Replaying one of the great mistakes in the desert

1. Echoes of Eden
1
Rabbi Ari Kahn
Parashat Hukat 5775
Déjà vu – all over again?
It seems like déjà vu: a lack of resources leads to complaints, which brings about
Divine intercession - and so it goes, again and again. But this time is different. This
time, instead of the people suffering for their impatience and insolence, it is Moshe
and Aharon who are punished. Remarkably, they are accused of a lack of faith in
God:
God said to Moshe and Aharon, 'You did not have enough faith in Me to
sanctify Me in the presence of the Israelites! Therefore, you shall not bring
this assembly to the land that I have given you.' (20:12)
The punishment is sudden and shocking, but what was the transgression that
brought the leadership of Moshe and Aharon to an end? How could they, of all
people who ever lived, be accused of not believing in God?
By this point in the narrative, we are accustomed to the complaints - the lovely
food they had in Egypt1
, the wisdom of having gone off to die in the desert rather
than staying put in Egypt, where there were ample graveyards.2
The complaints
were taken to a new level by Datan and Aviram, who accused Moshe of having
taken them FROM a land that flowed with milk and honey!3
Moshe reacts to this
latest round of complaining in much the same way as he did when the people first
began their complaints years before.4
The two instances seem so similar to us that
we are not surprised when Moshe once again strikes the rock to draw out water,
this time adding a verbal rebuke for good measure:
'Listen now, you rebels!' shouted Moshe. 'Shall we produce water for you
from this rock?' (20:10)
1
Shmot 16:3, Bamidbar 11:4,5
2
Bamidbar 14:2,3
3
Bamidbar 16:13,14
4
Shmot 17:2-7.

2. Echoes of Eden
In what seems to be an expression of frustration with the cumulative corpus of
complaints and criticism, Moshe lumps the latest example of the peoples’
dissatisfaction together with all the previous episodes, calling them rebels. And
yet, despite the general sense that this litany of complaints has been heard over
and over, there is something different in this particular case.
The people did not have any water, so they began demonstrating against
Moshe and Aharon. The people quarreled with Moshe. 'We wish that we
had died together with our brothers before God!' they declared. 'Why did
you bring God's congregation to this desert? So that we and our livestock
should die? Why did you take us out of Egypt and bring us to this terrible
place? It is an area where there are no plants, figs, grapes or pomegranates.
[Now] there is not even any water to drink!' (20:2-5)
When we look at their words carefully and compare them to the earlier water
crisis, a few significant but subtle differences come to our attention. In both cases,
the perfunctory “Why did you take us out of Egypt and bring us to this terrible
place?” is there, but other elements of their complaints are radically different:
Now, the frame of reference has shifted. Rather than longing for the zucchini and
watermelons of Egypt, 5
the people bemoan the lack of “figs, grapes and
pomegranates” – the fruits of the Land of Israel. In other words, rather than
demanding to return to Egypt, as they had in the past, they are complaining that
they are not in the Land of Israel. Moreover, their complaint reveals a deep-seated
God-consciousness: “'We wish that we had died together with our brothers before
God!'” and, “'Why did you bring God's congregation to this desert?”
This is a new generation, and they have made great forward strides. Whereas their
fathers lamented ever having left the security and familiarity of Egypt, the
generation of the children laments the fact that they have not yet arrived in the
Promised Land. Whereas the previous generation had the audacity to question
whether or not God was in their midst, this new generation is acutely aware of
God’s presence, and of their own unique status as a covenantal community. This is
5
B’midbar 11:5.

3. Echoes of Eden
not the same complaint that we have heard time and time again - yet Moshe fails
to hear the difference between what they are saying and what their parents said.
He fails to appreciate the nuances, and responds as if they are murmuring the same
complaints. He accuses them of being “rebels” without pausing to consider the
validity of this accusation: To be sure, they were unhappy with their lot,
dissatisfied with life in the desert – but is this not as it should be? Should not every
Jew who finds himself outside of the Land of Israel feel unsettled, dissatisfied,
incomplete?
When we read their complaints carefully, a new picture emerges: These people
were not looking back with fond nostalgia, they were pining for the future. Far
from attempting to shirk the destiny that awaited them, they were over-eager to
embrace it. Rather than complaining about the demands that their peoplehood
placed upon them, they sought out God’s presence. If they were to die, they
preferred to die “in front of God.” These people thirsted for holiness – the holiness
of the Land of Israel, and of proximity to God.
Moshe suffered from pre-conceived notions of what the people wanted. Rather
than listening to what they actually said, he heard echoes of the past. It was
Moshe who was looking backward, mistakenly attributing the mindset of the
previous generation to the people who now stood before him. Moshe’s sin was one
of missed opportunity. By responding to what he thought they had said, and not to
what they actually said, he failed to sanctify God in the eyes of this new
generation.
Part of belief in God is belief in the Jewish People; Moshe expresses a lack of faith
in the new generation when he calls them rebels, and is therefore guilty of a lack of
faith in God Himself. God reprimands him: The Jewish People - this new
generation that stands before Moshe and demands holiness, the generation that
expresses deep yearning for the Land of Israel and awareness of God’s involvement
in their lives - has faith. It is Moshe, and not the young nation, who has failed to
move ahead. Moshe hears the complaints of the past; in a very real sense, both he
and Aharon are a part of the previous generation – the generation that would not
merit the Land of Israel. Therefore, Moshe and Aharon were sentenced to stay

4. Echoes of Eden
behind with their own generation, while this new generation would make their
way to the Land for which they longed, the land of their dreams.
For a more in-depth analysis see:
http://arikahn.blogspot.co.il/2015/06/audio-and-essays-parashat-chukat.html