Parshat Chukat: Moshe’s Mistake by Rabbi Yossi Goldin

good morning everybody um nice to see everyone um what I wanted to do today and as you can see uh we going be a little bit ambitious today trying to cover a lot we'll see what we're able to get to um the reason why there's so much to talk about here is because I we're going to be discussing I think one of the most well-known but yes one of the most probably enigmatic or mysterious stories in the Torah um and that is the the the sin or moshe's mistake at at May mariva which happens in the middle of this coming this coming week's para um and in order to uh in order to really set the background what what I want to do is just start with uh really going through the psim and um really seeing the text itself and the actual story as it is mentioned in the Torah and then together to identify some of the main questions that that that need to be need to be explained and that tend to be answered by the by the maim in general so let's start we're we're in Source Number One Source number one again um this is really smack in the middle of the paraa the Torah ends the Torah opens up with a bit of background and then goes straight into the story of Moshe and the and the Rock so the Torah says in Source number one all of the entire nation they gather in the in the midbar in the desert of sinin on the F the first month they're now settling in the area of kades and moshe's sister Miriam um dies and she's buried there and this is the beginning of the of the death of really the leadership because we know in this week's para we have Miriam that passes away and then Aon uh passes away later on in the paraa really we starting to see the beginning of the leadership of this generation um passing away as a result or TR doesn't say very clearly but what seems to be a result of Miriam's death all a sudden the Jewish people are without water and and the nation gathers around Moshe and Aron seemingly because they are they are upset now again I I referenced it it's not clear that there's a connection between Miriam's death and the lack of water but as we know kazal see the connection and and and what say is that throughout the years in the desert the Jewish Nation had water from the beia the The Well of Miram that was given to them as in the Merit of Miram and that when she died the well was no longer there and therefore they no longer had water the nation begins to argue with Moshe if only we had died why are we still alive why do you need me to be here how are we going to how are we going to survive why Moshe and Aon or this case Moshe why did you bring us to uh to the midbar in order to Die Here us and our cattle were all just going to to Die Why did you take us out of they had to bring us to this horrible place the desert there's no none none of the beautiful fruits the we don't even have any water so go front of the into the front of the of the and they fall on their faces in response to the nation's complaints and then God Appears appears to MOS andem now says to Moshe the following take the staff and you should gather the nation you and youron your brother and you should speak to the Rock in front of the people when you and by speaking to the Rock the water will then it will give its water and water will come out from the Rock and then you'll give to the nation something to drink Moshe first he takes the M he takes the staff from in front of Hashem as God commanded him we're now and gather the nation right in front of the Rock and then he says to them Sim listen you rebels are we going to actually take water from for you from this rock and Moshe takes his hand he lifts it up and he hits the with with his staff two times and all of a sudden a lot of water comes out and the nation then gets to drink okay so we have we have we have the story and now let's see hashem's reaction step one was the complaint step two was God's command to Moshe Moshe carries it out and now let's see God's response [Applause] since you didn't believe in me in order to sanctify me in the eyes of is therefore you will not be Merit to bring this nation into the land that I'm going to give you then the Torah just concludes with a final uh kind of like a a concluding statement these are the Waters of strife when I'm Isel fought or challenged with aemes and he became Sanctified through through them okay so we have the story this is a story that many of us are familiar with God the people complain God commands Moshe to do something Moshe does something seemingly different or something wrong clearly and then God provides Moshe with the with the punishment that because of what he has done really Moshe and Aon because of what they have done they're no longer going to Merit to enter Earth Israel what what are some questions that come up when we when we when we see this episode okay good okay so question one question which really to take a step back before we even get to your question is why is God asking Moshe this time to speak to the Rock right we kind of this is it seems like it's deja vu we've had a story already where God where there was no water God told Moshe to take the staff and hit the rock and the water came out and that happened that happened much much earlier here God says to Moshe don't hit the rock but speak to the Rock that's question that that's one of I think the major questions in addition to that question is the question that you're asking which is if God doesn't want Moshe to hit the rock then why take the staff meaning it's almost like God is playing games with mosha which is like take the staff but but don't but don't hit it take the staff but speak so if he's going to if he's going to speak to the Rock he doesn't need the staff okay what other questions come up yes two number one why did water come out and has didn't T that also a great question if it wasn't what God wanted then why did the water come out and three classic what did Aon do okay excellent another question what did Aon do Aon is part of the story he's not part of the story on the one end he's there when they when they gather in front of him God speaks to mosha and tells him what to do why is he punished and yet at the end why is he punished good what else why did moshu lose his temper okay why did moshu lose his temper that is a good question although that already has a certain