Lesson of Abundance – Chukat
The episode in this week’s parsha regarding Moshe and Aharon’s sin of Mei Meriva, that resulted in them both perishing in the Midbar and not entering Eretz Yisrael, is all about parnasa and the Lechem Hapanim.
But I am getting ahead of myself, so let’s backtrack a little and recap the story of Mei Meriva (Bamidbar 20), loosely translated from the psukkim (1-12).
“Am Yisrael had been 39 years in the desert. They came to Kadesh and encamped there in the month of Nisan and Miriam died and was buried there. And there was no water to drink, so they congregated before Moshe and Aharon and fought with Moshe, complaining. “Would that we had died with our brothers (the 10 spies) 38 years ago, rather than die from thirst in this desert. Why did you take us out of Egypt to bring us to this barren place?”
Faced with this lynch mob, Moshe and Aharon fled to the entrance of the Ohel Mo’ed and Hashem’s shechina appeared. And Hashem said to Moshe “Take the staff and gather the people, you and Aharon your brother, and speak to the rock and let it spring forth water and you will take water out from the rock and give to all the people and their livestock to drink.
And Moshe took the staff that was before Hashem as commanded and he and Aharon gathered all the people in front of the rock and Moshe angrily reprimanded them “Listen you rebels, will we bring forth water from this rock?” And Moshe struck the rock with his staff twice and water sprang forth and the people and their livestock drank.
And Hashem said to Moshe “Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of Am Yisrael, you will therefore not merit leading this people into the Promised Land”.
On the surface, it is a very difficult episode to understand, so the Midrashim and mefarshim fill in some of the gaps.
This took place shortly after the parsha of Korach and his rebellion (in last week’s parsha). It was a bitter mutiny against Moshe and Aharon, resulting in many deaths (see my shiur on Korach). The incident only truly reached closure after Aharon’s staff flowered. Despite all the visible miracles, the earth swallowing up Korach etc., what ultimately calmed things down was Aharon’s staff flowering and giving forth flowers, blossoms and almonds.
Miriam died on the 10th of Nisan in the 39th year in the Midbar. After she died, the well of Miriam, from which Am Yisrael drank while in the desert, stopped giving water.
שלשה פרנסים טובים עמדו לישראל אלו הן משה ואהרן ומרים וג' מתנות טובות ניתנו על ידם ואלו הן באר וענן ומן באר (תענית ט, ע"א)
The Gemara teaches us that Am Yisrael in the Midbar had three “providers”. In Moshe’s merit Am Yisrael ate the Man. In Aharon’s merit they were protected by the ענני הכבוד and in Miriam’s merit they drank from the well of Miriam.
While they were sitting shiva, Aharon noticed a large group of people approaching and remarked to Moshe “They are probably coming to do ניחום אבלים. Moshe, noting the expression on the people’s faces, realized that this was not a group of comforters, but rather a group of troublemakers. “While you are sitting here mourning that ‘old woman’, there are children and babies who do not have water to drink”, they declared angrily.
Am Yisrael were in a panic. They woke up in the morning, opened the faucet – and nothing came out. Mere hours later, they descended on Moshe and Aharon. Nobody was in imminent danger of death – you can survive 2-3 days without water – but the psychological impact of being faced with no water was tormenting. This is why fasting on Yom Kippur is called וְעִנִּיתֶם אֶת נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם. No harm will come to anyone by fasting for one day (most of us would even benefit from it by losing a few pounds – me included), but the knowledge that you cannot drink or eat is psychologically tormenting. Their concern was totally legitimate. What was unacceptable however was their menacing demeanor and the slandering of their miraculous existence in the desert. It turned into a lynch mob and Moshe and Aharon had to literally flee for their lives to the entrance of the Ohel Mo’ed.
HKB”H appears and commands Moshe to take the staff. Which staff? As we will soon see, Moshe took two staffs!
HKB”H them commands Moshe, together with Aharon, to do a הקהל – to assemble the entire nation, men, women and children, in front of the rock. You are talking about millions of people and this was obviously a miracle, that so many people could fit in such a small space and see the rock directly in front of them. The Ba’al Haturim says Am Yisrael saw the rock פנים בפנים. HKB”H commands Moshe and Aharon to talk to the rock לעיניהם. The mefarshim ask, what does it mean לעיניהם? When you talk it should be לאזניהם, to their ears, not their eyes!
Moshe then takes the staff מלפני ה'. Which staff was before Hashem? It is referring to the staff of Aharon that was in the Kodesh Hakodashim.
What exactly is going on here?
The Netziv of Volozhin says that what occurred here was a repeat performance of Har Sinai. HKB”H wanted to teach Am Yisrael a very important musar haskel relating to parnasa. Everyone had to be present, men, women and children. Moshe and Aharon had to “talk” to the rock – they had to quote something from תורה שבכתב (Moshe, who is associated with the written law) and also something from תורה שבעל פה (Aharon, who is associated with the oral law). Basically they had to do limud Torah in front of the rock. The words that came out of their mouths were “seen” by the people’s eyes – just like וכל העם ראים את הקולת at Matan Torah.
