I just remembered that it is already late on Thursday and if I want to share a Dvar Torah with you, I better do it now, as Friday is not a good day to play around on the computer, wasting time surfing silly blogs like mine, EXCEPT WHEN I POST A DVAR TORAH.
And so, here is the Dvar Torah for this week.
DVAR TORAH – CHUKAS
Did you ever think about why Moshe was so severely punished by hitting the rock, instead of just talking to it? After all, Hashem told him to “Kach Es Hameteh” to take his staff, and then Hashem said to speak to the rock. What was so terrible about Moshe just hitting the rock, without first talking to it??
It would have been almost as great a miracle if water flowed from a rock after being struck by a stick, as it would have been if the water flowed from talking to it.
The answer to these questions, which I read some time ago, but I forget from whom, (I don’t think it was one of the Gedolim, just merely an original thinker) is as follows:
Hashem intended the whole world to be governed by His Word alone. Thus he told Adom Harishon NOT to eat from the Etz Hadaas. But that Word was apparently not enough, as we all know, and Adom & Chava were exiled from Gan Eden forever. In fact, the Midrash points out, Hashem stationed an Angel, with a special sword at the entrance to Gan Eden, to prevent any human from re-entering and possibly eating from the Etz Hachaim OR the Etz Hadaas..
In fact, Hashem changed, at that time, the whole order of the world, so that it would not be run only by his Word,, but also by the Sword, or stick. The imperfections in human behavior made the sword and stick necessary. Witness Five Thousand Seven Hundred Seventy years of conquest, battles , bloodshed and forced rule.
Contrast that with the elevated state of the Yidden when the incident occurred. It was the Fortieth year after Ytzias Mitzrayim . The entire Dor of quarrelsome Yidden that left Egypt had died out. What remained was a nation on a very high spiritual level, (a Dor Deah), who had learned to rely on Hashem for everything, food (Mon), water (Be-er Miriam), protection (Annaey Hakovod), etc. Hashem, (Kava Yochel) might have even thought of returning the world to its original state, to rely only on the Word of Hashem. That is, perhaps, why He told Moshe to “speak to the rock”. Perhaps that is also why He started telling Moshe to take his staff, , as the staff would be necessary to rule the world, but then, He told him to only speak, because the Yidden were on such a high level.
Moshe, however, having seen all the rebellions, all the shortcomings of the Yidden for the past 40 years, did not believe that they were on a level to be governed by the word of Hashem alone, and he used the Staff. (In fact, there is one opinion that Moshe was not punished for hitting the rock, but rather because he referred to the Yidden as “Hamarim” ,(rebellious ones), when he said “Shimu Nah Hamarim” )
By hitting instead of just speaking, Moshe effectively negated the plan of Hashem to restore the world to being governed by the Word and not by the stick. That also showed that Moshe was no longer fit to lead the Yidden, because he did not believe that they were ready to live on such a high level of Emunah. Hence, the decree that he would die and not lead them in.
We can learn an obvious lesson from this. If we are trying to inspire others (family, co-workers, etc.), we have to truly believe that they are capable of being inspired, and are ready, willing and able to live up to the ideals we are trying to inspire them with..
GUT SHABBOS EVERYONE
ZAIDA