assumption assumed in the question which is that mosha lost his temper which again is the opinion of some of the some of some of them of hardship but it it is a good question which is as we're going to see one of the explanations for Moses sin was that he lost his temper specifically here and one of the questions we could ask is why specifically here of all the places where people have done something wrong or said something wrong why is mosha losing his temper here excellent good question okay let's think about the sorry his sister just di okay excellent good we hold that all that thought punishment doesn't fit the crime does the punishment fit the crime right it does not seem like the punishment fits the crime okay fine let's say mosha did something wrong and we're going to have to understand exactly what he did assuming he did something wrong did he really warrant the the punishment that he gets which is that this his whole lifelong Mission has been to enter Israel to bring the people into Israel and now that gets taken from him in a second and and the question is is that really is this really appropriate right is this we know that in general will will gives a punish mid mid but God punishes people according to the sins that they do so here in what way was Moses's sin so bad that he necessarily merited not being able to bring the people into the land of Israel okay I'm gonna I'm going to break it down into really three questions because I because I I think they're all small parts to these questions but I think the three major questions we have to understand are number one why would God want MOS to do something different than he did last time included in that going to be well why does he need to take the take the staff if he's going to hit it number two what's aon's part in this story and why is he also punished in the same way and I think number three is in what way did this really fit the crime okay all the things you're asking about about about his anger is a question within trying to understand exactly what happened here but what was so bad about what Moshe did that he therefore did not Merit to enter Isel those are three questions now there are a couple of other questions that emerge when we see a couple of later on in this in the Torah when this story is recounted or when Moshe recounts this story a couple of other times new descriptions seem to emerge look at source number two Source number two actually you know we'll start with Source number three forgive me we'll start we start with Source number three because I want to go in in chronological order Source number three is the beginning of saarim the beginning of saarim as we know Saar is mosha recounting many of the different stories in the Torah again for the people before he passed passes away and here look at the way that Moshe describes he's actually describing he's describing the S of the spies I only I only brought the very very part that's that's relevant for us but basically Moshe has described what has been done wrong it's interesting how he describes it his recollection seems to be very different than what we what we saw in the Torah we're not we're not going to discuss that today but one of the very interesting things he that he that that comes up is the way that mosha describes the result of look at source number three hasem heard your complaints he heard your words and he got upset says Moshe God swore the following [Applause] thing that no one from this generation who has sinned is going from this horrible bad generation none of you are going to enter the land that I have sworn to give to your fathers so what's the punishment of as we know this generation doesn't get to enter the land of Israel until now makes a lot of sense continues continues the Torah except for who was one of the spies but had actually um done the right thing and he he I will give to land and there's a question why Yeshua is mentioned here we'll put that to the side it's not our point but then Moses says something astounding God hasem also got upset with me because of you saying you're also not going to get to go Okay now what's the problem with this description what does Moshe seem to be implying here that he also is part of that he that he the reason why he's not going into the land is not because of what we just saw about Maya but rather because of wait wait a second I mean mosha was part of the story in but number one nowhere in that when it happens do we see any indication that he did something that was worthy of being guilty or being punished and number two it seems very oh for effect just we just want to make sure everyone's paying attention let's see I's think about okay so the question is here again what is Mo what does MOS have to do with it what does Moos have to do within and why is he mentioning this that's that's one question what's the other question that comes out of this and you know what maybe even highlight it better look at the next Source number three Source number three is Mos the beginning of God is turning Moshe is pleading with Hashem sorry sorry sorry you're right I got confused it's our third Source but it's number two thank you Source number two I put it out of order God Moshe is pleading with God saying please let me enter the land please let me pass and see this land go over the ardan to the to the beautiful land gets upset at me because of you he didn't listen to me says to him enough stop don't keep talking don't keep talking about this and then he gets him basically he refuses moshe's request what's unusual of of of how Moshe describes the reason why he's not entering the land of Israel he doesn't talk about what sin it was but who who does he blame the people the people it's your fault it's all because of you and if we saw also in the last one he said got because of you right who's mosha blaming for this whole thing it's all your fault wait a second if we looked at the story we don't know exactly what Moshe did wrong but it seemed pretty clear that Moshe has done something wrong so why is Moshe in his recounting of the story blaming the people Okay so very frustrated cuz he's very frustrated it's true he's very frustrated although sometimes we know and I don't think this is what MOS is doing that people have a hard time accepting accountability right they'll do something wrong