There are many suggestions made by the Commentators to answer the age-old question of what sin Moshe and Aaron committed at Mei Meriva when striking the rock to get water that resulted in them being forbidden to enter the Land? The text says that Moshe failed to sanctify G-d through the water. Rashi's explanation of Moshe's sin is his decision to hit the rock as opposed to speaking to it and he writes: "For, if you had spoken to the rock and it had brought forth water, I would have been sanctified in the eyes of the community. They would have said: “Now this rock, which can neither speak nor hear and does not require sustenance, fulfills the word of the Omnipresent. How much more should we do so.” Had Moshe and Aaron spoken to the rock, the people would have experienced a tremendously awesome Kiddush HaShem and deduced a powerful religious message when the rock burst forth with water for if an inanimate object such as a rock heeds a command of G-d when spoken to even more so a human should!
This was no mere simple contrast between hitting and speaking to the Rock for by hitting and not speaking to the Rock Moshe and Aaron missed an essential opportunity for Kiddush HaShem that was sorely needed at the time, after 40 years of wandering in the desert during which the people had reached the miracle saturation point. Rocks had been hit before and produced water(Shemos 17:6), every morning, bread descended from the heavens, and every evening, quail would mysteriously appear out of the sky to satisfy the Israelite's cravings for food. Through all of this, the Israelites had become desensitized lacking interest or excitement in the miracles that always accompanied them. These sacred miracles had become commonplace. Moshe’s brief at that moment was not to repeat a miracle already performed. Instead, Moshe and Aaron needed to sanctify G-d by performing a miracle producing water through speech alone that had so far not happened. The people needed to be awakened from their spiritual slumber and brought back into the presence of G-d after having become accustomed to everyday miracles for almost forty years. The fact that Moshe hit the Rock rather than speaking to it was not a mere minor infraction of G-ds will it failed to bring about the Kiddush Hashem that the Israelites desperately needed at the time This failure to take advantage of the opportunity to create a great Kiddush HaShem was the reason that Moshe and Aaron were severely punished.
There is a constant need to realize the miraculous in our lives and to understand that there are grave costs to pay when we fail to do so. Also, we learn from what happened to Moshe and Aaron how important it is not to miss opportunities to do good that come our way.
*Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weisz*
*Member of The Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel*.
שחמט דיגיטל