{"id":47661,"date":"2018-07-09T17:41:22","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-137\/"},"modified":"2022-08-15T09:47:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-15T06:47:45","slug":"wall-137","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-137\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Numbers-20"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"137","date":"20260309","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"47714","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Numbers 20 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Numbers 20 - Judy Hammond","slug":"numbers-20-judy-hammond","old_id":"47714","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Numbers 20","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"read by Judy Hammond","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/numbers-chapter-20-read-by-judy-hammond","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"107165","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"School Of Rock ","post_title":"School Of Rock","slug":"school-of-rock","old_id":"107165","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The real reason why Moses was punished, and not allowed to lead the people into the land\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Why was Moses not allowed to enter Canaan? The simple answer is that God commanded Moses to speak to the rock, and not hit the rock as God commanded in Exodus 17. But this time, Moses hit the rock again. Water eventually flows, but God tells Moses: \u201cBecause you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land\u201d (verse 12).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The classic interpretation is that Moses was so holy, even this small sin was enough to doom him. This explanation is deficient, however, and many commentators look at what else went wrong. Rashi adds that God had a special message he wanted to send the people. That just like the rock would listen to God and bring forth water, so too the people should listen to God. By hitting the rock, Moses deprived God of this message.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ramban focuses on verse 10: \u201cListen, you rebels, shall we get water for you out of this rock?\u201d The implication is that Moses would make the miracle happen, not God. Rambam looks at Moses\u2019s anger calling them rebels. This disrespect causes Moses\u2019s downfall. Ibn Ezra also points to Moses\u2019s anger, not in his words, but Moses hitting the rock twice. This made God look weak and incapable with the miracle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Soloveitchik looks at the three times Moses discusses his punishments. In Deuteronomy 1:37: \u201cBecause of you God was incensed with me too, saying: You shall not enter it either,\u201d 3:26 \u201cBut God was angry with me on your account and would not listen to me,\u201d and Psalm 106:32 \u201cThey provoked wrath at the waters of Meribah and Moses suffered on their account.\u201d These sources show that the people were at fault. Every time they crossed God in the desert, Moses prayed for them. The one time Moses was punished, and the people were silent. They did not try to protect Moses, God sealed his verdict.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abarbanel has a different take altogether. He does not look at this story in a vacuum. This story is the culmination of a decline in Moses\u2019s leadership abilities. At first Moses was able to lead the people, sometimes with God\u2019s help. As time passed, he grew more and more impatient with them. As a man who spoke directly to God, Moses was unable to connect with the unruly base population. In the past few chapters, every time the people complained, Moses fell on his face. He just could not take it anymore. The rock was the final straw. God had seen enough. Moses was the right person to lead the people out of Egypt, but he was the wrong person to lead the people into the land. This answer provides a more complete look at the heroic yet tragic life of Moses. Different circumstances require different leadership skills.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":87502,"alt":"","title":"ps95-massa meriba waters","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","width":468,"height":266,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters-300x171.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","medium_large-width":468,"medium_large-height":266,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","large-width":468,"large-height":266,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","1536x1536-width":468,"1536x1536-height":266,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","2048x2048-width":468,"2048x2048-height":266,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","post_full_size-width":468,"post_full_size-height":266,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","home_baner-width":468,"home_baner-height":266}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"School Of Rock","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The real reason why Moses was punished, and not allowed to lead the people into the land","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":87502,"alt":"","title":"ps95-massa meriba waters","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","width":468,"height":266,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters-300x171.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","medium_large-width":468,"medium_large-height":266,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","large-width":468,"large-height":266,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","1536x1536-width":468,"1536x1536-height":266,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","2048x2048-width":468,"2048x2048-height":266,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","post_full_size-width":468,"post_full_size-height":266,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps95-massa-meriba-waters.jpg","home_baner-width":468,"home_baner-height":266}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"435","name":"Water","old_id":"835"}]},{"order":3,"id":"107167","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Miriam\u2019s Death, The People\u2019s Loss ","post_title":"Miriam\u2019s Death, The People\u2019s Loss","slug":"miriams-death-the-peoples-loss","old_id":"107167","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":101758,"post_title":"Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam","slug":"naomi-bromberg-bar-yam","old_id":"101758","first_name":"Naomi ","last_name":"Bromberg Bar-Yam ","description":"Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam is a social worker and advocate in maternal and child health. She explores her work and life through Torah drashot, rituals and children\u2019s stories.","short_description":"Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam is a social worker and advocate in maternal and child health. She explores her work and life through Torah drashot, rituals and children\u2019s stories.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":101760,"alt":"","title":"-62028435af471--62028435af472Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg.jpg","width":361,"height":449,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg-241x300.jpg","medium-width":241,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":449,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":449,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":449,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":449,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":449,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg-338x420.jpg","home_baner-width":338,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Miriam completed the leadership triumvirate, with her own special contribution","post_main_content_content":"

Today\u2019s chapter opens with Miriam\u2019s death followed immediately by a lack of water and her brother Moses hitting the rock rather than speaking to it, resulting in his being forbidden to enter the land of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Chapter 12, we described Miriam\u2019s service to her people. She understood when to stand back - when she followed her brother through the reeds of the Nile - and when to step forward and act - to find him the perfect wet nurse, to include the women in the Israelites\u2019 celebration of their liberation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In addition to her own actions, Miriam and her brothers formed a powerful team, each with their own role, and complementing one another.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Her personal leadership was important on its own and an indispensable part of the team that was Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Moses brought to the people and taught them the laws of God and communicated between God and the people at this most vulnerable time. Aaron, as High Priest, guided the people in <\/span>mitzvot \u201cbein adam l'makom\u201d <\/span><\/i>- between people and God - the ritual acts that sanctify the people of God. Miriam taught the people <\/span>mitzvot bein adam l'haveiro <\/span><\/i>(between people) - the human interactions that sanctify the people of God.\u00a0 Together the three siblings led the people from slavery to freedom and nationhood.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

With Miriam\u2019s death, the team was incomplete and off balance. Miriam's death, mentioned briefly, immediately precedes Moses\u2019 hitting the rock and subsequent punishment of Moshe and Aaron not being able to enter the land of Israel (Numbers 20: 9-12).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

