Water From a Rock
We all heard the story. The Jews thirsted for water in the desert. G-d told Moses to speak to the rock and it would give its waters. Moses hit the rock instead of speaking to it and was therefore denied entry to the land of Israel .
There are many mysteries in this story. Why was G-d so offended by Moses hitting the rock rather than speaking to it? If G-d was so upset with Moses for hitting the rock, why did he then perform a miracle, causing water to gush forth from a rock despite Moses hitting the rock? What lesson can we learn from this story?
If we believe that something is beyond our reach - that we can't master a particular wisdom, learn to play a particular instrument, or overcome a particular challenge - there are two ways that we can accomplish what we thought was beyond our reach. The first way is by force. If we are thrown into a pool we have no choice but to swim. We will be forced to achieve what we thought was impossible, however, the achievement occurs because of a force outside of ourselves. The downside of this method is as follows: since the growth was forced upon us by external circumstances, once the circumstances change we may fall back to our previous thinking, questioning our ability to succeed if we lack an external push.
There is a second, more effective way to cause growth. If we are shown that deep within ourselves lies abundant potential; that in order to grow we need not look to a force outside of ourselves, but rather we need to look inward; when the growth is not forced upon us, it will endure.
Sometimes, when we try to teach our child or student, we feel like we’ve hit a wall. He or she just does not get it. We begin to think that "we are wasting our time, there is no one home". We try the first option. We “hit the rock”. We try to force growth upon them, by applying the force of our charisma, the threat of consequence, or the promise of an award. Just like Moses did, we will probably manage to get water out of the rock, but like Moses, we will have missed an opportunity.
We will have missed an opportunity to demonstrate the second option, to “speak” to what appears to us like a rock. We think that our child cannot listen, understand, and identify with the message; but the Torah teaches that we are misjudging him. G-d says: “speak to the rock in their presence so that it will give forth its water”, what appears to us as a rock is, in truth, a fountain.
If we speak again and again, dig deeper and deeper, we will discover the water.
Moses was terribly disappointed. After more than thirty nine years of teaching Torah, after more than four decades of leadership, it seemed that the new generation of Israelites had not learned anything. As soon as they hit a slight bump on the road they (reverted back to old behavior) threw out everything that they had ever learned. As soon as they hit a difficulty, they dropped all that they had worked for, they were ready to head back to Egypt:
The congregation had no water; so they assembled against Moses and Aaron.
The people quarreled with Moses, and they said, "If only we had died with the death of our brothers before the Lord.
Why have you brought the congregation of the Lord to this desert so that we and our livestock should die there?
Why have you taken us out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place; it is not a place for seeds, or for fig trees, grape vines, or pomegranate trees, and there is no water to drink.
G-d told Moses "Take the staff and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and speak to the rock in their presence so that it will give forth its water". G-d was doing more than giving Moses directions about how to get water from a rock. G-d was telling Moses how to deal with the Israelites. G-d was telling Moses to speak to them, to believe in them, to understand that with some effort he would be able to discover the faith deep inside their hearts.
Yet, Moses hits the rock. Consciously or subconsciously, Moses acknowledges that he can't find the key to their soul. Sure, he can "hit" some faith into them, but he can't find the words to unlock the faith buried in their hearts.
This is the moment of transition.
G-d says: "Since you did not have faith in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly to the Land which I have given them". This is not a story about an angry G-d punishing Moses. This is a terribly sad story about the transition from one generation to the next. It's a story about G-d acknowledging that the new generation needs a new leader who they can respond to. It's an acknowledgement that every generation needs a new leader who will speak to them, who will believe in them, and who will be able to discover the treasures hidden in them.
Please allow me to close on a personal note:
It is more than twenty years since the Rebbe's passing. And yet, I, as well as my fellow Chassidim, consider ourselves to be his students. He is our Moses and we are not looking for a Joshua. Why not?
One reason for this, is because his teachings talk to us. All these years after his words were spoken, we read his words, listen to the audio recordings and watch the videos of the words being spoken, and the words penetrate our hearts and stir our soul. He is our Moses because his words enter our hearts and reveal the waters beneath the surface of every soul.
He is our Moses, because his words speak to us.