Chukat
In Parashat Chukat, we read about the episode of Moshe Rabenu and the rock, and his subsequent entry denial into the land of Israel. Of course this is one of the more difficult episodes of the Tora to explain and understand. What exactly was the sin of Moshe Rabenu? So, I would like to reference our listeners and readers to Or HaChayim HaKadosh who brings 10 different opinions from the Rishonim, as to exactly what the sin was. Some were as follows:
Some want to say like Rashi, that the sin was that he hit the rock instead of speaking to the rock.
Rav Eliezer said, the hitting was not the problem, but rather the fact that he hit the rock twice.
The Rambam says, the sin was that he got angry.
Others say, that Moshe called the Jewish people rebels.
The Ramban brings down from Rabenu Chanan-El that the sin was that Moshe said ‘Notzeer Lachem Mayin,’ meaning that he himself will bring water out of the rock. Moshe should have said that Hashem will bring forth the water.
Be what it may, Rabbi Gifter A"H, learns from here a very important lesson. This was a good deed that Moshe Rabenu was involved in. He was involved in Chessed, in doing something for the people of Israel. He brought water to millions of people. He brought sustenance to the people so that they can live. So there was no question that it was a Mitzvah. But you see, even in our Mitzvot, we need to scrutinize and get technical and analyze every action and mini-action that makes up the Mitzvah, for we might find that there are deficiencies and problems in our good intentions. In this episode of the rock, it seems on the surface that Moshe Rabenu did a good deed. Moshe seems to be very innocent in this story. However, after looking at it deeper we see how the Rishonim analyzed from every word and from every part of the story, and how they found problems in what took place. The lesson we learn from this, is that it is not enough for us to be vigilant and careful about avoiding sin, but we must also be vigilant and perform Mitzvot very carefully. Many people always think that you have to make Teshuva only for the sins, but here we learn that even our Mitzvot, as the Gemara says, must be analyzed and must be looked at deeply, and we must make sure that the Mitzvah was done with accuracy and in the correct manner.
Furthermore, Rabbi Gifter points out that we can’t have claims on G-d. There are times when G-d forbid things don’t go as we like them to, and things don’t work out as we planned. Sometimes there are bumps in the road, and so we question G-d. We ask why does G-d put the roadblocks, or why doesn’t G-d reward us? We question G-d actions and choices. One can say that he prays, and he gives charity, and he does Chessed, and he learns. So he thinks that he has reason to question G-d. But after we analyze and scrutinize our Tefilot we might see that our prayers were not as good as they should have been, and that our learning was not as consistent as it should have been, and that our charity might have fallen short from our responsibility, as well as our Chessed. In the case of Moshe and the rock, Moshe seemingly did good, but after analysis, we see that there were faults and that his deeds were not perfect. So then all the more so, we must review our own actions and deeds. We need to scrutinize and analyze our Mitzvot, and we should not take it for granted that we are doing the Mitzvah correctly. We have to look deeply into the good deeds that we do, and BiEzrat Hashem (with G-d’s help), we will be rewarded for the good, and BiEzrat Hashem, G-d will overlook our iniquity.