On the simplest level, it is understandable that, just after his sister's death, Moses was not at his best, he lost patience with his \u201cstiff necked\u201d and trying people. On a deeper level, with Miriam's death, a powerful interdependent complementary partnership among the three siblings had been broken. Moses had pleaded many times with God to intercede on behalf of the people, and Miriam worked <\/span>among<\/span><\/i> the people to help curb and redirect their behavior. When she died, only Moses, the lawgiver and divine\/people intercessor and Aaron, the ritual connector between the people and God, remained.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is a midrash that, on Miriam\u2019s merit, a well followed the people throughout their journey in the desert so they had water, a tangible representation of the sustenance her presence in their midst provided.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When Miriam died, the well and her immediate presence disappeared. Hence the people\u2019s bitter complaints right after her death, and Moses\u2019 inability to set things right. Absent Miriam, he and Aaron could not bring the people into the land of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Effective leadership requires a team, some members more visible than others. Loss of a team member has profound impact until balance can be restored.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: courtesy of the author<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":107168,"alt":"","title":"-62f8d48e076f1--62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar Yam Miriam.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg.jpg","width":960,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg-900x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Miriam\u2019s Death, The People\u2019s Loss","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Miriam completed the leadership triumvirate, with her own special contribution","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":107168,"alt":"","title":"-62f8d48e076f1--62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar Yam Miriam.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg.jpg","width":960,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg-900x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f8d48e076f1-62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar-Yam-Miriam.jpg-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"598","name":"Israelites","old_id":"998"},{"term_id":"640","name":"Miriam","old_id":"1040"}]},{"order":4,"id":"47732","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Lapsed Rock-Whisperer ","post_title":"The Lapsed Rock-Whisperer","slug":"the-lapsed-rock-whisperer","old_id":"47732","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46656,"post_title":"Molly Morris","slug":"molly-morris","old_id":"46656","first_name":"Molly ","last_name":"Morris ","description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Her particular area of interest is biblical leadership. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":92561,"alt":"","title":"molly morris","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","width":2192,"height":2488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-264x300.jpg","medium-width":264,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-768x872.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":872,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-902x1024.jpg","large-width":902,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","1536x1536-width":1353,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","2048x2048-width":1804,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-1057x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1057,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-370x420.jpg","home_baner-width":370,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Was Moses' failure theological - or pedagogical?","post_main_content_content":"

When, following the death of Miriam, the flow of water from Miriam\u2019s well stopped, the people complained bitterly to Moses. God instructed Moses to bring them water by speaking to a particular rock so the people would see the water flow from it \u201cbefore their eyes\u201d (20:8). But as we know, Moses didn\u2019t speak to the rock: instead he hit the rock - twice - until water flowed. And for this transgression God punished Moses with the denial of entry to the land of Israel. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

There are many popular commentaries on what exactly Moses\u2019 sin was: speaking harshly to the people; letting his temper get the better of him and striking the rock; striking it not just once but twice. In rebuking Moses for this transgression, God says the punishment is \u201cbecause you did not believe in me to sanctify me in the eyes of the Children of Israel (20:12).\u201d Surely it couldn\u2019t be that Moses lacked faith in God and His miracles for the Israelites. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ramban posits that the phrase of rebuke should actually be understood as \u201cbecause you did not cause <\/span>them <\/span><\/i>to believe in Me.\u201d The Israelites had already seen water come from a struck rock (in Exodus 17:6), so the impact of now seeing God provide water from a rock in this new way - by Moses speaking to the rock - \u00a0was a new opportunity to infuse the Children of Israel with a renewed, stronger faith in God. Just as the rock-striking was a transgression of God\u2019s instruction, so too was it a lapse in Moses\u2019 role as a leader, and that of any leader, to provide their followers with opportunities for personal growth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Moses Smiteth the Rock in the Desert, c. 1896-1902, by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (French, 1836-1902) - wikimedia<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47851,"alt":"","title":"num20JTissot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","width":445,"height":310,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot-300x209.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":209,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","medium_large-width":445,"medium_large-height":310,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","large-width":445,"large-height":310,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","1536x1536-width":445,"1536x1536-height":310,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","2048x2048-width":445,"2048x2048-height":310,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","post_full_size-width":445,"post_full_size-height":310,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","home_baner-width":445,"home_baner-height":310}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Lapsed Rock-Whisperer","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Was Moses' failure theological - or pedagogical?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47851,"alt":"","title":"num20JTissot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","width":445,"height":310,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot-300x209.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":209,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","medium_large-width":445,"medium_large-height":310,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","large-width":445,"large-height":310,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","1536x1536-width":445,"1536x1536-height":310,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","2048x2048-width":445,"2048x2048-height":310,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","post_full_size-width":445,"post_full_size-height":310,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","home_baner-width":445,"home_baner-height":310}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"377","name":"Speech\/words","old_id":"777"},{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"}]},{"order":5,"id":"47720","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"The Outburst and Punishment of Moses ","post_title":"The Outburst And Punishment of Moses","slug":"the-outburst-and-punishment-of-moses","old_id":"47720","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46992,"post_title":"Yocheved Mintz","slug":"yocheved-mintz","old_id":"46992","first_name":"Yocheved ","last_name":"Mintz ","description":"Rabbi Yocheved Mintz is the Rabbi Emerita\/Senior Educator of Congregation P\u2019nai Tikvah, Las Vegas, Nevada. Ordained in 2004, at the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, Rabbi Mintz also was certified as a \u201cMashpiah Ruchanit\u201d (Spiritual Director) through the ALEPH Hashpaah program. She is the granddaughter of the late Rabbi Israel Porath, (zt\"l), and is the first female rabbi in 18 generations of Porath rabbis. Past-President of OHALAH, President of the Mintz Family Foundation for Creative Jewish Education, she is the widow of the late Dr. Alan Mintz. z\u201dl, to whom she was married for nearly 48 years. She is the mother of four, grandmother of fourteen, and the great-grandmother of four and counting.\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Yocheved Mintz is the Rabbi Emerita\/Senior Educator of Congregation P\u2019nai Tikvah, Las Vegas, Nevada. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":46993,"alt":"","title":"Yocheved Mintz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Yocheved-Mintz.jpg","width":160,"height":160,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Yocheved-Mintz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Yocheved-Mintz.jpg","medium-width":160,"medium-height":160,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Yocheved-Mintz.jpg","medium_large-width":160,"medium_large-height":160,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Yocheved-Mintz.jpg","large-width":160,"large-height":160,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Yocheved-Mintz.jpg","1536x1536-width":160,"1536x1536-height":160,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Yocheved-Mintz.jpg","2048x2048-width":160,"2048x2048-height":160,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Yocheved-Mintz.jpg","post_full_size-width":160,"post_full_size-height":160,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Yocheved-Mintz.jpg","home_baner-width":160,"home_baner-height":160}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"It could have been the mourning and grief that took its toll","post_main_content_content":"

