וידבר ה אל משה לאמר קח את המטה……ודברתם אל הסלע

ויקח משה…אשר ציוהו…..ויך את הסלע שתי פעמים

When Moshe first hit the rock only two drops of water came out; when he hit the rock the second time מים רבים came out. The ribono shel olam said to Moshe: since you didn’t have emunah sh’leima in my promise that the rock would bring forth water when you spoke to it, both you and Aharon won’t be able to enter eretz yisroel as a punishment.

The Ohr Hachaim brings down many different pshatim as to why exactly Moshe got such a harsh punishment. Some say because Hashem said to speak to the rock, not hit it. Others say that Moshe hit the rock twice, instead of only once, and there are those that say he used different words to speak to the rock than Hashem had commanded him.  The Alter from Novardik brings an important yesod that I would like to share with you (from his sefer ‘madregos ha’adam).

Hashem commanded Moshe to take out water from a certain rock, which left Moshe with a dilemma: If he hit a rock people would say that the reason why water flowed out is because Moshe was an expert in rocks due to his long shepherd career in the desert and they might not see Hashems hand in the miracle. Therefore, he made a cheshbon and diverted from Hashems original tzivuy.  There would be no reason for them to acknowledge Hashem. Moshe’s actions appear completely l’sheim shamayim. He was acting only to preserve Hashem’s kavod, not for his own ego. If this is the case, then why was he punished?

The Alter teaches us an important yesod from this episode in tanach. Rav Chaim ShmuelovitzZT”L, his grandson, says that Moshe did not make a טעות חשבון. He ‘thought’ he should’ve made a cheshbon for the toeles of sanctifying Hashems name, and it is possible that his perception of bnei yisrael’s reaction was correct. Rav Chaim explains, however, that it was not because Moshe made a ‘טעות’-it’s because he made any cheshbon at all.  When Hashem gives a person a tzivuy he should do it as he is commanded, without thinking it over to see how best to do it.

This concept is demonstrated with the akeida. When Avraham was commanded to bring Yitzchak as a korban, it directly contradicted Hashem’s promise that Avraham’s children and grandchildren would one day become a great nation. Despite this, Avroham did as Hashem asked without making any cheshbon of the logic or justice of Hashem’s order.

In our parsha, too, we see this lesson. Why does the torah say ‘zos chukkas hatorah’ and not ‘zos chukkas hatamei/hatahor,’ in the pasukim dealing with the laws of tumah and taharah?

This wording teaches us that when a person does a mitzvah without knowing the reason it’s equal to all the mitzvos in the torah. It says ‘chukas hatorah’ because by following these chukim you will be able to be mikayeim ‘kol hatorah kulah’.

Because Moshe made a cheshbon he was punished with an onesh chamurah and not allowed to enter eretz yisroel, even though it was kulo l’sheim shamayim . Moshe begged Hashem to let him into eretz yisroel but Hashem didn’t accept his tefillos. Hashem called all the malachei hashareis and told them to go down and close every שער רקיעה because Moshe was piercing right through them with his tefillos. The severity of this punishment, despite Moshe’s great madreigah, teaches us an important lesson about our kavanos in kiyum hamitzvos.

We should all be mechazek our emunah in Hashem and remember that it’s not our place to make cheshbonos, but to do what Hashem says בלי חשבונות ובלי ספקות.  Having this kind of emunah will ultimately bring us to truly trust in Hashem and to see the geulah shleima bkarov.

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