Chukat – A Drop in The Ocean

Rabbi Ezra Friedman

Hans Sleye once said, “Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one”. In our religion, we as always aspire to gain deep knowledge to enable us to deal with all of life’s difficulties. We believe that when can understand every detail of our religion, we connect more deeply to Hashem and his Torah. As true as this virtue may be, we must realize that there are areas that are beyond our comprehension. Some of the most spiritual and powerful themes in Judaism are simply beyond our ability to grasp. We must not be dismayed by this phenomenon, but rather, we should embrace the fact that that our intellect has its limits. Regardless, we should always try our best to understand our religion whilst at the same time realizing that there are areas that are beyond us.

The theme of this week’s Parsha, Parashat Chukat is exactly that. The Parsha begins with the commandment of the Parah Aduma (Red Heifer) which is brought in order to purify those who are Halachically contaminated. The Torah calls this mitzvah a “Chok“, meaning a Mitzvah with no logical explanation. In the book of Kohelet, Shlomo Hamelech proclaimed that he was able define the logic of almost every mitzvah. However, even he was unable to grasp the logic behind Parah Aduma.

Something similar is also mentioned in this week’s Parsha; the sin of Moshe Rabeinu. Moshe Rabeinu, the ultimate leader, the most pious Jew in history, sinned when he was commanded to talk to the rock so that it would give forth water for Am Yisrael. Instead of speaking to the rock, he hit it. Moshe‘s sin seems quite minor, yet his punishment was that he would not merit leading Am Yisrael into the Holy Land and would die in the desert. Jewish scholars and philosophers are dumbfounded by this episode. Moshe Rabeinu had amassed so much merit and his sin does not seem to be so severe. Even if it were, his punishment does not seem proportional.

There exists a great amount of literature related to Moshe‘s sin and his punishment. Jewish scholars over the generations have felt that no answer truly explains this enigma. As Rav Yitzchak Arama, wrote, “The table is set, the main course is in front of us, the cutlery is our hand, yet alas there is nothing to eat”. This episode may be something beyond our understanding. However, it is our duty as Jews to try our best to explain and gain meaning from this tragic event.

Some opinions explain that the fact that Moshe was on such a high spiritual level and that he defied Hashem publicly, was in itself reason enough for such a severe punishment. Even though Moshe felt that perhaps it would be better to hit the rock than speak to it, his actions were inexcusable for someone on his plane of spirituality. We have a concept in Judaism that Hashem holds the righteous to higher standards.

Another possible answer is that Moshe‘s action represents a deeper sin. The difference between talking to the rock and hitting it represent a change in Moshe‘s personality. Moshe felt that at this point on, the nation needed a different type of discipline, and that he had to change his style in order to keep Am Yisrael in check. The episode with the rock shows a change in Moshe Rabeinu‘s persona. Therefore, when Hashem saw this, he knew that, as amazing a leader as Moshe was, in order to successfully bring Am Israel to flourish in the Holy Land, a different mentality was needed. As a result, Moshe had to pass the leadership on to the next generation.

A third possibility could be that the sin hitting of the rock was truly trivial. The fact that Am Yisrael had sinned so often was an unfortunate testimony to Moshe‘s leadership. Moshe did the best he could and no one else could have done the job better. However, someone had to pay for Am Yisrael‘s grave sins. As such, Moshe Rabeinu took “one for the team”. He was held accountable for Am Yisrael‘s behavior. In life, there are consequences for our actions. Hashem punished Moshe not because he truly deserved it, but rather because he, as a leader, had to take responsibility for Am Yisrael‘s grave sins.

As mentioned above, there are numerous answers that attempt to explain this theological difficulty. Perhaps, a different explanation of Moshe Rabeinu‘s sin could be that a combination of reasons explain his severe punishment. As in many areas of life, sometimes we can point out an exact problem, but when we look back at the bigger picture, we can see a number of flaws that can cause a chain reaction. As good as Moshe was as a leader, there were too many issues involved with Am Yisrael in addition to Moshe‘s own actions. Perhaps this mélange could explain the punishment that was meted out.

Unfortunately, no answer may be sufficient to explain this tragic episode, but that does not permit us to reject or belittle our sacred Torah. We must make a concerted effort and try our best to take our minds and intellect as far as they can go in order to answer deep theological questions. At the same time, we must be in tune with our souls. We are but creations of Hashem and can never truly grasp the depths of His world. No matter how much we learn and how much we think we can explain, our understanding is but a drop of water in the ocean of the knowledge and holiness of Hashem.