Numbers 20 begins with the entire community of Israelites arriving at the first New Moon in the Wilderness of Zin, and Miriam died and was buried there. Immediately comes the dire pronouncement that \u201cNow there was no water for the community\u201d (20:2). The Midrash makes the connection between Miriam and water throughout her life, from watching over Moses when he was placed in a reed basket on the Nile, to a miraculous well that seemed to spring up in the Israelite encampment, attributed to Miriam\u2019s piety. Reb Mimi Feigelson points out that the Talmud teaches: \u201cThere were three gifts that sustained us in the desert: \u00a0The manna in Moses\u2019 merit, the clouds of glory, in Aaron\u2019s merit, and the well, in Miriam\u2019s merit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The chapter goes on to describe how the people, discouraged and thirsty, rebel, once again. What follows is an outburst from Moses that has lasting consequences. Instead of following God\u2019s command to take his rod, assemble the community, and speak to the rock, for it to give forth its water, Moses takes the rod, assembles the community, but then blurts out: \u00a0\u201cListen, you rebels, from out of this rock shall we bring you water?!\u201d And then he strikes the rock twice with his rod. The resulting water is, indeed, life-saving, but because Moses disobeys God, he is condemned to die in the wilderness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Over the years, many people have wondered why Moses had such an outburst and have felt that his punishment was too harsh a decree for someone as loyal as he. Aaron, a seeming bystander, is also punished. Citing verse 10, \u201cOut of this rock, shall we bring you water,\u201d Ramban claims that Moses seems to presenting himself and Aaron as the source of the miracle. Aaron\u2019s part in this is that he does not stop Moses after the first time Moses strikes the rock.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rambam surmises that the infraction was Moses\u2019 inability to hold his temper, calling them \u201crebels\u201d and striking the rock twice. His gift of prophecy, his leadership skill, seems to have eluded him.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I would posit that one cannot dismiss the connection between Miriam\u2019s death and the subsequent actions of Moses and Aaron. Although the text does not mention it, imagine how Moses (and Aaron) felt with the death of their sister. How instrumental had she been in the leadership of the people, from the beginning! How dear had she been to Moses! \u00a0We know that our Biblical heroes were human, and it would have been only human for Moses to be experiencing grief and all its emotional stages.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God must have recognized this as well, and also recognized that with the passing of Miriam, referred to by the Piasetzna Rabbi as a great <\/span>tzadeket<\/span><\/i>\/righteous woman, Moses\u2019s emotional reaction indicated that it was time for the leadership to pass on to the next generation. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The three of them, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, had been the right leaders for the Exodus from Egypt, for the harrowing journey through the wilderness, for the world-changing experience at Sinai, but now it was time for others to lead the new nation into the Promised Land.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Outburst And Punishment of Moses","tile_main_caption":"The three of them, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, had been the right leaders for the Exodus from Egypt, for the harrowing journey through the wilderness, for the world-changing experience at Sinai, but now it was time for others ","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"It could have been the mourning and grief that took its toll","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"640","name":"Miriam","old_id":"1040"},{"term_id":"700","name":"Grief","old_id":"1100"}]},{"order":6,"id":"47825","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Moses Between A Rock & A Soft Space ","post_title":"Moses Between A Rock & A Soft Space","slug":"moses-between-a-rock-a-soft-space","old_id":"47825","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":47823,"post_title":"Bernie Steinberg","slug":"bernie-steinberg","old_id":"47823","first_name":"Bernie ","last_name":"Steinberg","description":"Bernie Steinberg is Director Emeritus, Harvard Hillel, now mentoring at M2, tutoring for Wexner Foundation, and teaching at Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Ca. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Bernie Steinberg is Director Emeritus, Harvard Hillel, now mentoring at M2, tutoring for Wexner Foundation, and teaching at Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Ca. \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":47824,"alt":"","title":"bernie steinberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","width":166,"height":204,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-300x224.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":224,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","medium_large-width":166,"medium_large-height":204,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","large-width":166,"large-height":204,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","1536x1536-width":166,"1536x1536-height":204,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","2048x2048-width":166,"2048x2048-height":204,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","post_full_size-width":166,"post_full_size-height":204,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","home_baner-width":166,"home_baner-height":204}},"tags":false},"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","post_main_content_content":"

Consider Moses\u2019 prodigious efforts to achieve his world-transforming life-mission. Consider his personal fate. What happened!?<\/span><\/p>\r\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>\r\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>\r\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>\r\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>\r\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>\r\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>\r\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>","post_main_content_image":{"id":81801,"alt":"","title":"ps27-therapy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy.jpg","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}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Moses Between A Rock & A Soft Space","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"God acts as therapist, not judge - but Moses misses the point","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":81801,"alt":"","title":"ps27-therapy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy.jpg","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}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"386","name":"Psychology","old_id":"786"},{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"}]},{"order":7,"id":"47750","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Leaders Behaving Badly ","post_title":"Moses Did Lack Faith","slug":"leaders-behaving-badly","old_id":"47750","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But not in God - in the people","post_main_content_content":"

How badly must a leader behave to be removed from his position of leadership? Should a leader be treated with more leniency, weighing their sin against the merits they have accrued as a dedicated public servant? Or perhaps with greater stringency and higher expectations and demands? What types of misdeeds call for which kind of consequences? Leaders being human, and fallible, these are questions that communities regularly need to consider. Chapter 20 is not the first example of this in the Torah, but it is the most tragic, and exceedingly difficult to make sense of.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What was so terrible about Moses\u2019s sin? Interpretations abound, because what the Torah itself explicitly says cannot be accepted at face value.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cBecause you didn\u2019t believe in me to sanctify me in the eyes of my people.\u201d What has Moses\u2019s life been if not a sustained attempt to sanctify God\u2019s name in the eyes of the people? How could Moses possibly be accused of a lack of faith in God?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But there is a problem of faith which emerges from many of the understandings suggested of Moses\u2019s words of actions. \u201cListen, you rebellious people. Will we bring forth water from this rock for you?\u201d Moses lacks faith in the people. After 40 years, Moses stands before the \u201cNew Jews\u201d, the people who are meant to now enter the land, and hears the exact same complaints he heard 40 years before. Are these a people deserving of miracles? Are they a people who can understand the nuance of the power of speech, or do they need the harsh clarity of a physical blow to learn their lesson?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This lack of faith in the Jewish people, the Torah tells us, is equivalent to a lack of faith in God. God\u2019s choice of the Jewish people is inextricably linked with their choosing God; this is the nature of a covenantal relationship. A leader who doesn\u2019t believe in the Jewish people\u2019s essential covenantal commitment denies the wisdom and relevance of God\u2019s choice, and renders meaningless his own role as facilitator of the covenant.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":92599,"alt":"","title":"pro14-people crowd","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Moses Did Lack Faith","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But not in God - in the people","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":92599,"alt":"","title":"pro14-people crowd","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"375","name":"Faith","old_id":"775"},{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"598","name":"Israelites","old_id":"998"}]},{"order":8,"id":"47743","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"We Are, All of Us, Mortal ","post_title":"We Are, All of Us, Mortal","slug":"we-are-all-of-us-mortal","old_id":"47743","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33992,"post_title":"Bradley Shavit Artson","slug":"rabbi-dr-bradley-shavit-artson","old_id":"33992","first_name":"Bradley Shavit ","last_name":"Artson","description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and is professor of philosophy there. Artson is married to Elana Shavit Artson, and they are the parents of twins, Shira and Jacob.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33993,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","width":204,"height":199,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":199,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","large-width":204,"large-height":199,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":199,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":199,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":199,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":199}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A lesson from the death of Aaron: Our gift and blessing is of the moment","post_main_content_content":"