and they'll find everybody else in the room I'm assuming that I think mosha raain who was the greatest leader that Jewish people have ever had was not is not guilty of that but the so the two other questions we have to ask ourselves before we begin to really understand this is number one why does mosha seem to also be blaming the people well this is really question number four question number let's just go through the questions again question number one was what does God asked Moshe to speak to the Rock and not hit the rock and if he's asking him to speak to the Rock why does he have him take the mat number two what happened to Aon in this story where is aon's involvement and why is he punished number three does the punishment fit the crime doesn't seem to or we have to understand what is the crime exactly number four and five we're going to see right now number number four is why does Moshe seem to blame the people and question number five why does Moshe at least in one place seem to Clearly say that the reason why he want he didn't get enter the land of Israel is because of the S of the spies which was a totally different episode from where we have right now where we see that mosha doesn't get to enter the land so before we we do the first three I actually want to start backwards I want to start discussing numbers four and five okay the mafarin deal with all of these and it's amazing to see the beautiful creativity and the range of suggestions that are made regarding this entire episode because these are these are very very ma note that these questions are very very clear I'd like to start with number four which is why does Moshe seem to blame the people and a few different explanations explanations uh arise look at source number four Rashi does not give an explanation but he say he seems to be very clear in how he understands the P when when Moshe says to them for you says rash for you you're the ones who caused me to get this punishment okay so Moshe according to Rashi moshe's intent was very very clear and he even quotes a that seems to actually support this say Al and they got upset at him by the story of and a bad thing happened to Moshe because of them so the ma tried to try to Grapple with what exactly exactly was the issue so let's start with the ramban the ramban gives two suggestions in Source number five not the first paragraph but the but the second paragraph the second paragraph says the ran why does Moshe seem to blame the people for this entire episode for this entire sin so says the ran we're in Source number five the second paragraph because the B is were the ones who started the fight so says very simply why is Moshe angry at the people because while it is true that Moshe made a mistake at some point he did do a sin but why did this whole episode ever begin they because they were complaining and so he's basically saying if not for you guys I would never have found myself in that challenging situation true I might have made a mistake but the whole episode only started because of you okay so that's one that's one suggestion continues the ran oh your or he's going to hint to another idea says the ran as we begin to understand exactly what the sin was that Moshe and Aon did what we're going what is clear is that part of what they did was they did the Torah says that you didn't sanctify me amongst the people which means that the people's involvement in this entire episode is key to their to their mistake part of what Moshe did that was wrong or Moshe and Aon was that they didn't sanctify God's name amongst the people so s for Moses turning to them and basically saying this was all your fault number one you started it up number two part of what happened and again we haven't got to what happened yet and we're going to leave that for for a little bit but part of what happened was because I was supposed to be doing something amongst you amongst the people sanctifying God's name amongst the people and therefore if not for the fact that that that you had created this entire episode therefore we wouldn't be in this situation so mosha basically the ramban's general approach which with a little bit of a of a Twist in it is that basically why was it their fault it was their fault because they started everything they were a part of everything that happened even though Moshe himself will admit that he made a mistake at some point as well ever ask them to pray for him you mean no never ask you mean to pray to pray on on his behalf you mean on his behalf to get to enter you're talking about later on just in general for water ah ah you're saying well why why didn't why why why was his reaction to turn to hash and do that it's an interesting question he never asked people to pray and the truth is that we don't often we don't see that at all when they when they're asking for water it's a very very good question the responses are usually true it's a good question it's a good question although we do know that the way that the man fell we've discussed this in the past was done in a way where people needed to constantly be thinking and hoping that it was going to fall so part of the existence in the midbar did require that automatic prayer but there is no clear like why don't you just pray tohm it's it's a good question is M speaking to the same people in as speak excellent question and that's going to be important for later the simple understanding is no the simple understanding is that is that is that beginning with this week with with with this with this section of the Torah we have now gone from years two to year 40 yes and that that could be an important point which we're going to get to a little bit later which is that we're not dealing with the original generation that left that left that left Egypt we're dealing now with their with their children um Rashi actually says it over there Rashi says we have now it's actually also fascinating how the Torah just Skips from year 2 to year 40 without saying anything that's that's that's a question of itself but we seem to be now have have gone from year two to year 40 and therefore we're dealing with with a new generation yes we believe that God knowing if that is the case asking Moser to take his staff to me is Virgin and ENT trapment okay I would say that even if God was n- knowing it's a tricky it's it's it's