented and here suddenly there's no water and maybe they don't need water right now. I'll say it again to cross through to Edom and they don't know that and they're okay we'll pay for the water and you just realize that they just now bypassed Moshe and maybe there consequences to that to buy to by passing Moshe. They're saying okay we really don't need you anymore and uh correct and God is saying yeah they they'll continue on and they'll be okay. It's not going to be the same. Okay. Right. That's important. It's not the same. Okay. But now that you realize is that there is a lot of closure over here. You're going to use the staff Mosha staff which is the same staff he used in the other situation which is the same staff that's used by the splitting of the sea. But all of that was to create amuna over here. The amuna is withdrawn as it were. And Moshe is withdrawn. And Moshe is taken out of the situation. And it's at this point they're going to carry on and Moshe is going to stay on this side of the Jordan, which is really quite uh quite tragic. But that's the way that the story needs to continue. In the same way that God can appoint someone to lead, God could tell that person, okay, the time has come for your leadership to come to an end, and now it's time for the next leader to take over. Not because you're guilty, not because it's proportionate, not because you did such terrible things. Quite the opposite. It's really minor. You know what you meant. Maybe even they knew what you meant. Could have been done slightly better. And how can you That's such mid haden to say Moshe could have done this a little bit better and that's why you're going to stand aside, right? You got an A, but you could have gotten an A+ over here. And you say like what are you talking about? No, no, that's this is as far as we're going with this. And therefore, there's this mystery. And believe me, this mystery is no less than the mystery of the paraduma. And as I said in the beginning, maybe it's even the same mystery.