I have just returned from celebrating my father\u2019s 90<\/span>th<\/span> birthday, on the eve of celebrating my own 6oth. Both events are extraordinary: few are the people who at age 60 can still speak with living parents, and many are the people who themselves never make it to age 60. In both counts, the blessing of genes, luck, modern medicine blend to create a moment that calls for special attention and some introspection.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The death of Aaron the High Priest calls for similar pause and depth. As the children of Israel leave Kadesh and arrive at Mount Hor, God tells Moses that it is time: \u201cLet Aaron be gathered to his kin.\u2026 Strip Aaron of his vestments and put them on his son Eleazar. There Aaron shall be gathered and die there (Numbers 20: 24, 26).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Now, Aaron was without doubt a great leader and beloved priest. The entire people mourn for his passing for a full 30 days, and the Midrash reinforces that he was beloved not only of the powerful, but of every Israelite.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet even Aaron has to relinquish his office and titles, must transfer his power and pomp to a successor. Someone will literally wear his robes and speak his words. And if it be true for Aaron, then it is true for each of us. We are of the moment, a fleeting spark that illumines the instant and then the light fades.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Mortality permeates our consciousness. We are aware that we are all on a one-way escalator that leads to aging and to death.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The unique challenge and opportunity of this awareness is that it could drown us in despair and anomie, or it can be the goad to remind us that the time is short. If we are to make a mark, we must do so now. If we are to share love and pass it along, we must do so now.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Our gift and blessing is of the moment. Aaron lived a full and rich life by staying present and by meeting each person, each occasion, as they were.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We can use his memory to remind ourselves to do the same. Live today as a gift.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":76433,"alt":"","title":"hos9-gift","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift.jpg","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"We Are, All of Us, Mortal","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A lesson from the death of Aaron: Our gift and blessing is of the moment","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":76433,"alt":"","title":"hos9-gift","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift.jpg","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos9-gift-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"383","name":"Death","old_id":"783"},{"term_id":"620","name":"Aaron","old_id":"1020"}]},{"order":9,"id":"47745","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"And The Desert Strikes Back ","post_title":"And The Desert Strikes Back","slug":"and-the-desert-strikes-back","old_id":"47745","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36423,"post_title":"Ari Hoffman","slug":"ari-hoffman","old_id":"36423","first_name":"Ari ","last_name":"Hoffman","description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U., and his writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Tablet Magazine, The New York Observer, and a range of other publications. He holds a doctorate in English Literature from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford.\r\n","short_description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36424,"alt":"","title":"Ari Hoffman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","width":1044,"height":1438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-218x300.jpg","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":743,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","large-width":743,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","1536x1536-width":1044,"1536x1536-height":1438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","2048x2048-width":1044,"2048x2048-height":1438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-871x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":871,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-305x420.jpg","home_baner-width":305,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Bereft of his sister, tired of the dunes, Sinai and Pharaoh a distant memory, Moses strikes the desert itself","post_main_content_content":"

The heat of the desert is more than a climate; it\u2019s a sensibility, a personality, and an adversary. It is so bright it\u2019s blinding, and so sharp it cuts light into glittering shards, serrated at the edges. The endless length of the horizon swallows up the shortness of a breath, or of a life. The landscape is its own kind of rolling ocean, fathomless and undulating with the swell of a space indifferent to any human specks unfortunate to wander across its vastness. The desert strips to the bone, and dresses us in gaudy garments of delusion and delirium. It\u2019s a hard place, an archaic habitu\u00e9 little altered by civilizational rouge.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s chapter links the death of Miriam to the absence of water, all strained through sand. It\u2019s a parched and tense chapter, with death and draught closely allied. The human condition is a precarious thing in the desert, the margin for error vanishingly small, survival itself reduced or clarified into a kind of miracle. The people\u2019s invocation of \u201cseeds, figs, vines, and pomegranates\u201d is probably best seen as a hallucination, an incantation towards color and variety most acute when luxury becomes its own necessity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is no coincidence that it is in this troubled context that Moses loses his temper and strikes the rock. Bereft of his sister, tired of the dunes, Sinai and Pharaoh a distant memory blasted by time and discord, Moses strikes the desert itself. But the desert strikes back, because every expenditure of energy and effort in that unforgiving place is a debit withdrawal on your chances of survival. The angry do not survive the desert, because anger is an unaffordable extravagance. The physical blow is followed by two others- denial of passage through Edom, and the loss of his brother. Moses is judged harshly for striking the rock, but the sound of wood on stone resonates with the force of all those who have raised arms against a pitiless and inhospitable world.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0 by Abraham Bloemaert, 1596 - https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=57384537<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47746,"alt":"","title":"Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411.jpg","width":3811,"height":2821,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411-300x222.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":222,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411-768x568.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":568,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411-1024x758.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":758,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1137,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1516,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411-1200x888.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":888,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411-567x420.jpg","home_baner-width":567,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"And The Desert Strikes Back","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Bereft of his sister, tired of the dunes, Sinai and Pharaoh a distant memory, Moses strikes the desert itself","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47746,"alt":"","title":"Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411.jpg","width":3811,"height":2821,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411-300x222.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":222,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411-768x568.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":568,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411-1024x758.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":758,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1137,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1516,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411-1200x888.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":888,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Moses_Striking_the_Rock_MET_DP145411-567x420.jpg","home_baner-width":567,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"435","name":"Water","old_id":"835"},{"term_id":"640","name":"Miriam","old_id":"1040"},{"term_id":"788","name":"Desert","old_id":"1188"}]},{"order":10,"id":"47741","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Moses\u2019 Freudian Slip ","post_title":"Moses\u2019 Freudian Slip","slug":"moses-freudian-slip","old_id":"47741","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46929,"post_title":"Benjamin Perlstein","slug":"benjamin-perlstein","old_id":"46929","first_name":"Benjamin ","last_name":"Perlstein ","description":"Benjamin Perlstein is a rabbinical student at JTS, where he studies as a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Born and raised in the Boston area, Benjamin holds a B.A. from Tufts in Political Science and is an alumnus of the Hadar Institute and the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics. Benjamin teaches and writes regularly, with an emphasis on applying religious and spiritual wisdom to issues of global public concern.\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Benjamin Perlstein is a rabbinical student at JTS.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":46930,"alt":"","title":"Benjamin-Perlsteinjpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Benjamin-Perlsteinjpg-e1546600884843.jpg","width":1628,"height":1649,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Benjamin-Perlsteinjpg-e1546600884843-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Benjamin-Perlsteinjpg-e1546600884843-296x300.jpg","medium-width":296,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Benjamin-Perlsteinjpg-e1546600884843-768x778.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":778,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Benjamin-Perlsteinjpg-e1546600884843-1011x1024.jpg","large-width":1011,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Benjamin-Perlsteinjpg-e1546600884843.jpg","1536x1536-width":1516,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Benjamin-Perlsteinjpg-e1546600884843.jpg","2048x2048-width":1628,"2048x2048-height":1649,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Benjamin-Perlsteinjpg-e1546600884843-1185x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1185,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Benjamin-Perlsteinjpg-e1546600884843-415x420.jpg","home_baner-width":415,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A surge of anger that betrays deep pain","post_main_content_content":"