unfair to do meaning the all knowing piece is is is a question of itself and we can we could we could argue with the all knowing versus free will we're going to leave that to the side good again we're we're not gonna get we're not that's definitely too much for us to deal with today but we do believe that there are two things that are true which is that God does know and we also believe in the concept of Free Will and and how do those come together is a question I don't that I don't want to spend spend too much time dealing with today but I agree with your original question just just for now which is get which we mentioned already which was it's almost as if he's like setting mosha up for failure by taking it regardless of knowing what's going to happen having him take the staff and then telling it to speak seems to be unfair and it's a good point so we have to understand what what was the intent it's it's a good question a good very well it could very well be that taking the staff was simply to show that he was coming bashem that's why says that the staff wasn't meant to be an instrument with which he was going to execute H's decree we're going to see that ref first say something very similar it could be the it could be that the M played a role even if it wasn't meant to be used to him and there's a few different ways to explain that which which will which we'll get to okay so yes move on necessary for Mo not to go into a just like was necessary for to eat that's a good question was it the question was it was it necessary mean I mean if I understand you're saying correctly perhaps this was just what was meant to be was for motion not to enter the land of Israel listen again that gets that that also raises the question of Free Will versus not free will we believe that there is a concept of Free Will and it does seem that Moshe did something wrong here and that God as a result of that action is punishing him as could that been what was meant to be I mean again from a larger from a larger perspective we could argue that but what's what's clear is that Moshe wanted to enter the land it seems to me that if not for this sin he would have entered the land that's the simple understanding of it in which case there's meaning again what you're asking gets into the whole question of and how much how much of an impact we have in our world we do believe that our actions do have an impact and moshe's action here certainly had an impact uh and therefore we have to take it take it in that way it could also very well be that that that this this particular M of of of The Rock was the was the was the straw that broke the camels backom had in mind for m not to enter the land altoe and and and that's why could and that's why the is brought in here could be good well we'll hold that we'll get to that there is an opinion that suggests that as well okay so let's hold that let's just keep let's stay focused for one minute on the question that we have which is again why is he blaming the people so we saw the ran suggested he's blaming the people because they were the ones who got him really started in the first place the clear in Source number six I'm not I'm not going to we're not going to see it inside just for time purposes the clear basically suggests that the whole sin of May mariva was partially the people's fault simply because if not for earlier sins they would they would have not needed that that Miracle meaning part of what mosha sinned what was mosha Sin mosha Sin was that he was supposed to do something with the rock and therefore sanctify God's name and he didn't do that we're going to get to soon what exactly he did why he didn't sanctify God's name but that was only necessary sanctifying God's name says the clear because the Jewish people had had had been on such a low level due to their previous sins due toim due to korak the people's earlier sins put them in a p a situation where they now needed to be raised by Moshe at the Rock doing what God had told him to do and when mosha didn't do what he was supposed to do he was punished but says the kakar he would never never have been in that situation to begin with if they had not sinned at the morim had not sinned at korak and therefore the entire people were partially connected to this entire thing because mosha would not have needed to give them that inspiration had they not sinned earlier and as a result been on such a low level what he called M says the kakar the reason why mosha needed to do what he needed to do here was because the Jewish people were already in a level of they were on a low level of their belief as a result of as a result of the sin of korak and therefore mosha was needed to raise them up which and mosha didn't do that so mosha was partially at fault but it was also the people's Fault by being on the level that they were at that required this extra this added inspiration was not miraculously enough also a good question out also a good question also an excellent excellent question we'll get to that as well we'll get to that as well wasn't hitting the rock that is what what some what some of the MIM ask as well one final explanation for what the people for the people's involvement here isi in Source number seven and he says the following he is of the opinion which we're going to get to soon is really the opinion of the ram which was that moshe's sin was that he got angry as we saw before says it's true that mosha got angry but as someone asked before what got Moshe all Angry says you know what got mosha all Angry the people the way they were talking it was although Moshe was the one who sinned by getting upset says Moshe who got me all worked up why did I get all worked up it was because you were asking these ridiculous questions you were asking for things that made no and therefore says Moshe you are also a part of this entire sin although I shouldn't have it's like some a parent saying I shouldn't have lost my temper but why did I lose my temper it wasn't didn't just come out of nowhere now now of course there's that balance the parent should have lose his temper but there's also usually someone else on the side who's causing the parent to lose their temper that might be partially responsible now is that the cor thing to do should a parent blame the child for that or should the parent take responsibility