Parshat Chukat: “Expunged” by Rabbi Ari Kahn

so here we were minding our own business in uh the middle safer B midbar which you know is a nice safe space and then we have yet another episode and and at some point it just kinds of feels like this one episode after the next episode after the next episode and it's almost like this same beating of a drum these reverberations taking place and all of this General discontent which is I guess punctuates the entire book but I think we would be making a very big mistake to assume that every single one of these episodes are all the same that that that essentially what we have is one group one complaint because that's just not the case what we have again starting really with peric Alf we we find the complaints which are taking place kind of just goes one par after the other and we're far from finished I mean that's also part of the thing let's really just start and then as I said I think that we'll get a little bit more insight because I also believe that there's something over here which kind of makes this one different from all the others I think that there really is something different over here and first just deal with the obvious the consequences the the result which means instead of this attack on the people afterwards the attack goes in motion Aon which means that already tells us that something is uh completely different um my favorite title out of any of the books that I wrote was in The Echoes of Eden on bamidbar so I called that spies subversives and other Scoundrels right I just thought that that really encapsulate what's the what the entire book is so now essentially these you know these despies or these the are these the subversives or these other Scoundrels which means essentially just put them into one of the categories but as I said I don't I'm not sure how simple that is and and let's read and we'll be a little bit careful and then hopefully something will emerge and and right away we have the double language is of a concern if we had ad by itself we'd be more concerned B Israel generally sounded like okay and then that maybe that's our first goto the first goto is as we are looking in the book of Bidar we always want to know who this group is that we're talking about and Miriam passed away and she was buried there now in in terms of what I would call straightforward shot we don't necessarily at this point know exactly what you know what the date is you know where we're up to what what um we're we're told by and I'm going to say there's nothing here to absolutely nothing as far as I can tell to contradict kazal is that we are now at the end of the of those 40 years and maybe there's something which we should pay attention to and that's another teaching in kazal and we have to try to figure out what the implications of that is is that the second teaching is that during these 38 something years 38 plus years there was no Divine prophecy which means we have a lack of communication between condotion during this time which means essentially you know you guys got your uh you got your punishment deal with it and there's not and there's nothing to to talk about now that's an incredible background of all of this because essentially then what we're dealing with is just I'm not going to even say aimless wandering because it's not a question of aimless wandering it's not even so much the movement which is important but it's the lack of obtaining the goal of where we're supposed to be going to which is really the issue so the background over here is this isolation being in the desert not being where they're supposed to be and and and there's only one other thing that happens and that is very slowly everybody dies out and the the worst or maybe the best description of this is in the midash which is quoted by tovot that every year on tip of they would everybody would dig Graves and get into Graves and some would get out and that would stay in but again let's always be careful with midrashim this midash does not necessarily reflect a historical reality of what took place but it absolutely I believe encapsulates an emotional truth about how those people may have felt they have may may have felt that they had one foot in the grave maybe more than that and essentially they're just biting time until it's over some saying that really gives a background now as much as this chapter right perff begins with the death of Miriam and now mosha and Aron as we've noted the midash before and maybe we'll see somebody who quotes it soon that as much as they're dealing with their own personal mourning their own family death and their own sadness nonetheless does that make them special and I'm sorry for putting it like that because isn't everybody dealing with death isn't that something which is really to very great extent permeated the last 38 years which essentially is not getting to where we needed to get to death is all around all kinds of people die and now there is a another problem so let's continue again from the beginning the word by the way is we we've seen before a good word but but but but also there there was something ominous means settling and to be settled sometimes it's not just that you found a place that you can physically settle but also it then reflects again on the emotional state that you feel a little bit more settled again exactly it's not an accident it's the same word but now notice that we just now shifted and it could be that that's just the right way to write it or it could be that I'm being hyp sensitive but isn't it interesting that so far we had and now in one verse we switch to so now we went and we separated from so again I'm just pointing this out right now and what is the significance of all of this maybe we'll have a chance to get to but first we have to know this Al I don't know if the word Al indicates some kind of uh an attitude and or or not but then it says so as much as it apparently that would have been still the now it's so again just noting from the from the last P had it said B Isel each and every time here then I think that we would have had less of a reason to be suspicious as to you know who are the players and who who is doing what but the shift here had we only perished together with our brothers hasem in front of God now in this short sentence which again it's very easy to ignore because we just want to move over towards the problem and the solution and then we want to go straight over to what Moshe does or mosha and Aon do we want to go straight over to that and deal with it but nonetheless there there is what to note here the first thing is the kind of question that you ask only if you have an answer and if you don't you'll say okay that's just an exaggeration of here but if 38 39 years have gone by then when they say had we only died like our brothers did shouldn't