When Miriam dies in our chapter\u2019s first verse, and the Israelites are left without water, their thirst inspires recalcitrance. God instructs Miriam\u2019s brothers, Moses and Aaron, to speak to a rock in order to procure water, and Moses strikes the rock instead, while excoriating the people for their persistent complaining. Water does indeed spring forth, but God responds by barring the two brothers from ever entering the Promised Land.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When Moses loses his cool, he calls the Israelites <\/span>morim<\/span><\/em>, rebels. A Freudian analysis might say that Moses is projecting, for it is actually he who is disobeying orders. But there is a deeper Freudian slip in Moses\u2019s slip-up: the word <\/span>morim<\/span><\/em> is spelled \u05de\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd <\/span>mem-reish-yud- mem<\/span><\/em>, just like Miriam\u2019s name.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This outburst is not a simple loss of temper but a cry for help. It is a surge of anger that betrays deep pain\u2014a flare of irrationality that subconsciously signals truth. It may sound like the haughty contemptuousness of a leader looking down on the rabble, but it may rather be an instinctively revealed sign that Moses is just like the rest of us and does not wish to be separate from or above the community.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses\u2019s involuntary invocation of his sister\u2019s name suggests a desire to share his pain\u2014an appeal for empathy from the people, adding his bereavement to the collective angst. Indeed, this yearning for solidarity is on full display when\u2014considering another reading of the word <\/span>morim<\/span><\/i>\u2014the consummate teacher calls his people <\/span>teachers<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Thus, for acting (out) like the people, Moses is consigned to die with his generation in the wilderness\u2014a punishment that carries some consolation, for an unmarked burial outside the Promised Land precludes the deification of a tomb pilgrimage cult. Even in his raw psychology, Moses is an exemplar of humility and humanity.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69039,"alt":"","title":"jer1-freud2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2.jpg","width":964,"height":710,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2-300x221.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":221,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2-768x566.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":566,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2.jpg","large-width":964,"large-height":710,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2.jpg","1536x1536-width":964,"1536x1536-height":710,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2.jpg","2048x2048-width":964,"2048x2048-height":710,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2.jpg","post_full_size-width":964,"post_full_size-height":710,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2-570x420.jpg","home_baner-width":570,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Moses\u2019 Freudian Slip ","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A surge of anger that betrays deep pain","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69039,"alt":"","title":"jer1-freud2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2.jpg","width":964,"height":710,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2-300x221.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":221,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2-768x566.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":566,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2.jpg","large-width":964,"large-height":710,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2.jpg","1536x1536-width":964,"1536x1536-height":710,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2.jpg","2048x2048-width":964,"2048x2048-height":710,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2.jpg","post_full_size-width":964,"post_full_size-height":710,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer1-freud2-570x420.jpg","home_baner-width":570,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"386","name":"Psychology","old_id":"786"},{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"}]},{"order":11,"id":"47856","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"In The Presence of the Rock ","post_title":"In The Presence Of The Rock","slug":"in-the-presence-of-the-rock","old_id":"47856","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34004,"post_title":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg","slug":"avivah-gottlieb-zornberg","old_id":"34004","first_name":"Avivah Gottlieb","last_name":"Zornberg","description":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg lives in Jerusalem where she has been lecturing on Torah since 1980. She reads biblical narratives through the prism of midrash, literature, philosophy and particularly psychoanalysis.\r\nShe was born in London and grew up in Glasgow, where her father was a Rabbi and the head of the Rabbinical Court. She studied Torah with him from childhood. Her PhD in English Literature is from Cambridge University, England. She taught English literature at the Hebrew University before turning to teaching Torah. She now teaches throughout the Jewish world, at synagogues, universities, and psychoanalytic institutes.\r\nShe is the author of five critically acclaimed books. Her latest book, Moses: A Human Life, was published by Yale University Press.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg lives and lectures on Torah in Jerusalem. She is the author of five critically acclaimed books. ","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34006,"alt":"","title":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","width":454,"height":359,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg-300x237.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":237,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","medium_large-width":454,"medium_large-height":359,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","large-width":454,"large-height":359,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","1536x1536-width":454,"1536x1536-height":359,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","2048x2048-width":454,"2048x2048-height":359,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","post_full_size-width":454,"post_full_size-height":359,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","home_baner-width":454,"home_baner-height":359}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Moses denies the people a vision of faith and intimate connection","post_main_content_content":"

At the end, at Meribah, God tells Moses and Aaron: \u201cYou shall <\/span>speak<\/span><\/i> to the rock <\/span>before their eyes<\/span><\/i>.\u201d Once before they had seen sounds: at Mount Sinai, they had \u201cseen the voices\u201d (Exod. 20:15). Something of the power of God\u2019s word had affected them with the primal, traumatic impact of vision. Perhaps, suggests Meshech Chochmah<\/em>, now, at the end of the wilderness time, as they are about to reenact the Sinai Covenant, God wishes them to re-experience the visionary impact of the word. At Sinai, they had been confronted with its demand. Now, each individual will envisage Moses delivering that impact to unimpressible rock. They will bring themselves to bear on the scene; their eyes will be sanctified by <\/span>seeing<\/span><\/i> the holy word.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, Moses, because of his anger with the people, calls only on their sense of <\/span>hearing<\/span><\/i>: \u201cListen now, you rebels, shall we bring water forth for you from this rock?\u201d <\/span>Seeing<\/span><\/i> God\u2019s message would have generated faith, trust, intimate connection. But he fails to engage their depth perception of the moment. To see God\u2019s words is to bring one\u2019s personal presence-conscious and unconscious-to the scene; to be affected to the roots of one\u2019s being by something staged before one\u2019s eyes.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But for this to happen, one must have eyes that can see. Such an intensity of vision is evoked in the midrash: \u201cEach person saw himself standing in the presence of the rock.\u201d \u00a0This is a scene of presences: the people are gathered <\/span>el pnei ha-sela--face-to-face<\/span><\/em> with the rock. Each person sees his\/her own presence in the presence of the rock. Looking at the thing, one endows it with a face; a space is created between two faces. One enhances the rock with one\u2019s own life.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The English psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott calls the space between mother and baby <\/span>potential space<\/span><\/em>; it is electric with fantasy and dream. In this space, mother and baby create each other. Facing the rock, each person experiences him\/herself facing the rock.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Excerpted from: \u00a0<\/span>Bewilderments<\/span><\/i>, Schocken Books, 2017, \u00a0\u201cHeart of Stone, Heart of Flesh,\u201d Chapter 8, Page 221.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":78824,"alt":"","title":"zeph1-face","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","width":6000,"height":4000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"In The Presence Of The Rock","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Moses denies the people a vision of faith and intimate connection","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":78824,"alt":"","title":"zeph1-face","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","width":6000,"height":4000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"375","name":"Faith","old_id":"775"},{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"443","name":"See\/hear","old_id":"843"}]},{"order":12,"id":"47843","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Chukkat - \u05d7\u05d5\u05e7\u05ea ","post_title":"Chukkat - \u05d7\u05d5\u05e7\u05ea","slug":"chukkat-%d7%97%d7%95%d7%a7%d7%aa","old_id":"47843","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42650,"post_title":"Hillel Smith","slug":"hillel-smith","old_id":"42650","first_name":"Hillel ","last_name":"Smith ","description":"Hillel Smith is a graphic designer, marketing consultant, illustrator, and artist based in Los Angeles and Washington DC. He also teaches art and Jewish art history to children and adults, giving them the tools to introduce a little more color into their world.","short_description":"Hillel Smith is a graphic designer, marketing consultant, illustrator, and artist based in Los Angeles and Washington DC.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42652,"alt":"","title":"HillelSmith","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HillelSmith-e1540295058654.jpg","width":126,"height":150,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HillelSmith-e1540295058654-126x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":126,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HillelSmith-e1540295058654.jpg","medium-width":126,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HillelSmith-e1540295058654.jpg","medium_large-width":126,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HillelSmith-e1540295058654.jpg","large-width":126,"large-height":150,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HillelSmith-e1540295058654.jpg","1536x1536-width":126,"1536x1536-height":150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HillelSmith-e1540295058654.jpg","2048x2048-width":126,"2048x2048-height":150,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HillelSmith-e1540295058654.jpg","post_full_size-width":126,"post_full_size-height":150,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HillelSmith-e1540295058654.jpg","home_baner-width":126,"home_baner-height":150}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":{"id":47844,"alt":"","title":"4-20-chukat","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat.png","width":660,"height":1020,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat-194x300.png","medium-width":194,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat.png","medium_large-width":660,"medium_large-height":1020,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat.png","large-width":660,"large-height":1020,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat.png","1536x1536-width":660,"1536x1536-height":1020,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat.png","2048x2048-width":660,"2048x2048-height":1020,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat.png","post_full_size-width":660,"post_full_size-height":1020,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat-272x420.png","home_baner-width":272,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"A Parasha Poster","tile_main_caption":"Chukkat - \u05d7\u05d5\u05e7\u05ea","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47844,"alt":"","title":"4-20-chukat","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat.png","width":660,"height":1020,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat-194x300.png","medium-width":194,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat.png","medium_large-width":660,"medium_large-height":1020,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat.png","large-width":660,"large-height":1020,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat.png","1536x1536-width":660,"1536x1536-height":1020,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat.png","2048x2048-width":660,"2048x2048-height":1020,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat.png","post_full_size-width":660,"post_full_size-height":1020,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/4-20-chukat-272x420.png","home_baner-width":272,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"368","name":"Parasha","old_id":"768"},{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":13,"id":"47734","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Divine Justice \u2013 Then and Now ","post_title":"Divine Justice \u2013 Then And Now","slug":"divine-justice-then-and-now","old_id":"47734","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":" Did the punishment fit the crime?","post_main_content_content":"