that's a question but say that's what mosha meant here what mosha meant was although I did Sin what what kind of got to me and caused me to lose my temper was you guys and therefore you are Al also partially responsible for for the sin so that that's that's answering our question of why does he seem to blame the people either it was because the people were the ones who started this whole story or because their previous sins had put them on a level that required Moshe to now do a special Miracle which he ended up not doing but the only reason it was needed was because they were on a low level or the third answer of is because they were the ones who got mosha worked up and when he got worked up that's when he either got upset or he made the mistake something happened that in this encounter was partially due to the to the people but now I want to get back to to to question number five which was why are we involving all here and there are two main main responses if you look now back go back to Source number five for one second the ramban the ramban struggles with this question because we're going to see soon for the ramban it's very clear that the reason why mosha doesn't enter the land is not because of the sin of the spies but because of mariva and if that's the case why does Moshe mention the sin of the spies at all here what do the sin of the spies have to do with anything so look at the ran in Source number five the first paragraph says the Raman first Moshe mentions the sin of the spies because that's the reason why the people don't enter the land and in addition there was another sin which moosha doesn't mention which is the sin of miva which caused me not to go in meaning says the ran you just have to read theim a little bit differently it's true the doesn't mention mea it only seems to mention only but says that's just a technicality mosha was just was just mentioning the fact that no one's going into land now why is no one going into the land there's two different reasons you're not going into the land for reason a I'm not going into the land for reason B we're both not going into the land and so you can't read too much into Moshe statement here says the ran it was really just mentioning why none of us are going into the land for you it's because of it happens to be for me it's a different reason I'm just and that just wasn't mentioned here okay so what ran is trying to do we call we were call almost like you know uh um exp like gymnastics almost in a way trying to really find a way to fit this in the reality of which is we know that the main reason why M doesn't enter the land is because of miva and yet here he seems to be talking says the ra it's he mentioned because that's why the people aren't going to enter the land and he also means to also include miva okay however there is one opinion and this is the abarbanel we're not going to do this all inside it's a very long piece the abar banel not just due to this P but due to a number of different reasons actually makes the incredulous suggestion that the reason why Moshe and Aon don't go into the land of Israel is not because of mea mosha doesn't go into the land of Israel because of and Aon doesn't go into the land of Israel because ofel said first first I didn't bring this I didn't bring it here the barbanel barbel style and the way that he writes is he starts every time he gives a parish he starts by asking a whole long list of questions soell asked like 10 questions on everything here and he and he mentioned some of the some of the other suggestions that we're going to see soon for the the sin of Moshe and he rejects them all he says this doesn't make sense because of this this doesn't make sense because of this when we discuss them we'll mention some some of some of the potential issues with each suggestion and then finally barbanel concludes it must be that the reason why they don't enter the land of Israel is not because of May Mara and is rather because of earlier sins that each of them had had committed so let's see it inside well we we we'll see how much we're able to uh to do inside it's a long piece but it reads very very very quickly says that now my opinion is as follows really they're punished for earlier sins because of the because because of the Lo no now now he said wait a second now don't misunderstand me says the barbanel don't think I'm trying to suggest that Aon was one of the people who served the a or Moshe was one of the people who spoke badly about the land of Israel he wasn't one of the ones who served the right they weren't as bad as the people who actually sinned he named sayson really had good intentions if we go back to we see thaton did inadvertently according to the simple understanding actually create the eel he was what who created the eel and he was the one who said now if you read theim there many say what AR was trying to do was just to push off push off time was to just procrastinate until mosha came down but nevertheless what did result of the actions of Aon was the AEL and so although didn't purposefully sin and try to serve the agel nevertheless his involvement inel says the abarbanel led him to therefore need to be punished okay continues the abarbanel I'll just say it outside now for a little bit continues the barel the same thing is with Moshe not that Moshe had bad intentions Moshe did not have bad intentions Moshe knew the land was going to be great however says if you look closely at God the people ask for one thing God asks for something else when they when he when he tells mosha to send them in and Moshe expands upon it originally people just say want we want to see the land and God says to just just just to go check out the land but then when mosha commands the morim he asks them to to answer very specific questions IM are there are is it fortified is it not fortified how is Moshe on his own now he had good reason that he wanted the people to have information to know how they were going to conquer the land but says the abarbanel by by specifically asking the morim to answer many more questions than God had initially intended it set them up to come back and give the report that they do and therefore says theel Moshe from the time of the Morag and Aon from the time ofel it had already been decided they were not going to enter the land of Israel