they have said like our fathers did which means one of the things in the background of all of this is that if indeed this is the new generation if the chronology really is correct then we're dealing with the new generation of the new generation we have a new generation are acting remarkably the same or similarly to a previous generation which also leads us to a moment of uh of feeling somewhat defeated nothing's changed nothing's learned right shouldn't we shouldn't we think that once you go through difficult experiences that at least something should be learned and something should change but I'm I'm going to note again that that is nonetheless interesting again on multiple ways and again first the obvious and then the more interesting one the obvious is that they say a and yes I know that our minds just tend to to be lazy yes we are intellectually lazy and then we like to ignore all of these things and kind of just kind of make believe yeah right what difference a it's all the same but but but it's not I mean and you all know I'm not overselling this but you know it's not the same but the second thing is that had we only died like they died Hashem hasem is really interesting and of course if you're going to do this seriously what should you do you should now line up every single Rebellion that is taken place from the beginning of a midbar and line up and see what exactly was the terminology that was used how it was said how they refer to themselves how they refer to others how they refer to God which means all along the line over here there really is something interesting but without doing that because as I said we're lazy you do realize I did do that right but um someone has to do that and I can't really make so much fun of you right what would never thought about yeah but but you realize you really have to do that you have to line them all up right you do I do okay that's great I'm a customer I'm a pain customer but you you do know in the back of your heads that this does not sound familiar I'll just put it like that it it does not sound familiar to a phrase that had we only died in front of God is a little bit different because we know using God before they had they using God they you they're mentioning God it's not the same as oh if we only went back to Egypt yeah we heard that kind of thing oh if we only died in the desert we heard that kind of thing but over here there really is something which again I'm going to say sounds qualitatively different not just qualitative it's it's religiously significant that they say had we only died in front of God again right there without without comparing and that we we know that there's something else happening now that's really going to be the key point that it's going to help us all the way through today but let's let's just make if you have to I do in other words you said 38 years you're without Hashem no the question is what does it mean with god without God 38 years God has been giving them money every day 38 years there's been the clouds protecting them meaning God is in the camp and God is there but God just has nothing to say I absolutely note that those 38 years are fascinating in terms of how one feels you know I think one of the times I uh I taught this back about Yakov in bit and I asked you know you know who's the one who said it's better to have loved and lost than ever to have loved at all right you know who said that no okay good good good good it's good it's good good now you have homework to do and and it was actually said and it was actually said about a non-romantic relationship who's actually said about somebody said it about his future brother-in-law cuz he died before the wedding and he lamented his best friend's death who was about to marry his sister and that's all the hints I'm giving to you right now but it was not used in a uh if you want I'll tell you after class any you could you could and then you wouldn't need me so I I've used that in the sense okay what about is it better to have been a prophet and lose your prophecy than never to have been a prophet which means that those feelings let say Yakov over that time where where God doesn't speak to him now that's really interesting to compare that large chunk of time where Yosef isn't here omel is not whole God doesn't speak to yob over those years and now you know everything's incomplete we're not where we should be and God doesn't speak to mosha over these years but again essentially there's nothing to say there's just nothing to say at this point meaning there's nothing to say I'm saying I I know I know that that's hard but now you flip that around and you went too far cuz you said oh God's not with them well God is with them he just doesn't say anything there's a very big deal by the way and that way and that may he does he does and that make and that may make it worse that may make it worse she gives you don't talk to each other okay I'm I'm not getting between the two of you I say you could talk it over but maybe not yeah yes I didn't say there's no reaction why are you going so why are you working so hard why you even listening to him there's there there's M every day there's clouds every day this poly water most of the days which is actually our problem but again don't overstate it God is go there are revealed miraculous Supernatural events taking place on a daily basis and he's saying oh God is not with us me but he's not talking to me I'd be more concerned if he said he's talking to you okay guess I shouldn't anything but no but but nonetheless there there is this there is this angst there's this heaviness of of again those revealed Miracles am I displaying silence well enough wa silence okay let let's let's continue now a moment after saying had we only died in front of God they double down on that theem so now now what's you call Hashem the people of God so if I now had to again you can do your homework if you want line up all of the rebellions of the desert and we're going to give them points for the god quotient right God Consciousness so for the in terms of rebellions these people are pretty good right continue so you know had we only died with our brothers in front of God by the way what's the reference don't answer me now but what's the reference what are they referring to secondly why did you take the congregation of God out to the desert which is really interesting because it's because who actually took them out you know right well maybe there was a but but mosha does the plagues but why did you take the at Kalem and again Double Down double Downing on this God quotient and why have you taken us to this bad place it is not a place of planting a place of figs or or grapes or pomegranates and there is no water to drink now they're actually making a claim over here but leave it for a second so now we again