The first part of our chapter relates the tragic story of Mei-Meribah (\u201cthe Waters of Quarrelling\u201d -- Numbers 20:1-13, compare Exodus 17:1-7). Again, the people complain to Moses, this time at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, that there is no water for them or their animals. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses is told by God: \u201cYou and your brother Aaron take the rod and assemble the community, and before their very eyes order the rock to yield its water. Thus, you shall produce water for them from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their beasts\u2019\u2026Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the rock; and he [Moses] said to them, \u2018Listen you rebels! Shall we get water for you out of this rock?\u2019 And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Out came copious water, and the community and their beasts drank\u201d (verses 8-11). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Then -- surprisingly \u2013 Moses and Aaron are punished by God: \u201cBut the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, \u2018Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them\u2019\u201d. (verse 12). Considering that Moses may have shown only a momentary lack of faith by physically striking the rock, rather than by just commanding it verbally as God had ordered (compare Exodus 17:3-7), the punishment meted out to him here seems overly harsh. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to the Midrash (Tanhuma Huqqat 10 and parallels) Moses could have challenged God by saying: \u201cI did not transgress Your words! Why am I to be punished by dying before leading the people into the Promised Land?! A parable graphically depicts such a problematic situation. Two women were punished by a court, one who corrupted herself (through prostitution) and the other who only committed the minor offense of eating prohibited unripe figs in the Sabbatical Year. The one who committed the minor offense petitioned the court to publicize her offense so that people will know that she did not commit a serious crime. So too Moses said to the Holy One, Blessed be He, because you have condemned me to die in the Desert together with this wicked generation who angered You, people will think that I was just like them. Let it be written about me for what I am being punished. And so, it is written, \u201cBecause you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them\u201d. God replied: Your eulogy will be that you led sixty myriads out of Egypt and laid them to rest in the Desert. But you will again lead into the promised land those who died in the Desert, when you and they are resurrected in the World to Come.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: jorisvo\/shutterstock<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47829,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_537755854 (1)","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1.jpg","width":2574,"height":2189,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1-300x255.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":255,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1-768x653.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":653,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1-1024x871.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":871,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1306,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1742,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1-1200x1021.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1021,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1-494x420.jpg","home_baner-width":494,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Divine Justice \u2013 Then And Now","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":" Did the punishment fit the crime?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47829,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_537755854 (1)","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1.jpg","width":2574,"height":2189,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1-300x255.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":255,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1-768x653.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":653,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1-1024x871.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":871,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1306,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1742,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1-1200x1021.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1021,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_537755854-1-494x420.jpg","home_baner-width":494,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"547","name":"Punishment","old_id":"947"}]},{"order":14,"id":"47730","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Miriam and Aaron Take their Leave ","post_title":"Miriam And Aaron Take Their Leave","slug":"miriam-and-aaron-take-their-leave","old_id":"47730","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34243,"post_title":"Moshe Sokolow","slug":"moshe-sokolow","old_id":"34243","first_name":"Moshe","last_name":"Sokolow","description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University, and teaches a weekly class in parashat hashavu`a at Lincoln Square Synagogue. He is the author of TANAKH: An Owner\u2019s Manual (Jerusalem: Urim\/Ktav, 2015).\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34244,"alt":"","title":"sokolow","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","width":302,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-300x298.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":298,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","medium_large-width":302,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","large-width":302,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","1536x1536-width":302,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","2048x2048-width":302,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","post_full_size-width":302,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","home_baner-width":302,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And Moses\u2019 demise is foretold as well - but why?","post_main_content_content":"

We may have expected Moses, as the youngest of three siblings, to outlive his brother and sister, but it still comes as something of a surprise to have them both die in the same chapter.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