but out of respect for the fact that they were not the main people who sin there that Moshe didn't mean to send the morim and Aon therefore God didn't punish them right away because if God had punished them right away it would have seemed like they were being punished because they because Aron was one of the people who served the AEL or mosha was one of the people who was initially trying to bring about a bad report therefore what God did was he kind of in his mind said I know that I know that this is a punishment that has to be given but I'm going to wait he delayed it he delayed it now the barbanell says something says something fascinating if you go now just just to the very very end the last part of the abarbanel he gives a very very interesting uh mashal a parable said to to how this all to how this all happened three lines up from the bottom there like six seven words in Word what happened here was something similar what happen sometimes with a parent and a child sometimes you have a child who you love sometimes a child does something wrong and you know he really should get punished or he or she should get punished you you have in mind okay I have to take care of this but you just kind of like push it to the side now's not the time to punish him now's not the time to say anything you don't say anything you kind of forget about it because because of their honor out of respect for them then what happens much later they do something very small kind of like what you were describing before kind of like kind of like the straw that breaks the camel's back right they do some they do something much much less serious and then you give them a huge punishment if you were to ask the parent why are you giving this such a big punishment for such a small action no it wasn't because of what he did right now it was because of what he did before and only now I'm choosing to punish it now whether that's the right way to to educate your children or not I will leave that to you but that according to the barbanel is the what happened here now this is this this is a huge huge okay and the my knowledge that I've seen among the classic M who gives this suggestion but He suggests that it was not because of Meara and in fact part of why he does this by the way which we didn't see is because he looks at Meara and he looks at this St and he says this doesn't seem to be so bad he doesn't see again does mosha do certain things maybe maybe they are different from what God commanded yes but as we mentioned in the very beginning the punishment doesn't fit the crime okay so it answers that question it also answers the question about Aon why is Aon all of a sudden punished so the answer could simply be Aron was part of this and there was already waiting in the in in the wings this punishment that Aran and moshu were both each supposed to get and therefore God says okay Now's the Time to uh to to give them give them the punishment I'm just going to hold off on on questions just because because of time and I want to make sure that we get to see a little a little bit more okay so that's now we're now we've begun to answer questions one two and three answer our initial questions what was so bad so we see here we see here that according to the barbanel a revolutionary approach which is that it was not because of Maya per se it was because of it was because of and only now does God choose to to to relay to relay that punishment now let's go back and see a few more of the tra of the more classical approaches to this to this entire episode we'll start with Rashi okay Rashi is the most probably the most well-known which is that the sin of Moshe and Aon was that he hit the rock instead of speaking to the Rock okay let's just understand it first and then and then we'll we'll see some of the questions that arise from this approach says Rashi in Source number seven so Rashi now by the way it's fascinating to see Rashi is going to bring in another a number of midashim to describe what brought Moshe to hit the rock according to rashi's approach it wasn't that Moshe as we're going to see based on the med it wasn't that that mosha you know God said speak to the Rock and mosha said no I don't want to right something happened there was a story here and a narrative that ended up bringing Moshe to hitting the rock as opposed to speaking to the Rock which ultimately was a sin but it wasn't like you know mosha was just defying God says Rashi in Source number nine part of was God said to Moshe speak to the Rock the problem was if you if you ever been in a desert you look around there's more than one rock there's more than one rock okay thank you speak to the Rock which rock no one knew which rock so according to the medish there was a rock that had originally been the beer of Miriam Miriam's well and when Miriam died it stopped giving water then kind of got mixed up amongst all the Rocks so they didn't know where to go what had originally been the be of Miram now went and got mixed up amongst all the other stones once the once the be left all of a looking at mosha and saying mosha you don't even know where to start where are you going to get us the water from you claim to be getting us the water so they say to Moshe which rock are you going to use to get us the water therefore he turned them and said Rebels why was he getting so upset was because they were complaining to him they were saying which rock you it's kind of like you know again use the musle like a parent trying to solve an issue and as the parent is trying to deal with the issue all the kids are like ying and say why are you doing this why AR you doing that that's the picture I'm I'm en visioning MOS is looking for the rock and all all of am standing around saying what you don't even know which rock to go you don't even know where to go which walk are you gonna hit mosha so mosha then turns around and says so part of what happened here was a give a give and take which again gets back to um potentially am is's involvement in this why did Moshe hit it twice says Rashi originally hit the rock and only a few little drops came out why did only a few drop come out because he wasn't supposed to hit the rock now again he hit the rock wondering why nothing's coming out because at this point he must not have realized that he had made a mistake but when