we so far we've had B is we had we've had and now we have the kahal they actually referred them to kahal and now God reveals so yeah God is there the question will be the speaking and now we have it I'm saying yes this is particularly interesting and significant if God has not spoken a 308 and now now God speaks they de hasem elar so note God could have spoken in front of everybody but that really was a one-time thing and they actually asked no don't do that anymore that's a little much God could have spoken to Moshe and Aon but God speaks to Moshe mosar and God refers to them as which is altering as much as the term Brothers is used before now we have term Brothers used a little differently in the same section we know these are brothers and speak to the Rock in front of their eyes and it will give its water and you will get water out from the Rock and you'll give them to drink they and their and their flock and if we were going back and think so kind is going to remind us of RKA it's remind us of yov and so on good hasem so now it's also interesting the hasem over here should be paralleled to that other hasem other Lem is that they our brothers died in front of God now he takes the staff from of and that was done in the appropriate wayal open Salah and they gathered mosha and Aon the community in front of the rock V and Mos speaks and says listen you rebellious people from this rock will we be able to extricate water M lifts up his hands and he hits the rock twice and a great deal of water comes out now right it goes to Iram and their and their flock and if we were to have stopped here without bothering reading any fur further it's possible that our conclusion would have or should have been that this was a success people need water people get water God speaks that's also really important God speaks after of not speaking and uh everything is good everything worked out well unfortunately the continuation is that God speaks again and now to both because you did not believe in to sanctify me in front of the eyes of the children of Israel and now by the way we've we've gone back to B Israel which is really where we started you're not going to bring this community to the land which I've given to them which means the story is going to continue the promise will be kept it's just that you're kind of being edited out of the story which is a little hard a little harsh and this is the Waters of strife if you will because B Israel they strived with God now that's really interesting because I would the conclusion should have been oh this is the waters where mosha messed up or Aon messed up no this is where the people strived with God vesham and they were Sanctified there so there is obviously a lot to say now the the first part is as I've been reading it I've already been dropping hints left and right and all over so I I hope you picked up at least some of them here um the other thing is is that we do know that the commentaries and K for matter have a great deal of difficulty with this section trying to figure out so again why don't we stop a couple verses back there and everything worked out well but instead we have this catastrophic situation whereby the consequences are such that the people move on but mosha doesn't and this is really the end of mosha and aon's career so I'm going to suggest some things which I I've not seen clearly have not seen anybody say in a clar but but there's nothing as far as I can tell which is just fundamentally you know where in the world did you get that from it's all going to be quite obvious and it's all going to be you know essentially just shot in what we're reading so let's then give me a couple minutes and we'll try to uh to work all of this out and to try to make sense of this and to figure out you know what it is that that happened or what it is that uh that didn't happen so again first thing we can note that when it says the people so there was a there was there a contrast between and and the complaints here what we found is on the one hand it says and scares us a little bit but so the could have negative connotations including well if you want we can see mean there's a lot of discussion among commentaries exact because it's obvious to note that there's these differences here sometimes will be a RVE so just just say that and get that out of the way so is this a situation where the complaining actually comes from the edge of the camp and by the way that takes you us very close to what happens in peric Alf with Theon and and so on and although obvious not obviously but there are nonetheless differences on the other hand there's something else over here that should have reminded us of of another episode and that is in hey again we still have to deal with the and and if we start searching where those that kind of terminology was used I think we'll end up finding you know something interesting so give me a couple seconds on that but it's the turn of phrase that happens right afterwards when they say that you know were here in the desert but you didn't take us right right we're not in a place of of planting so therefore even the real complaint of the water which seems to be real and IM and immediate right all of that was in P so that should remind us of a couple things one I I can read to you of of a description later on in sa you don't have this in front of you of per I'm really focusing on but if we if I go back a little bit more God says remember those 40 years in the desert right and this was really a time it's described here of a time of being tested which is interesting I'm going to skip a little bit it makes reference to the m you gave M that no one ever heard of or knew about before and then it continues and it says God is going to bring you to a good land now notice the focus on water streams Waters in the deep water which emerges all over and that of course is this major description of erel but this was actually mentioned earlier in a place that you should have remembered because it was more recent and that would have been by the spies that when the come back in Source two why is it called so what fruit was it that they brought back ask bring fruit from the lands of Israel so what fruit do they bring back so they bring back and now you look at the complaint that they have here where it says that which means essentially what is yeah so as I said that to me is absolutely clear and manifest in front of you which means and by the way let's also not be fooled by something else when people complain actually absolutely don't be fooled by this and not only don't be fooled by this don't do it when people complain and especially this could be a sign of of Despair Andor depression is that suddenly everything right comes on you at once which means you don't have to necessarily deal with each and every one of these problems