Divrei Chukas
Heroes
Our sages tell us that,
paradoxically, the criticism of our leaders and ancestors, as found in Tanach,
actually proves the authenticity of these books. The originators of other
religions tend to be labeled in their books as infallible demigods, leaving a
swath of perfection behind them. The Gemara, however, states openly (Shabbos
55b) that only four people throughout human history managed to travel through
this world of test and never sin. Only a Divine Being, transmitting either
directly or through a navi, would author such books and expect them to be
followed.
Still, when Scripture states that a great person sinned, it cannot be understood in a simple way. When Scripture mentions a misdeed by a great person, we are to learn what we can from that episode, keeping in mind that person’s greatness, and incorporate it into our own lives.
In this week’s parsha, Miriam died, the traveling well that gave Klal Yisroel water in her merit was stopped, and the people came to Moshe and Aharon demanding water. Hashem instructed Moshe to speak to the rock and cause it to bring out water. Instead, “Moshe and Aharon gathered the congregation before the rock. He said to them, ‘Listen now, rebels, shall we bring forth water for you from this rock?’ Then Moshe raised his arm and struck the rock with his staff twice; water came forth abundantly, and the assembly and their animals drank. Hashem said to Moshe and Ahraon, ‘Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the Children of Yisroel, therefore you will not bring this congregation to the Land that I have given them.’ They are the waters of strife, where the Children of Yisroel contended with Hashem, and He was sanctified through them.” (BaMidbar 20:7-13)
Asks Rabbi Yonason Eybeshitz zt”l: where is the middah-k’neged-middah in Hashem’s punishment of Moshe and Aharon?
While he states up front that Hashem’s thoughts are not our thoughts and our ways are not His Ways (see Isaiah 55:8), Rav Eyebeshitz bases one answer upon a relevant chapter of Tehillim, No. 114, an integral part of Hallel. There, it says, “What ails you, Sea, that you flee? Jordan River, that you turn backwards? Mountains, that you skip like rams?” Great mountains, like young lambs? Before Hashem’s Presence did I, the earth, tremble, before the presence of the G-d of Jacob, Who turns the rock into a pond of water, the flint into a flowing fountain.”
Rav Eyebeshitz explains that this list of miracles which took place in the desert is actually composed of unequal pairs, with the greater miracle happening with the greater of each pair. The sea is much more huge than the Jordan, yet it “fled,” it utterly dried up – a far bigger change in the natural order than the Jordan’s turning backwards. The mountains may have skipped like rams, but the bigger, heavier mountains skipped like young lambs – far faster than rams. Why does Hashem perform greater miracles with more difficult items? To show us that He is All Powerful, for whom there is no distinction between difficult and easy.
Therefore, the pattern continues in Tehillim 114: Moshe’s speaking to the rock in Parshas Beshalach (Shemos 17:6) brought forth a small stream. Here, however, he was expected to bring forth more water, a “flowing fountain” of water, from a “flint,” a harder rock – a greater miracle.
Moshe therefore worried, “Perhaps a sin that I may have committed has made me unworthy to become the medium of such a far greater miracle than last time.” Therefore, Moshe reasoned, “If I merely ask the rock to bring forth water, I would have to say, ‘Rock, so says Hashem, bring forth water!’ Should it not work, because of my sins, it could lead to a great chillul Hashem. Therefore, I will hit the flinty rock. If water comes out, it will be a kiddush Hashem, as the nation sees Hashem’s eternal love for them, in action. If however, water does not come out, I can stop the chillul Hashem right there, by saying that I acted of my own accord, testing the rock to see if it would bring out water by striking it, as I had done before.”
This thinking certainly has logic behind it. In fact, the Slonimer Rav notes that hitting the stone seems to have been a correct path for Moshe to take. The Gemara (Chullin 5b) declares that “Hashem does not allow tzaddikim to be vehicles for disaster,” for they have such a close relationship with Hashem that their every move automatically follows the Divine Will.
