One of the more enigmatic passages of the Torah is the episode at the mei meriva, the waters of strife, as Moshe Rabeinu receives the harsh punishment of being unable to lead the Jewish people into the land of Israel. Where did Moshe err? Many of us are familiar with Rashi\u2019s explanation, that he hits the rock instead of speaking to the rock. However, the other commentaries are not so convinced: the Ramban poses two questions on Rashi:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1)G-d told Moshe to lift his staff, presumably to use the staff. If G-d specifically wanted Moshe to speak to the rock, why command Moshe to lift his staff?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2)Why does it make a difference whether Moshe hits the rock or speaks to the rock? Is it any less a miracle to draw water from a rock through hitting than through speech?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of these questions the Ramban offers a different explanation of Moshe\u2019s offense: Moshe uses the words \u201cnotzi lachem mayim<\/em>\u201d We<\/strong> will draw water for you. Moshe should have attributed the miracle to G-d, not to himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rashi understands the sin was hitting the rock; Ramban understands the sin was taking credit for the miracle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Others reject both explanations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rambam explains that Moshe\u2019s misdeed was his tone: Moshe should not have gotten angry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ibn Ezra suggests that Moshe hit the rock twice, and he should have only hit it once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Others point to Moshe\u2019s demeaning speech towards the Jewish people: \u201cshimu na hamorim\u201d<\/em>, listen up you rebels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, the Abarbanel quotes and rejects no less than 10 opinions as to exactly what went wrong, and offers his own, 11th<\/sup> view. And in the 500 years since the Abarbanel, many biblical commentators have taken their turn to solve the puzzle, each searching for the elusive sin of Moshe Rabenu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t worry, I will not be testing you on the eleven views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, I would like to zoom out for a moment and suggest a perspective on this classic debate. Moshe sinned, and for whatever reason, the Torah does not precisely identify his mistake. The commentators\u2019 job is to explain the text; they struggle with the text and with each other to locate Moshe\u2019s crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And while I may be able to study the sources and list 11 possibilities, one thing is clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moshe Rabeinu did not sin eleven times in this episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moshe made a mistake, but when we comb through each and every detail of these five pesukim, we run the risk of interpreting up to ten neutral acts negatively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rashi thinks hitting the rock was the wrongdoing, but the other commentators feel that was a neutral act. He called them rebels, but many of the commentators feel that was justified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Searching for Moshe\u2019s sin to uncover amito shel Torah, the true meaning of the Torah, is a noble act, but looking at the world through this lens becomes destructive. By searching for transgressions, we suddenly find them everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I was considering this idea during the week, I experimented with this idea, looking for something wrong with someone I came across:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why is he crossing his legs? His shirt is wrinkled. He\u2019s not wearing collar stays. His shoes aren\u2019t shined. He could use a haircut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Negativity is a choice we make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we pursue negativity, we will find it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if we so choose, we can pursue positivity. The legend has it that the 17th<\/sup> century Chassidic master Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Pshischa would consciously identify three positive things about each person with whom he interacted. When he felt upset with someone, he reminded himself of his or her positive characteristics. The psychological world has turned positive psychology into a major area of study, with a fundamental component being teaching oneself to look at the world in a positive way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rocks are hit every day. To be human is to make mistakes. But when a friend or family member hits a rock, we have a choice to make. We can search for his or her shortcomings, and likely find them, or we can consider other perspectives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the more enigmatic passages of the Torah is the episode at the mei meriva, the waters of strife, as Moshe Rabeinu receives the harsh punishment of being unable to lead the Jewish people into the land of Israel. Where did Moshe err? Many of us are familiar with Rashi\u2019s explanation, that he hits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,72,10,39],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359\/revisions\/360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}