right now but that that sense of being overwhelmed because one thing happened now everything else suddenly becomes this concern as well and then you have to take a deep breath and say okay let's prioritize what is most important what is most right extreme what can I deal deal with right now which means it's not everything right now but that's the way that we complain We complain and just bring everything out right all things so over here it is possible that this complaint is coming from multiple directions but one thing which we shouldn't Miss and that is the echo of the not just the morlum but the consequences of the morum which means had that not happened we already be in Israel if we be in Israel then everything again it's nice to imagine that everything would be solved but we're not in Israel and we're not in a place of and what do they focus on specifically so here you see this wonderful example of hisorical memory right something which they would have been raised with by the way we don't know exactly who they are yet that they would have been raised with and that is this memory of by the way it does make a difference if they were there or not we pass on memories to our kids that they but they may have been there which is a little more interesting but we pass on this memory of the day that they came back and they came back with the grapes and with the figs and with the pomegranates and all that but now we don't have them which means that feeling of lack for something that you think that you should have had it's not again it's not just some you know why don't we have bananas right who cares about no offense good for potassium and whatever but who no no this is very specific as I said you can't miss this unless you miss this and then if you missed it then you missed it but you can't you you can no longer miss it right you can no longer miss this cuz this is this this is really this is really quite but there's something else that I think is really much more Central and much more more important and then as we continue and I want to continue and I want to make some uh some progress all of this is going to become very very clear and very very obvious and it's going to end up being the solution to all of this but first note that when we look at the dialogue over here okay if we had to break it down over here we had the complaining which may be from one or two or three different groups but okay once again we have different terms being used but there is some complaining there taking place we then have God coming into the story with instruction then we have MO doing what it is that he does but the difference between the various sections which I'm going to again say this this should be obvious and I've already pointed it out and that is that they speak of God and Moshe doesn't so let so let's let let's just be very very clear and make sure that we see it again is that it says okay again what that is i' still like to come back and consider that which means again they have God Consciousness now what I did the first time we went around this is I said right on our first pass through I said oh compare this to all the other episodes and now I'm saying something else don't compare with all the other okay compare with all the episodes keep that in mind because that's going to be important but there's something else over here and the something else is when you look at Moshe what it is that he did so MOS God gives mosha some instructions and people get very very hyperfocused did he follow instructions he not follow instructions and so on what was exactly the problem over here so now without as I said just straight off shot a difference here between what was said initially by the people and what is said by Moshe mosha gathers together vom and he says them and then he lifts up his hand strict it twice and I'm going to ask you once again what is missing in moshe's response and the answer is God so over here you now have a really interesting interaction whereby the quote unquote Sinners are talking about God and the quote unquote Prophet is talking I mean I I don't really mean to be you know pejorative in any sense I'm just say it's even worse is that the prophet who heard the word of God neglects to mention God while the people that he's talking to have mentioned God and just know notice this disconnect over here and the rest of what I'm going to do today is to convince you that this really is the issue and it isn't said and that's part and and that and that's going to be part of the problem over here is that there was God Consciousness by the way you can say a negative sense but we don't know what to do with this oh we only died in front of God because despite everything else do you want to start thinking about that who died in front of God well not of you died in front of God who else died in front of God the 250 people died in front of God and who else di meaning in front of God is something which is far more interesting it what exactly does this mean and yes go back to n every time their death is mentioned it always says they died in front of God and we don't know what to do with that and they're saying listen we're already going to die you know we should die in front of God and now we're let and and seriously we're perplexed at this point because we don't know exactly what it is and then they say this you know these are the people of God and the people of God really should be in the land of God we really should be in the place the land of Israel and we're not with which means they're pointing towards and by the way they put all the blame on Moshe and perhaps mosha and Aon which means they're accusing them of malpractice but they seem to have the faith which means now we go back and say okay do they realize that God is giving them breakfast every day yes do they realize that God has been protecting them yes and therefore the lack of the communication which is taking place has that been something which they find absolutely devastating I don't know how to answer that but it doesn't sound it sounds that no this is not the same necessary neily as the previous generation it's not necessarily the same as everything that we've seen prior to this because there seems to be a bit more of this God Consciousness and just the sign off that God gives at the end over here it says again for the end of Source One and that's also perplexing what about our own how do he get involved in this you did not either trust in me enough believe in me enough in order to sanctify me in front of you heard my emphasis in front of the eyes of the children of Israel back to emphasis which means yes they strived with and they struggled with God by the way that's really important because you can also struggle and say is god with us or not think about the difference between this time when they're