{"id":47825,"date":"2019-01-20T14:04:48","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T12:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=47825"},"modified":"2022-08-14T14:11:38","modified_gmt":"2022-08-14T11:11:38","slug":"moses-between-a-rock-a-soft-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/moses-between-a-rock-a-soft-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Moses Between A Rock & A Soft Space"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[397,386],"acf":{"old_id":"47825","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":47823,"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"God acts as therapist, not judge - but Moses misses the point","content":"

Consider Moses\u2019 prodigious efforts to achieve his world-transforming life-mission. Consider his personal fate. What happened!?<\/span><\/p>\n

The people, in despair, viciously attack Moses. Moses turning away from the congregation falls on his face. The words of the people have hit home. He too despairs. Self-enclosed, each side is imprisoned in its own darkness.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this dark moment, God appears. God does not take either Moses\u2019 side or the people\u2019s. He acts as therapist, not judge. His diagnosis: a shattered relationship that needs healing. He prescribes three constructive steps: 1. C<\/span>onvene the people.<\/span><\/i> You need to see, and be seen by the people. \u00a02) <\/span>Speak <\/span><\/i>to the rock. Change the discourse. Talk, don\u2019t rant, so that you can be heard. Focus on a concrete problem. We can get water. \u00a0We have been down this path before (eg <\/span>Exodus<\/span><\/i> 17:6). 3) \u00a0Don\u2019t reduce the message to the technical water problem. Also address the underlying question: What does water mean to them at deeper levels? Sometimes what people don\u2019t say is the most important. <\/span><\/p>\n

At a deep level, water evokes Miriam, mother of freedom, who had embraced the Israelites with joyous song as they had emerged from a tunnel of water at the Sea of Reeds. \u00a0Water symbolizes \u201cMiriam\u2019s well\u201d, her endless nurturing throughout 40 years in dry and dangerous terrain. Suddenly with no warning and no time of mourning, Miriam is dead and buried, and now no water (20:1).<\/span><\/p>\n

God wants Moses to tell the people: I will assume Miriam\u2019s role, however feebly. I will take care of you. Note the language: \u201c<\/span>You <\/span>can <\/span>bring out<\/span> for them <\/span>water from the rock and <\/span>you can give drink to the congregation and their flock<\/span>\u201d (20: 8). \u00a0It is not simply getting water, but the <\/span>intentional act of giving <\/span><\/i>water to thirsting and grieving people. Moses is to nurture them at the \u00a0depths of their vulnerability.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet Moses misses God\u2019s point. He easily solves the technical problem\u2014he compels the rock to yield water to no one in particular. The people do \u201cget\u201d gushing water yet are drenched in Moses\u2019 anger and resentment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moses fails at the wrong time, the month of redemption, and place, Kadesh, a space for sanctification (20:1)\u2014 \u00a0also named Ein Shofet, \u201cSpring of Judgment.\u201d Moses broke faith because he did not \u201csanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel\u201d (20:12) \u00a0when he was so sorely needed to evoke My presence to reassure a desperate people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet who would have the audacity to judge Moses? Moses too mourned Miriam. \u00a0Unlike the people, he grieved over his very own sister, the woman\u2014who before redeeming the Jewish people\u2014 had redeemed him from a genocidal death sentence, \u00a0had cared for him in childhood, had\u2014 from then until now\u2014 sustained him throughout his perilous service, perishing in a desolate spot along the way\u2014 too-long before journey\u2019s end. <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":81801,"id":81801,"title":"ps27-therapy","filename":"ps27-therapy.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-day-the-text-spoke-to-me\/ps27-therapy\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps27-therapy","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":81800,"date":"2020-10-20 12:58:45","modified":"2022-08-14 11:11:35","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":5500,"height":4000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-300x218.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":218,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-768x559.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":559,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-1024x745.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":745,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1117,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1489,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-1200x873.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":873,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-578x420.jpg","home_baner-width":578,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Moses Between A Rock & A Soft Space","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"God acts as therapist, not judge - 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