First to expire was Miriam, whose demise is followed\u2014immediately\u2014by a report of great thirst, the proximity of the two accounts summoning the midrashic observation (cited by Rashi on v. 2) that her presence invited the company of a well whose water sustained the people in the wilderness until her death.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Its disappearance forced a confrontation between the people and their two remaining leaders that was intended to be resolved through the expedient of speaking to a flint rock (<\/span>tzur<\/span><\/em>) and producing water. After addressing the people as \u201crebels\u201d (<\/span>morim<\/span><\/em>), Moses struck the rock twice with his staff and the water flowed, leading God to inform him that he and Aaron had thus somehow forfeited their opportunity to enter the Promised Land.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The question of just which aspect of their response was criminal\u2014insulting the people or striking the rock, rather than speaking to it, as Rashi claims\u2014has occupied exegetes for a millennium. Most notable in this regard are the comments of Shmuel David Luzzatto (SHADAL; Italy, 1800-1865) who observed, wryly, that he was initially reluctant to comment on this episode since he had discovered that Moses had not committed a single sin, but thirteen\u2014as many as there were exegetes who attempted to identify it. Of course, having stipulated that, Luzzatto proceeded to offer his own interpretation, justifying it, perhaps, by noting that it was not so much novel as a variation on the theme struck by Rashi.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Thereafter, follows an interlude in which a large part of recent Israelite history is recapitulated in a vain attempt to secure permission from the Edomites to cross their territory. It is at this juncture that Aaron, too, dies, and is buried atop a mountain called Hor.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is noteworthy that the address to the Edomites begins with \u201cThus says your <\/span>brother<\/span><\/i> Jacob\u201d (v. 14), inviting the speculation that the poor fraternal association between Israel and its brother is being placed in deliberate contrast to the positive relations between Moses and Aaron.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49511,"alt":"","title":"Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","width":524,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses-262x300.jpg","medium-width":262,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","medium_large-width":524,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","large-width":524,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","1536x1536-width":524,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","2048x2048-width":524,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","post_full_size-width":524,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses-367x420.jpg","home_baner-width":367,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Miriam And Aaron Take Their Leave","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And Moses\u2019 demise is foretold as well - but why?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49511,"alt":"","title":"Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","width":524,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses-262x300.jpg","medium-width":262,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","medium_large-width":524,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","large-width":524,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","1536x1536-width":524,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","2048x2048-width":524,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","post_full_size-width":524,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses-367x420.jpg","home_baner-width":367,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"640","name":"Miriam","old_id":"1040"}]},{"order":15,"id":"47724","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"What Did Moses and Aaron Do Wrong? ","post_title":"What Did Moses And Aaron Do Wrong?","slug":"what-did-moses-and-aaron-do-wrong","old_id":"47724","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46927,"post_title":"Yosef Lindell","slug":"yosef-lindell","old_id":"46927","first_name":"Yosef ","last_name":"Lindell ","description":"Yosef Lindell is a lawyer, writer, and lecturer living in Silver Spring, MD. He has a Masters in Jewish history from Yeshiva University and a law degree from NYU. His essays and articles have appeared in The Atlantic, The Forward, The Lehrhaus, Modern Judaism, and other places. His website is yoseflindell.wordpress.com.","short_description":"Yosef Lindell is a lawyer, writer, and lecturer living in Silver Spring, MD","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":46928,"alt":"","title":"yosef lindeel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/yosef-lindeel-e1546600237679.jpg","width":242,"height":263,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/yosef-lindeel-e1546600237679-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/yosef-lindeel-240x300.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/yosef-lindeel-e1546600237679.jpg","medium_large-width":242,"medium_large-height":263,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/yosef-lindeel-e1546600237679.jpg","large-width":242,"large-height":263,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/yosef-lindeel-e1546600237679.jpg","1536x1536-width":242,"1536x1536-height":263,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/yosef-lindeel-e1546600237679.jpg","2048x2048-width":242,"2048x2048-height":263,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/yosef-lindeel-e1546600237679.jpg","post_full_size-width":242,"post_full_size-height":263,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/yosef-lindeel-e1546600237679.jpg","home_baner-width":242,"home_baner-height":263}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Maybe nothing, maybe one thing, maybe many things","post_main_content_content":"

The Children of Israel lack water. God instructs Moses, \u201cTake the staff and you and Aaron gather the people; and speak to the rock in front of their eyes and it will give its water\u201d (20:8). Moses gathers the people and says, \u201cListen you rebels! Shall we get water for you out of this rock?\u201d (20:10). Moses strikes \u201cthe rock twice with his staff\u201d and water flows (20:11). But alas, all is not well. God tells Moses and Aaron, \u201cBecause you did not trust me enough to affirm my sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them\u201d (20:12).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For centuries, commentators have debated what Moses and Aaron did wrong. Was it, as Rashi explains, that Moses should have spoken to the rock instead of striking it? Or is it as Maimonides avers that Moses should not have gotten angry and called the people \u201crebels\u201d? Nahmanides states that when Moses says <\/span>we<\/em> <\/span>will get water in 20:10, he improperly implies that he and Aaron, not God, would make the miracle. Don Isaac Abarbanel creatively argues that out of respect for Moses\u2019 and Aaron\u2019s honor, God pins their denial of entry to the Land of Israel on the minor infraction at the rock, even though their real sins lie elsewhere (Moses sent the spies and Aaron made the Golden Calf).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Each approach has textual and theological problems. The proliferation of opinions leads the nineteenth-century commentator Samuel David Luzzatto to proclaim in dismay, \u201cMoses sinned only once, but the commentators have heaped on him thirteen sins or more!\u201d Thus, Luzzatto reminds the reader of the importance of interpretive humility.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In that vein, perhaps the text simply does not give one enough information to figure out the sin. God\u2019s terse and mysterious punishment of Moses and Aaron instead leads the reader to ask the ultimate question: if God is just, why does the world not always reflect Divine justice? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

After receiving such devastating news from God, Moses could have laid down the mantle of leadership and gone quietly into retirement. But he does not. In Deuteronomy, he guides the people into another covenant on the plains of Moab and gives his most rousing speeches. When faced with adversity, Moses does as one must do: he puts one foot forward and then the other.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"What Did Moses And Aaron Do Wrong?","tile_main_caption":"After receiving such devastating news from God, Moses could have gone quietly into retirement. But he does not. When faced with adversity, Moses does as one must do: he puts one foot forward and then the other.","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Maybe nothing, maybe one thing, maybe many things","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"412","name":"Responsibility","old_id":"812"}]},{"order":16,"id":"47736","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Sanctifying the Name - or Desecrating It ","post_title":"Sanctifying the Name - or Desecrating It","slug":"sanctifying-the-name-or-desecrating-it","old_id":"47736","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer. Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What is harmed is not just the victim, nor the perpetrator","post_main_content_content":"

When Moses and Aaron, provoked by the Israelites demanding water, strike the rock instead of speaking to it, God says to them: \u2018You did not have enough faith in me to sanctify me in the presence of the Israelites\u2019 (Num. 20: 12). Later he says to Moses, \u2018you broke faith with me . . . and you did not sanctify me among the Israelites\u2019 (Deut. 32: 51). The precise nature of their offence is obscure, and the interpretations are legion. According to Maimonides, Moses was assumed to be acting on divine instruction and thus wrongly conveyed to the Israelites by his own anger that God was angry with the people. One way or another, Moses failed to act as a fitting role model.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Particular emphasis appears, in some of the literature, on the impression Jewish conduct makes on non-Jews. Thus the Talmud \u00a0says that Joseph, resisting attempted seduction by Potiphar\u2019s wife, \u2018sanctified the name\u2019. The story is told of Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach (first century BCE) who bought an ass from an Arab. When his servants brought it home they discovered a valuable jewel in its harness. R. Shimon immediately ordered them to return it on the grounds that he had intended to buy the ass, not the jewel. He told his disciples: \u2018Do you consider me a barbarian? I would prefer that a gentile say, \u201cBlessed be the God of the Jews\u201d than all the money in the world.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Jewish law, behaviour that might otherwise be permitted, but could give rise to adverse perceptions on the part of gentiles, is forbidden on the grounds of \u2018desecration of the name.\u2019 So for example, whereas in Jewish law workers may eat part of the produce on which they are working, they are forbidden to do so when working for a gentile in case he or she considers such conduct as theft. \u00a0A synagogue menorah that is the gift of a gentile may not be exchanged for something else, even to fulfil a commandment, whereas if it were the gift of a Jew it may. The gentile may see the act as ingratitude or impropriety; therefore it is forbidden.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The common factor in these cases is not the act in itself but the way it may be perceived. This is the reason for the exceptional severity with which \u2018desecrating the name\u2019 is regarded:<\/p>\r\n