asking for water and the previous time they're asking for water in the previous time water does right is god with us or not that's how that section ended up is god with us or not and here they don't question God being with us they're saying motion like what's going on over here which means if you're now going to say hold it have we gained anything over the 40 years what's the answer yeah yeah we we we have which means I'm not trying to paint them in a light of being 100% their person and motion AR not terrible I did not say that but I am pointing at is if we're going to go back and you notice I just now made it a little bit broader till I've been saying let's compare this to all the other episodes in B midbar and now I said okay let's go back and compare it to an episode you know early on in Schmo and there's another episode in scho that we're going to compare to soon and you don't know yet what that is you don't see it coming but there's another episode that we're going to have to go back to schmoe for and as of right now suddenly we come to this materialization that things are not as simple as perhaps we thought when we had begun so let us try to proceed a little bit um if you look at source number three now there's something over here which is a little bit troubling and that is and it's not going to bother you at all so don't worry about it being troubling it's going to be troubling again soon as we move on there'll be a second occasion of this but this won't bother you cuz you'll say know we're just following the chronology and therefore we don't care at all about things which are perhaps thematically connected we then move on right afterwards we move on right we're still in per till now if you look source to one was so now we're up to per right this is right afterwards notice the again right so you realize now that there's something else going on with the Brotherhood here you know all the stuff and he starts telling a little bit about the P you know experience we went down to Egypt we were there for a while and Egypt Egyptians and our lives really tough all fascinating by the way you took us out no no it's really interesting that was part of the complaint just now right why did you take us out of Egypt and Moses go tell them you know it was God who took us out but also notice another thing and we've pointed this out before our Cole yov and Y is quite prominent over here and Moshe is stressing we have this K Yakov and the other thing was this undercurrent of the malim ino's whole life I mean malim there m there going up and down on the ladder and Mal there at the end he has a dream he sees he sends he has this fight with the and I also Al you know I've told you before that I suspect that the night before yako fights with asa's angel I kind of suspect that angel fights with yakov's Angel which is really you know maybe significant here in terms of him saying you know this Angel helped us in a little bit of uh of passive aggression over there and then let us pass through right we're not going to drink at all may and and and you also realize part of the background you know family complexity and difficulties why is this their land because they're not in the land of Israel why they land of Israel because Asa left the land of Israel he left it for yob and you can imagine like the feelings coming back right brothers that don't get along imagine the feelings coming back you know we left the land of Israel now you have to course through our land like just go to your go around this way go meaning why are you bothering us instead of the sense of Brotherhood and Yakov was trying mosha over here was trying to sell it by saying that there was a historical debt the historical debt was the Brit ban aarum and somebody had to take respons possibility and you didn't want to do it and we went down to Egypt we lived up to that now we're going to the land of Israel and let us pass through and uh they don't go for it at all and and also we're not going to we're not going to drink I mean the water is this also important part of all this no you can't me be you got you like it you're not going to pass by over me it's like you're gon to be stepping on me if you do that it's very strong language I'm gonna go channeling the inner ASV the ad of ASV I'll come to you with the sword so yakob saying the voice and ASV saying the the the voice not a reality show he's saying it's the voice it's the K Yakov and he's saying it is the Y of asov and we're going to come after you but then notice so again you wouldn't notice this we can read this 100 times maybe the 99th you'll get it but I G as I said I gave you enough no we're GNA just go in a straight way we're not going to bother you if we do drink your water which said we W drink your water we'll pay you for it so mosha sent this message with the whole story old Jewish history and the people say listen just let us course through we'll pay for anything that we do much more pragmatic much more down to earth let's you know you'll be saving us some time saving us you know we want to get get F of Israel which is actually part of this whole thing from the beginning and uh and the response doesn't work but did you notice the difference between the two here Moshe speaks of God and the people don't it's not there there's no God in this and and I can get this I can understand this why you bothering the people of Edom all about God stop stop talking in this way just be be pragmatic talk in a regular way about people doing business how do you do business you don't start telling Bible stories when you want to do business and over here Moses telling Bible stories and they're saying listen let's be much more practical but um but that's really interesting because not that long ago previous episode they were speaking about God and I told you that there is a theme going on over here but first let pause a moment and let's take let take a look at the at the n Froman gave his daily class it made it into a book and I sh uhuh uh just one second one second go go go go back one second one second before there's something else that happens then sorry let's go back and do this in sequence right after this negotiation not working moshe's Divine negotiation as it were which mentioned in God and the people's practical much more down toe negotiation doesn't work then we continue and it says right you have B notice very similar to what we had before so I told you this not not going to bother you at all because this is the right sequence doesn't bother you meaning this is really the after this is the other shoe dropping this is the aftermath of the previous episode but we something in the middle that was told here now again you're going to tell me this is the chronology and I'm going to say to you and if it were told together if ain's death was told together