nothing else came out what did he do he hit it again he should have spoken but he didn't God told him to hit it I mean God told him to speak to it he hit it nothing came out so he hit it again says Rashi but what happened here this is actually fascinating how does Rashi explain mosha moshe's mistake it wasn't just confusion it was that moosha didn't know which rock so first mosha went to what he thought was the Rock and he spoke to it and what happened nothing nothing came out why because it wasn't the right Rock and then he went another rock and nothing happen and then finally he gets the right one by that point he's exasperated the speaking doesn't seem to be working so what does he do he hits the rock this maybe said well the speaking didn't work maybe I need to hit it and that's where it just happens to be that when he started hitting which one did he hit the correct Rock which he had which he had which really he had he should have spoken spoken I'm just not going to take just because of because of time I'm happy to take at the end so said now what is the exact sin look at how Rashi describes it Rashi says very very clearly the Torah is very clear to us if not for this sin Moshe and Aon would have entered the land now why does Rashi have to mention that very clearly because he could see people suggesting what the barbanel is going to suggest meaning it's very clear says Rashi this is the sin because says would have been inappropriate to say that the reason why they're not going to go in is because of anything anything else because then then you would be putting them in the same lot as those who who s God wants to make it clear that it was because of this sin and having nothing to do with L we group M and Aron with those people who spoke badly about about the land then then Rashi asked interesting question he says well what was so bad says rash wait a second Moshe seems to have had and said things that were much worse than this what example does he bring When God says to Moshe in last week's para I'm going to now bring a whole lot of meat to the Jewish people what does Moshe say were you gonna find enough enough enough enough animals to do that okay that says says Rashi that's probably worse than anything else that mosha is going to do here because he's questioning God's ability so why over there did God not punish Moshe and now here he punishes Moshe so says rash because that sin was done in private and God understood Moses back and forth what where that was coming from therefore he wasn't punished for that because this was done amongst the entire Jewish people God did not did did not did not save him that whole backroom because of K so what what we see here is again that the sin seem to be not listening but not just not listening not listening in such a public public work and therefore says Rashi um he was he was punished now again I think there are pieces of this that are still that that are still not 100% clear here uh Rashi does quote another one other thing which I'll just say outside Rashi mentions why did God want him wanted to speak to the Rock because there was a a message that am could have learned from The Rock just if if God if Moshe had spoken to the Rock and The Rock had given water and The Rock had given water am Israel could have learned just like this rock listens to the word of God so too am Israel should am Israel should also be listening to the word of God but just like this rock which doesn't speak and it doesn't and it doesn't hear doesn't need parasa and yet it still does the word of God so to am now I think it's a very interesting K one that I I have to admit I can't say I fully understand because obviously a rock is different than a human being a rock doesn't have doesn't have free will but but there's something here but I what what I think we get from Rashi and Rashi is probably symbolic of the of of the general approach which is that the sin here was the hitting as opposed to the as as opposed to the speaking now there are a few other variations of this we're not going to do all of them right now one I want to mention we're going to skip the rash ban for now just because of time but the sorno and Source number 11 again we're not going to do it inside it's very long the sorno say something very fascinating he says also the sin was that he HD it instead of instead of speaking to it now why was that such a big deal so Raji said was a big deal because it was done in public and it was done in such a big way and therefore we it need needed to be punished the sorno goes and tries to give background to this entire thing sorno explains that there are three types of Miracles or three types of ways three types of Miracles that God will often bring into into into the world let me just make sure I got all of them okay there there are miracles in the way that God relates to the world the first one is when rain comes down or when things happen within the normal the normal way normal way of nature okay that's that's that's a miracle that we don't necessarily see as a miracle but is is a miracle the second one he calls is a n which couldn't happen but it could still which doesn't happen normally by itself but it could still fit in somewhat with with nature you know I'll just I'll read it out I'm I'm not gonna I read the lines it's just the easiest way to understand it meaning it's the kind of thing that can be done that is a change of nature but can then be incorporated into into regular nature over time okay an example he gives for that is is actually the example of hitting the rock where if enough times the rock keeps hitting and it becomes somewhat standard for am Israel to understand it's no longer this unusual miraculous event that they've never seen before once it's been done enough times it becomes normal the third type of Miracle which is the greatest miracle which he calls as the third is this is this unusual miracle that is much greater says the sperno why did God want mosha to speak to the Rock because at this point in time am Isel were due to receive the third level of Miracle speaking to a rock is a totally different type of experience although you could say both hitting and speaking are miraculous You could argue that hitting a rock could activate something within the rock again on some level you could come to explain it in some