Am Yisrael were at a nexus. They had been in the Midbar for 39 years and were about to enter Eretz Yisrael. In the desert parnasa was not a concern. Food? Every day Man fell from Heaven. Water? They had באר מרים. Laundry? That was taken care of by the ענני הכבוד. These things were in the merit of Moshe, Miriam and Aharon to be sure, but ultimately they were provided directly and miraculously to Am Yisrael by HKB”H! After 39 years of this however, Am Yisrael already began to consider this the norm and take it for granted.
This all changed when Miriam died. Suddenly there was no water in the faucet. And this was just the beginning. In the following months, when they entered Eretz Yisrael, not only would they lose the well of Miriam, but also the Man and the clouds of glory.
Am Yisrael were in a delicate situation following Korach and unity in the nation was tenuous. HKB”H wanted to use this opportunity to teach Am Yisrael an important lesson about parnasa, how, when they entered Eretz Yisrael, they could continue to still merit and enjoy the same abundance - without the Man, the well and the clouds of glory. HKB”H wanted to teach Am Yisrael that to merit parnasa בשפע – they had to be united, they had to recognize the true source of their parnasa – HKB”H, they had to imbue materialism with Torah and they had to serve HKB”H בשמחה ובטוב לבב.
So HKB”H commanded Moshe to take Aharon’s miraculous staff – that once and for all proved that Aharon was the true Kohen Gadol. וַיֹּצֵא פֶרַח – symbolic of the Menorah with its כפתריה ופרחיה. וַיָּצֵץ צִיץ – reminiscent of the ציץ on the Kohen Gadol’s forehead with the words קדש לה'. וַיִּגְמֹל שְׁקֵדִים – the gematriya of שקדים is “קדשים” and "תמיד". This staff was a symbol of peace, it finally stilled the troubled waters of rebellion. This was the staff Moshe was commanded to take to the הקהל to radiate unity, just like Matan Torah when Am Yisrael were כאיש אחד בלב אחד.
Moshe and Aharon were then commanded to do a limud Torah in front of the rock and resulting from that water would burst forth, just like it did during Matan Torah. In Shirat Devorah it relates that during Matan Torah it began to rain גבורות גשמים. גשמי ברכה originate from simcha - the attribute of חסד giving simcha to the attribute of גבורה which adds חכמה and returns it back to חסד etc. Incidentally this why when we do netilat yadayim, we first take the natla in our right hand (חסד) and we pass it to the left hand (גבורה) to pour over the right hand. It is all about combining שמחה וטוב לבב together with the חכמה of the Torah.
Imagine what an incredible Kiddush Hashem that would have been. Am Yisrael would have recognized the power of unity, seen the power of the Torah over nature and realized that in Eretz Yisrael, all they had to do to merit the same benefits of the Midbar was to remain united, in the service of HKB”H through the Torah, with שמחה וטוב לבב. That was the intention. It started with a lynch mob, but HKB”H had plans to turn it totally around and result in a tremendous Kiddush Hashem.
So what went wrong?
The rebellious attitude of Am Yisrael angered Moshe and when someone is filled with anger, the opposite of simcha, it brings them לידי טעות. Firstly, because Moshe was angry, Hashem hid the rock from him. While Moshe was searching for it, the ליצני הדור started ridiculing him, telling him to “hit any rock, it didn’t matter which”. This infuriated Moshe even further and when he finally found the rock, he berated Am Yisrael שמעו נא המרים. He spoke the divrei Torah as HKB”H had commanded, but no water came out, because it was out of anger. Moshe, fearing a chilul Hashem, reached for his own staff – the one he had used to perform miracles in Egypt, the Red Sea and that had brought forth water the first time in Refidim and struck the rock, but only a few drops came out (some mefarshim say drops of blood). Moshe struck the rock a second time and HKB”H, wanting to save Moshe humiliation, allowed the water to gush forth.
The nation had their water, but the incredible opportunity for performing a Kiddush Hashem had been missed.
Previously in Refidim, Moshe was commanded to strike the rock, because Am Yisrael had not yet received the Torah. Now that they had the Torah, striking was not an option, they should have used the Torah to bring forth the water. Moshe struck the rock in Refidim and twice more here. For him it was a “third strike” and he was severely punished. Aharon, the אוהב שלום ורודף שלום should have done something, to calm Moshe down, to appease Am Yisrael, but he was silent. For this, he too was punished.