However, Rav Eybeshitz notes that when Moshe hit the rock, he did not mention the Name of Hashem. Therefore, it appeared to the nation like Moshe had “created” a miracle on his own. At that moment, a new temptation was created; If Moshe had been allowed to enter Eretz Yisroel, he would have lived forever, and the nation would have been inclined to consider him a divine being, and therefore coming to worship him. Therefore, middah-k’neged-middah, because Moshe had inadvertently injected this possibility of being worshipped had he entered the Land and lived forever, he was forced to die in the desert, in order for Hashem to prove Moshe’s mortality and thereby dissuade future generations from considering him a divine being. Aharon’s association with Moshe also caused him to share the same fate.
Rav Eybeshitz points out that the urge to ascribe divinity to human beings is in fact at the root of idol-worship itself. The snake tempted Chava by telling her, “On the day you will eat of it [the fruit of the Aitz HaDa’as], your eyes will be opened and you will be like Hashem.” (Bereishis 3:5) No lie is believable if it does not have any kernel of truth, no matter how twisted; Rav Eybeshitz explains a later posuk (3:22) to show that when Adam and Chava ate from the fruit and so brought the yetzer hara into themselves, that yetzer hara included a desire to worship other human beings as divine. He reads it as “Man has now acquired the temptation to consider himself divine, especially if he should eat from the Aitz HaChaim and thereby live forever.” Better to have every human being subject to death than end up an object of veneration.
We see this yetzer hara in action today. Is it any coincidence that the founder of every religion of the nations has been given superhuman capabilities? The swing towards secularism, which declared religion “an opiate of the masses,” did not thwart this yetzer hara, which came out in other ways, such as the endless attention devoted to sports “stars,” movie “idols,” and comic-book “superheroes.” Once an object of attention shows his or her mortality, through misdeeds, death, or simply becoming boring, the media discover a replacement, and the nations go panting in pursuit once again.
Now the Gemara (Shabbos 55b) describes those tzaddikim who died with pure souls, unsullied by sin, that they died “from the kick of the snake” – the original decree of death, caused by the snake’s tempting words to Chava. The urge to worship human beings is so great that Hashem brings death to all humans, in order to stop it.
Now, the last posuk (Bamidbar 20:13) Hashem’s declaration to Moshe and Aharon of their fates, takes on new meaning. “Because you did not believe in Me,” for if you had believed that My word will be carried out, whether you were deserving to be the vehicles for it or not, you would have spoken to the rock, not struck it. Now, however, that you thought that you might not have been worthy, you therefore struck the rock and brought forth water without mentioning My name, thereby causing yourselves to look divine, it is fitting for you to remove that possibility by dying in the desert.
Miracles of the Past
When we read of the great miracles that our ancestors witnessed, we might be tempted to wish for a few today. This ma’aseh, from Rav Wallach, puts that notion into perspective.
During one of HaRav Israel Salanter’s travels, he stayed several times at an inn run by a certain Jew. One time, he noticed that the Jewish atmosphere of the inn had changed for the worse, and so asked the innkeeper for the cause.
“Not long ago, Rabbi, a freethinker came here. He said, ‘I don’t believe in reward and punishment, and I’ll prove I’m right!’ Pulling out a piece of pork, he declared, “I am now going to eat this treif meat. If Hashem runs the world, I should choke to death on the spot!’ He ate it, and nothing happened!”
Rav Salanter silently prayed for an effective answer that would reach the simple man’s heart.
Suddenly, the innkeeper’s young daughter burst in. “Daddy!” she shouted, “I just got my final report card, and I went up in math and music!” “That’s wonderful, sweetie!” gushed the proud father. Rav Salanter saw his opportunity.
“Excuse me, miss,” he said to the girl, “can you prove to me that you deserve better grades?”
“Sir, that’s what a report card is for, so I don’t have to prove it to everyone who asks,” she politely replied. Her father agreed.
Turning to the innkeeper, Rav Salanter declared, “Your wise daughter just answered your ‘issue!’ Hashem made miracle after miracle in Mitzrayim and in the desert, and He recorded it as an eternal proof in the Torah. Just as your daughter doesn’t have to prove herself to everyone who asks, Hashem doesn’t have to prove Himself to a freethinker foolish enough to “test “Him!”