then you'd say yeah it's thematically connected which me you would have had me either way I mean it it wouldn't have made that much of a difference how you tell the story and indeed there are other stories told in B midbar who which are told thematically and are not necessarily told chronologically and everyone would agree with it including the ran there's no there's no question about that but nonetheless Aron's death is not told yet but again I'm I'm going to say it you're not bothered by this but what it's but it's described why so what exactly does that mean because here God is doubling down saying oh what did you do you oh p and we's looking and saying well that's interesting and just kind of wonder what that means so on that P in Source number four the NV comments and he says now I have to pause a second because then it's now gave us a great deal of information but we have to go backwards a second and notice what we also may have missed the first time around back in Source number one pos Zion God speaks by mosar instructions to mosha easy singular to mosha mosha is instructed to take m is told to take the M continue is Rob him they're both supposed to speak so anybody who's going to be troubled and say hold it what did Aon do wrong right people should ask that what did Aon do wrong he didn't do anything and what's the answer exactly is that exactly EXA exactly one second and it it gets a little bit better than that because notice that that's VI instead what does it say as we move forward over there which means there's a lot of singular but there was one thing that was plural and that is that it's mosha and Aon together are there supposed to be doing something now the NV is wants to try to you know to unpack that what is it that they were supposed to say so he now calls it Torah and Torah is really interesting and I don't know you know what exactly this means what is it that they were supposed to say um Torah it's easy and although this is totally not absolute Torah would be easier for me to connect to mosha perhaps would be easier to connect to Aon aod there the co although we find mosha praying enough times so I'm I'm not I don't feel strongly about this either way but I nonetheless love this comment of the NV but perhaps let's keep something else in mind and that is that we should be reminded of back by the burning bush back by the snare where mosha keeps on saying no I can't do this it's not me they're not going to believe me and they're not they're going to say God didn't speak to you and when Aon is appointed as moshe's spokesperson I'm going to read it to you again it's not open in front of you it's per and starting with y right right right there that's a problem a Moshe and God is angered at Moshe now you have to ask yourself a question so what is the implications of that anger is that anger going to make any kind of an impact does it make any kind of impression does it do anything in the physical world in the spiritual World genuinely say God was angry that's not good God is angry so what happened God angry what are the repercussions of that he can speak again all that sounds great iron is coming he's happy all meaning the first half of the PK is really scary and the second half of the p is oh ir's coming you know life is good you're going to speak to him and we going to put words in his mouth I'll be with your mouth and with his mouth I'm going to tell you what to do and he's going to speak to the people and you're going to be for him some kind of Master now do you realize how ironic that is now yeah you never thought about that before and there you're going to go and you know do the signs and yes there's a lot to discuss here whose staff it was was it mosha staff or Aon staff do you realize how many elements over here are really important including maybe most importantly is God's anger so now if somebody were to find for me some kind of a comment or a mid oh God's anger it emerges over here by the by the The Rock and that should not be that should not be I didn't look by the way but of course that shouldn't be a surprise because now you realize that that that there is indeed a connection and therefore Aon has been chosen primarily before anything else he was chosen to speak and over here specifically God says VI over here back in par valid in scho he said I'm going to tell you what to say and the two of you are going to say and the two of them didn't say so therefore again without working really really hard I'm going to say it again that aon's mosha speaks and there's a problem with what he says and Aon doesn't speak and that once again takes us back to this comment of the NV whereby the NV is telling us that they were supposed to be some kind of debor of Torah and and he notes he says one second and he goes and and he notes the difference in the plural and the singular let's just go back three lines from the bottom right after the right you didn't create the sanctification he didn't do anything by the way go back to the words P would be in terms of speaking why are you dying now because you did not speak by the Maya which sounds more or less what the NV just now told us which again did we miss that the first 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 years of Our Lives did did did we miss that and the answer is yeah I guess we did but I mean look at when you look at the words in the and you say wow I mean he's actually reading it into the words so now let's continue um the next couple of sources which uh you're you're going to probably have to deal with yourselves because I don't really want to go through all of them now um is Right Source five he's focusing back on had we only died with our brothers to he's saying that's the whole generation it's just the whole generation that died well he doesn't really answer the question but what we are going to see is that various commentaries are going to interpret this differently um if you note last week in korak there you have the words him right at the very end this was this um really dire verse this is the end of the of the of the section there shuuuu and that is the echo that we're still hearing and we only perished with them by the way that would be korak and datu and then the 250 and the 14,700 right and all these people are are dying Rashi that I'm not get to that much also he says so he de over here doesn't mean literally it means a plague means that we died with the plague and again it's being much more generic The Source number eight told to Yak is one of these underrated commentaries one of the important things about number eight it's he is Caro he was the uncle and the surrogate father of rosf caro I think his father died when he was around four years old and he was raised by RAB Caro and first of all he quotes that midash which which is horrific in terms of that