In sefer Breishit, we read about three בארות that Yitzchak Avinu dug. The first was called עשק. The second was called שטנה and the third רחובות. The mefarshim say that עשק corresponds to Refidim, where Am Yisrael complained to HK”BH. The second, שטנה refers to the episode of Mei Meriva, where instead of creating unity and simcha, it resulted in further disunity, hatred and continued complaining of Am Yisrael about the Man, later in the parsha. The mefarshim say that these two wells also correspond to the two Batei Mikdash, which were destroyed. The first עשק is an abbreviation for -
עבודה זרה, שפיכות דמים, קנאות (גילוי עריות).
The second שטנה is Bayit Sheini which was destroyed because of שנאת חינם.
A pertinent question is – Why were Am Yisrael commanded to construct the Shulchan and offer the Lechem Hapanim in the Midbar? As we know the Lechem Hapanim symbolizes parnasa and שפע גשמי . In the desert there was seemingly no need for the Lechem Hapanim, there was no rain, no crops, no parnasa - it was all miracles from Heaven. One can understand the need for it after entering Eretz Yisrael, but what purpose did it serve in the Midbar?
In fact the Lechem Hapanim embodies all three miracles of sustenance in the Midbar, the Man, the well of Miriam and the ענני הכבוד. In parshat Beha’alotcha it describes the Man as something that could be ground into flour. Combined with water from the well of Miriam this makes bread. The smoke from burning the Levonah on the Mizbeach is reminiscent of the ענני הכבוד. We get a hint of this from the passuk –
יען לא האמנתם בי להקדישני
The first letter of each word makes up the word בלילה, meaning dough.
But that is only one aspect of the Lechem Hapanim. They also represented unity and simcha. You have 12 loaves of bread, representing the Twelve Tribes, all facing each other with a smile (the shape of the bread), like the kruvim on the Aron. None of the breads is fighting with the other – “I want to be third from the top, second from the bottom, on the left stack, the right ….” One of the secrets of the Lechem Hapanim (explored in my sefer Meir Panim) is imbuing the materialistic world (Malchut) with the Middot and the Torah (זעיר אנפין).
In fact the Shulchan and the Lechem Hapanim were the essence of the Kiddush Hashem and mussar haskel HKB”H was trying to teach Am Yisrael at Mei Merivah, about parnasa, that Moshe failed to convey, out of anger – instead of Simcha.
That is why the Lechem Hapanim was necessary even in the Midbar, because it went beyond simply being a conduit for Heavenly abundance - it was a lesson to learn and apply.
This is why, when Am Yisrael went up to Yerushalayim on the Shloshet Haregalim, the Kohanim brought out the Menorah and the Shulchan Lechem Hapanim to show everyone, to repeatedly emphasize the (originally intended) lesson of Mei Meriva – the correct attitude towards parnasa and how to merit it.
Ironically today we find ourselves in a very similar situation to Am Yisrael in the Midbar, year 39. Back then they had been buffered with almost four decades of constant exposure to miracles, which subsequently became dulled and taken for granted causing them to lose their link to HKB”H – the true provider of their sustenance.
Today we suffer a similar malady, except the “buffering” has been replaced by כוחי ועוצם ידי. We think that our water comes from Mekorot (Israel’s water utility co.) and that our food comes from Osem, Telma, Nestle, Unilever , Agrexco and Saidel’s Bakery.
If there is a “malfunction” in any of these, where do we look? This summer in Israel the prices of fruit have skyrocketed because of the unusually hot recent winter that did not supply enough chill hours for the fruit to ripen properly. So who is to blame for the high prices and lack of fruit? Look who the newspapers are blaming – government bureaucracy, poor farming methods, etc.
Does anyone stop to think for a second, “Why did we have an unusually hot winter?” “Why, when HKB”H is supposed to supply an extra abundance in the 6th year before Shmita (this year), do we in fact have a blight?”
We have lost sight of Who provides our sustenance and parnasa. We should rather look at the lack of unity in Am Yisrael right now, the lack of gratitude to HKB”H and the lack of Torah values in society, the very things that HKB”H wanted to teach us at Mei Meriva. This is what is responsible for nectarines being 30NIS a kilo! If we have a bad crop in the 6th year, it means that HKB”H is unhappy with us and the way we are behaving. Our complaining about nectarines costing so much is equivalent to Am Yisrael in the Midbar complaining that there was suddenly no water!
We have to recalibrate our moral compass and reacquire the true relationship that HKB”H wants with us, His people, united as one. A relationship of us expressing gratitude to Him for all the miracles we witness daily - that we have come to take for granted. A relationship of closeness to the Torah, that imbues our physical lives with spirituality. A relationship where we yearn to once more witness the Kohanim displaying the Menorah and Lechem Hapanim on the Shloshet Haregalim in the Beit Hamikdash.
If we do so, we will merit the third באר that Yitzchak Avinu dug called רחובות and is symbolic of the 3rd Beit Hamikdash. This well of מים חיים will spring from Yerushalayim and will satiate the entire world and herald the coming of Mashiach בבי"א.
