PUT YOUR FAITH IN THE GOD OF THE LAND

This week’s parashah contains the episode of Mei Merivah (The Waters of Strife), in which Moshe and Aharon are told that they will not enter the Land of Israel. Many interpretations have been given to explain what exactly they did to deserve this punishment. The Abarbanel lists ten and rejects them all, only to suggest an eleventh. Some of the more famous answers are: 1) Moshe hit the rock instead of speaking to it; 2) he said, “– Listen now, you rebels”; 3) he got angry with B’nei Yisrael for no reason, for they had a right to ask for water; 4) Moshe and Aharon said, – Shall we bring forth water for you from this rock?, implying that they – not God – would produce the water. The Abarbanel, himself, says that they did nothing so grievous here; they were punished for previous sins – Aharon for the Sin of the Calf and Moshe for the Sin of the Spies (for agreeing to send them in the first place). HaShem didn’t punish them at the time of the original sin, because He wanted to make a clear distinction between them and the rest of the nation (who really sinned).

One thing is clear, though: their sin somehow showed a lack of faith in HaKadosh Baruch Hu, as the verse states, – The Lord said to Moshe and Aharon, “Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the Children of Israel, therefore you will not bring this congregation to the Land which I have given them” (20:12).

I believe that this explains why they were punished specifically with not being allowed to enter the Land. One of the most fundamental attributes that a person must have in order to survive in Eretz Yisrael is faith in HaShem. From a rational perspective, there is almost no way an individual Jew – and all the more so, the Jewish Nation as a whole – can endure here in Israel. We are surrounded on all sides by enemies who want to annihilate us; the economic situation is not always so stable; we are entirely dependent on rain water, which does not always fall as it should; we are plagued with social problems galore; etc. So how do we make ends meet, and how do we survive? The answer is obvious: HaShem watches over us here in His Chosen Land more than He does anywhere else in the world. Anyone who wants to make it here must recognize this fact profoundly. He must firmly believe in HaShem and trust Him to the utmost. Then, he will not be discouraged when times get tough, for he will understand that everything is in God’s hands and that He will do as He sees fit, for better or for worse. Perhaps this is why HaShem did not let Moshe and Aharon enter the Land. Since they fell short (on their level) in the area of faith in HaShem, they were not allowed to enter the Land which requires complete faith in HaShem.

According to R. Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, this explains why HaShem told Moshe to speak to the rock in the first place, as opposed to hitting it, as He had commanded in Shemot (17:6). HaShem wanted to fortify B’nei Yisrael’s faith in Him particularly at this juncture, when they were about to enter the Promised Land, with all of its unique challenges:

[Speaking to the rock] would have taught the people that under the guidance of God one can dismiss all worries from one’s mind, and even without the miracle-causing staff of Moses, [one] can be confident at all times of the right help coming at the right time… Just at the border of the Promised Land and the new future awaiting them, when the visible constant miracles of God’s guidance during their wanderings were henceforth to be replaced by the invisible, but no less miraculous, hidden miracles of God’s no less closer guidance, [speaking to the rock] would have brought this home to the people.

Finally, this idea also connects to the end of the parashah, where we read about the war against Sichon King of Cheshbon. Rav Kook derives an important and timeless lesson from this war. Playing upon the literal meaning of the word cheshbon – calculation or reckoning – he said: “Before the Israelites entered the Land, they killed Sichon King of Cheshbon. This teaches us that in order to enter the Land one must do away with all of his calculations (cheshbonot).” An article in “To Dwell in the Palace” (Feldheim, p. 113) explains this best:

A man may be ruled by his own accounts and calculations; they may become his king. A Jew thus governed is not free to move towards serving God unconditionally. Enslaved by his own reckonings, he acts in accordance with plans he has made, even where the will of God would be better accomplished by setting those plans aside… Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael is a perfect example. By ordinary human reasoning, it appears unfeasible. A man living outside the Land cannot incorporate such a move into his calculations. It just won’t work out. What of his plans for his future, for the financial security of his children, his grandchildren…?

For this reason, before entering the Land, the king of cheshbon had to be wiped out. The people of Israel in the wilderness had to make the lesson palpable and unambiguous for themselves and for their descendants. A man’s computations could not rule over him, else he could never take over the Land…

If we would just strengthen our faith in HaShem and learn to ignore our own petty calculations, we would all realize that living in the King’s Palace is not as impossible as we thought.

Reprinted from Eretz Yisrael in the Parashah by R’ Moshe D. Lichtman

Daily Archives: June 29, 2017

Chukas

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