mosha and Aon are mourning right now for their sister that this takes place during the Shiva this takes place at that point and again I've said it before so we we'll note that he then goes in a little bit and he's the one who identifies like downward it's bolded the second half essentially saying you know what in the world is going on why did we follow you out you know we thought you know we thought that you know we just won the lottery and and and look how bad things have been going on and uh why did we not end up where we supposed to be meaning what happened to the bour you know we thought we were going someplace which really would be interesting is that we now can actually claim as well that a couple of times it's the a of R that's right when they leave SII the a of RAV are the ones who were complaining and that then impacts Amel as well essentially they want immediate gratification and they can't take these long-term processes the children of Israel need unfortunately that's been our history is that we we are we have patience for the long run for the long ride and it's it's their outward influence which causes us to feel anxiety because they're saying why not do what's happening which by the way takes you right back to what happened and was placed right there in the middle and that's the Yakov asov the or Israel Edam thing that Edom is right there and and ASA was the one I'm going to die this moment and why we going to die that moment because I don't have any food and now Amel you know are feeling that we're going to die because we don't have any food we've been acting like ASF instead of acting like yob well where is that coming from well that's coming from the a of so that's really interesting that right afterwards mosha tries to correct the historical mistake we went down to Egypt and we were slaves and we cried out to God we which means there there was something fascinating which is taking place especially now in light of what we saw from the nav and that is that mosha didn't mention God at that point now he is mentioning God but unfortunately right afterwards the people don't mention God when they're talking to Edom they now you could say they're talking to Edom on their level but as I said to you there's something worse which is coming up so you have to give me another second to get there yeah you would think you would think you would think that uh listen it's good to have a RVE because then you already have someone to blame for your problem okay let's let's continue he he again C The cleak Source number nine he says again the problem is the 40 years in the desert but the question is why now the pmia source number 10 he is again it's the teacher one of the teachers of the so he says something really interesting and we're not getting into all the points that he raises but what he says is just to read it from the beginning so he explains why it's Brothers they were alive during they were alive let's say they were 15 16 17 years old they were alive at the time of the XA because it was only people from 20 and above who died and therefore younger people there's something else then that maybe also we need to uh pay attention to but but again just to read really get it in um in Source number 11 of her says it's all the people died in the desert and that was in front of God I think he over you can read it I think he overstates it overplays it he wants say anybody who died over the 40 years was in front of God but but the NV we're back to the NV again in Source 12 he says that reminds me of the 250 people who in in essence really were like Nadu and they really were like kote and essentially they're saying if you're going to die die already then why not die in a holy way rather than die but there's another Point here and I want to just go back to the a for a moment um who were those 250 people or or who were the 14,700 so I just I I have no way of proving this other than the word a over here is because if he's and I love the P again first of all noting that it says instead of a you know our parents is interesting but let's just play with that and extend that and maybe just a turn to phrase and maybe I'm overstating this but what if meaning what kind of people are uh are filling up all the protests it's essentially young people whose frontal lobe has not developed yet right that no no no no offense to any of them okay offense to all of them but but essentially you have a great deal of of idealism and ideology and not as much pragmatism and essentially you know they think that they understand everything because totally motivated by ideology and they think that we're all fools and don't understand the world properly because look at all the disadvantage of having a developed frontal lobe so doesn't it make so much more sense the 250 people running and it's an absurdity do we ever see people protesting in absurd protests right do I need to give examples of this I mean again how much absurdity no but when you get focused on some kind of absurd ideology you just run straight ahead what about now saying by the way again I'm saying all of this based on the word brothers that these people are now older but it was their brothers it was young people who were the main casualties of those episodes and now they're saying you know if we only died for these great ideological purposes instead of just dying because we ran out of water and saying there was something to be there's something honorable about what they went through so I'm going to say it again it really makes things maybe a little more current maybe too current but it makes things a lot more interesting but I didn't get to my main point so now let me get there finally Source 13 all the places they're going and are known and they're tra all the places they're traveling and then we suddenly shift dramatically if you don't notice it are known we just went to poetry why in the world why in the world would just throw a poem in the middle of this just like continue continue it goes on who and by the way why are we mentioning this now so all of you argued before that we're just going in chronological order why in the world do we just now go backwards to talk about the and then it tells us and it goes this whole song about the and all that and so on and we continue the story can we have you know we're not going to drink your water we have our water and so on and that gets us towards the end of the par the conquest begins we capture parts of mayard and everyone lives happily ever after and L until next week's para but now this is really interesting because this is being told now and this is clearly the after clearly yes even though it's clear you can have people debating this point but clearly this is it's the same bear does everybody agree no the ran says oh this is called I'll shame that Bear right but it does