kind of physial uh metaphysical or sorry some some kind of physical way you could find a way to explain that talking to Iraq has zero is a much greater nce because there's no way to properly explain that and says says toor that's what God wanted Moshe to do the problem was that Moshe and Aon didn't believe that the people were worthy of such an Ace and therefore says the r therefore says the sorno Moshe and Aon said no no no I can't do that I'm not going to speak I'm only going to hit the rock and says God that wasn't what they were do to it to the people needed a different level of Nace at that point in time and because you didn't give them the Nace that they deserved therefore you you are you're perish not to enter the land of Israel because you weren't able to acknowledge or realize what or or read the room correctly as it were and and and listen to God God appropriately a couple of other ones that I want to just share with you I know we're we're almost almost done on time here um in Source number 12 the ROM we'll say it outside as well we mentioned it before the according to the ROM the main sin was not the hitting of The Rock versus the speaking of the rock it was moshe's anger it was moshe's anger describes how anger is one of the worst Meo a person can have that although in general the ra is famous for telling somebody is famous for the concept of that we're supposed to find the middle ground between two different between different midot and always find that balance between the extremes the ra famously says there's one Mida or one there's actually two but one of them is one of the that a person should go to The Other Extreme and should not find the middle ground and that is K anger is not appropriate a person should always be striving to go to the other side there is no place for real C and therefore says the Rah and this is in Source number 12 the fact that the leader of the Jewish people would lose his temper so strongly that itself was inappropriate that itself was was worthy of him being punished and not only that says the r says says the ramban by when the people saw Moshe being upset they they viewed Moshe as as as as the shal of hasem and if Moshe is upset what does that show hasem must be upset at us and say the ra if you look at the no does it say that was upset at them and therefore it doesn't make any sense and therefore the ra rejects this now somebody had asked before well then why was mosha why here so it's a it's a great question I can't tell you I know for sure but I brought for you here and you can look it on your own time about Jonathan saxs actually suggest exactly what you suggested he says why was Moshe upset right now he says what happened right before this story began Miriam died who was Miriam Miriam was moshe's older sister took care of him watched over him did everything and again it's a theory I I can't say it's correct it could be that the emotional trauma of Miriam dying put mosha in in in a bit of a situation where he was quicker to lose his temper now as a leader and as the leader of the Jewish people it was inappropriate he wasn't supposed to do it he should not he should not have done that he should not have done that but nevertheless that was what that that is the explanation that the ROM gives andx gives for for it I want to just end with one one final suggestion again we we were we were very ambitious today we didn't get to do everything but I want to just end with one final one final idea I'll say it I'll say it outside for you for you to consider going back to rashi's suggestion that that that that the sin that mosha had was that he hit the rock as opposed to speaking to the Rock what exactly was so bad as many of you pointed out now this is an idea that I've heard in a few different ways Source number 16 mentions this uh and and I this is an idea that I've heard a few different plays I've heard Kanan Pat and his saer mentions this my father suggests this as well in his book and he points out that the speaking versus the hitting is not just you know it's not just by coincidence speaking versus hitting represents two different ways to deal with the people we noted before that there was one major change between last time when God told Moshe to hit the rock versus this time when Moshe is told to speak to the Rock and what's the major change that happened amongst the people a new generation a new generation and say these these commentaries where as the previous generation only understood Force only understood hitting the rock who were they the previous generation they were slaves children of slaves grandchildren of slaves they only understood force and therefore in their world in order to get water out of Iraq you had to hit it that was all they knew that was all they understood however we're now in a different generation God says to Moshe take the staff well I take the staff okay because there's a famous saying by Keddy Roosevelt right speak softly and carry a big stick why what the to carry the big stick you got to have the staff to show them I could use this but I'm not going to use it I'm going to speak to the Rock because this generation the generation that's going to enter the land of Israel the generation that is not a generation of slaves is now now needs something different they need to be educated differently Moshe and Aon by extension by not stopping him by hitting the rock showed that he was not able to adjust to the new generation and according to this suggestion my father says this from a few different places they say therefore moshe's the punishment here wasn't a punishment out of spite it was a reality Moshe by be not being able to speak to the Rock instead of hitting the rock showed that he's not the right leader to lead these people into the Jewish into into into the land of Israel if he's not if he can't transition from hitting the rock which was necessary in the last generation to now speaking to the Rock which is necessary for this generation and the Jewish people need a new leader they need they need Yoshua to take them into the land of Israel and that could be why Moshe was given the uh the punishment of not getting to enter the land of Israel okay we saw a lot today uh I apologize again for uh for going quickly but um but everyone should have a wonderful wonderful week a lot of food for thought