make a difference this is the same this is the same bear this is this is the it says it right in the P before gather people together I'm going to give them water and then the people's response is aashir so aashir is really good it's really great except what will I ask you to do at this point I'll ask you to compare this aashir with the previous aashir and what's missing God leading into this you write and here you have a beautiful poem ecstasy because of a miracle that took place water came out of a rock how wonderful it is that water there and they forgot to mention one thing they forgot to mention one thing and that is God which means something really did not work out so now we'll go backwards and say what is it they were supposed to do they were which means the people are talking about God mosha doesn't now look what happens afterwards and God and God says you're going to be punished because you did not sanctify me right you did not sanctify me which means they should have continued the discussion about God instead they removed God from The Narrative and then God removes them from the narrative which means it's not only us who can edit right God also has some editing tools where mosa and Aon are then removed but now you look at the next couple of episodes and that's what I'm saying each one by itself would not mean all that much yeah mosha told us the whole story of going down to Egypt and coming out we scream to God and the people said you know leave God out of it again we don't it's it's subtle and we don't notice it cu because we're not looking for it but the people just we just pass through and we'll pay for it but there was no God in their discussion mosha doesn't talk about God so what are we going to talk about God why is the mosha talking about God and again there various attempts of those who've noticed it I'm not even going to go so far and to say that everybody uh noticed this point the sperno is one who does uh make at least some note of this it kind of puts them in an impossible situation by the way let's look at the Russian source 19 right the very end the very end of 19 which means now moshe's gone mosha is gone God is gone and he doesn't explain all that much but that should be enough for us to uh to realize which means when mosha brings down the water are any of the people going to fall for this and say oh Moshe must be God no Jews are very good I think I've told you once that I read an article about Jerusalem syndrome and in Herzog you can find people you know filed filled with maybe lots of places you can find people filled up with this but it said that but the article said that the non-jews who come and then have this ecstatic experience they tend to think that they're God and the Jews who go crazy think they're Messiah which means crazy Jews still know they're not God right if you can make God into a man so then you become a man and you can become God but for they they know that they know that Mo they know that Moshe is not God they which means but something happened to their belief system over here and that's what God essentially says that that you that you did not again what's the exact phrase that he uses over here later on in what it's going to say is right the end ver 23 at the end is it's meaning you took me out of the narrative so I'm going to say it again all the these are obvious all that I added today was was again on the one hand looking at this in terms of all the other rebellions taking this and looking back in terms of the earlier time the episode with the rock and the water looking over here about how these people are speaking about God but Moshe doesn't then n p putting us finger art and saying that but they should have said something they and our as well which means that there should have been God not just Consciousness in the back of their minds God need to be mentioned over here please God bring water to the PE to your people please God take care of and then maybe say aashir together then sing together as a response but there was no god mentioned there's no aashir and then we realize okay maybe we could have missed that whole thing with adome the King okay they don't mention God but now you realize afterwards in the Shir that they say how in the world do you say a Shir and God is not in that Shir which means it sounds really good okay now they sang and now they thank God except for one problem maybe but one okay and I would love to believe that they're singing this to God but you realize that there's something which is missing and how did that happen and that God points to mosha and Ain says look what you did look what you did you took God out of the story and they're a little gunshine now they're looking over the shoulders can we mention God can we not mention God is this a safe space do we talk about God over here do we not talk about God over here which means motion not talking about God but by the way leaders right you do something you're in trouble you don't do something you're in trouble you say something you don't say something either way people are going to interpret this but that's what's really interesting OB and I'll say it again everything I said today I think isot I think every single word of this isot am I capable of convincing myself that this isot 100% but um but there was nothing here which is being forced into the text it's all there staring at you and the question is that when you see 1 2 3 4 and then you say okay let's read this together and then suddenly the chronology makes sense bringing in that other story motion trying to fix this a little bit bring God back in but the people they don't they're gunshine the people now don't talk about God in all of this and that's what God says you didn't speak about God right that something was missing over here and now at least we hopefully realize what was missing and I know that people like to say that okay that the they're such a high level they're being judged for something so small because we tend to trivialize this and turn this into some kind of a big game of Simon Says and oh God didn't say hit the rock and therefore that no it's not the point of hitting the rock yes that would that's what happened that's not that's not the problem the problem is what God Said is a problem and God says what the problem is is that and that's also great how all the various you know attempts to understand just read the words what God says and you can't move away from that so whatever you say has to fit into those words and then the various other times including the MAA the MAA is what's ma ma is taking something Divine and turning to something which is non- divine or using something Divine for your own personal service and they removed something Divine over here what did they remove They removed God which means that's the MAA which took place over here