There are transgressions that are forgiven immediately, and others pardoned only after a time . . . All this applies only if at the time of the transgression one did not desecrate God\u2019s name. If he did, then even though he repents, and the Day of Atonement comes and he is still penitent, and he suffers afflictions, his atonement is not complete until he dies.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\u2018Profaning God\u2019s name\u2019 is a wrong that cannot be righted in one\u2019s lifetime, because what has been harmed is not just the victim, nor the perpetrator, but the very standing of God in the eyes of the world.<\/p>\r\n

To Heal a Fractured World<\/i><\/b>, p.63-64<\/b>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55481,"alt":"","title":"jud8-gold-god","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god.jpg","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Sanctifying The Name - Or Desecrating It","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What is harmed is not just the victim, nor the perpetrator","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55481,"alt":"","title":"jud8-gold-god","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god.jpg","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-gold-god-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"551","name":"Names","old_id":"951"}]},{"order":17,"id":"47841","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Bible in the Beacon Hotel: Moses is Old Generation, Old Habits ","post_title":"Bible in the Beacon Hotel: Moses is Old Generation, Old Habits","slug":"bible-in-the-beacon-hotel-moses-is-old-generation-old-habits","old_id":"47841","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/3MR2Ay1djzA","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Bible in the Beacon Hotel","tile_main_caption":"Numbers 20: Moses is Old Generation, Old Habits","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"with Adam Mintz and Rabbi Herzl Hefter","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/3MR2Ay1djzA","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":18,"id":"47726","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Ballad of the Jewish Slave Boy ","post_title":"The Ballad of the Jewish Slave Boy","slug":"the-ballad-of-the-jewish-slave-boy","old_id":"47726","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36669,"post_title":"Yakov Azriel","slug":"yakov-azriel","old_id":"36669","first_name":"Yakov ","last_name":"Azriel","description":"Yakov Azriel, who lives in Israel, has published five books of poetry in the USA and hundreds of poems in journals and magazines. His poems have won twenty-two prizes in international poetry competitions, and he has twice been awarded fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.","short_description":"Yakov Azriel is an English language poet who lives in Israel","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36670,"alt":"","title":"Yakov.Azriel.Photo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","width":1099,"height":1519,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-217x300.jpg","medium-width":217,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":741,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","large-width":741,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","1536x1536-width":1099,"1536x1536-height":1519,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","2048x2048-width":1099,"2048x2048-height":1519,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-868x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":868,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-304x420.jpg","home_baner-width":304,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"One day the time will come\u2026.","post_main_content_content":"

\"Our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians treated us and our ancestors badly. But when we cried out to the Lord, He heard our plea and sent us an angel who brought us out of Egypt\u2026 \" (Numbers 20:15-16) <\/span><\/p>\r\n

I.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhere are you going, hook-nosed boy?
\r\n<\/span>Back to your monkey\u2019s cave?
\r\n<\/span>You live in filth, and smell of filth,
\r\n<\/span>You dirty Jewish slave.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhy are you frowning, hook-nosed boy?
\r\n<\/span>Your face is always grave;
\r\n<\/span>Why can\u2019t you ever smile or laugh,
\r\n<\/span>You dirty Jewish slave.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhy are you shirking, hook-nosed boy?
\r\n<\/span>And where is the straw I gave
\r\n<\/span>For building bricks, and mortar too,
\r\n<\/span>You dirty Jewish slave.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhy are you crying, hook-nosed boy?
\r\n<\/span>Are you afraid I\u2019ll engrave
\r\n<\/span>My name in your flesh with knife or brand,
\r\n<\/span>You dirty Jewish slave.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhy are you cringing, hook-nosed boy?
\r\n<\/span>For once, can\u2019t you be brave
\r\n<\/span>And stand up tall with head erect,|
\r\n<\/span>You dirty Jewish slave.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhy are you praying, hook-nosed boy?
\r\n<\/span>Do you think your God can save
\r\n<\/span>Your people from our Pharaoh\u2019s grip,
\r\n<\/span>You dirty Jewish slave.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

II.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

My father says the time will come,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>One day, when I\u2019m a man,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>We Jews will live in freedom in
\r\n<\/span><\/i>The promised land of Canaan.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

My brother says the time will come,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>One day, when I\u2019m a man,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>We\u2019ll go to fight and liberate
\r\n<\/span><\/i>The promised land of Canaan.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

My mother says the time will come,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>One day, when I\u2019m a man,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>We\u2019ll pick ripe figs and olives in
\r\n<\/span><\/i>The promised land of Canaan.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

My sister says the time will come,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>One day, when I\u2019m a man,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>We\u2019ll harvest fields of barley in
\r\n<\/span><\/i>The promised land of Canaan.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

My teacher says the time will come,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>One day, when I\u2019m a man,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>We\u2019ll build a sacred Temple in
\r\n<\/span><\/i>The promised land of Canaan.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

Our elders say the time will come,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>One day, when I\u2019m a man,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>A Jewish king will reign and rule
\r\n<\/span><\/i>The promised land of Canaan.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

But I believe that time has come \u2014
\r\n<\/span><\/i>Has come! \u2014 for God, not man,
\r\n<\/span><\/i>Will keep His word and lead us to
\r\n<\/span><\/i>Our promised land of Canaan.<\/span><\/i><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":89847,"alt":"","title":"ps123-slave servant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant.jpg","width":1920,"height":1276,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant-300x199.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant-768x510.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":510,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant-1024x681.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":681,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1021,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1276,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant-1200x798.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":798,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant-632x420.jpg","home_baner-width":632,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"The Ballad of the Jewish Slave Boy","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"One day the time will come\u2026.","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":89847,"alt":"","title":"ps123-slave servant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant.jpg","width":1920,"height":1276,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant-300x199.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant-768x510.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":510,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant-1024x681.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":681,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1021,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1276,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant-1200x798.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":798,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ps123-slave-servant-632x420.jpg","home_baner-width":632,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"}]},{"order":19,"id":"47717","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Numbers 20 ","post_title":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Numbers 20","slug":"a-lesson-on-the-daily-chapter-numbers-20","old_id":"47717","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":40936,"post_title":"David Silber","slug":"david-silber-2","old_id":"40936","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Silber ","description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. He received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He received the Covenant Award in 2000. He is the author of APassover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn, published by JPS in 2011, and the newly released For Such a Time as This: Biblical Reflections in the Book of Esther, published by Koren Publishing in 2017 (Hebrew). ","short_description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":40937,"alt":"","title":"david-Silber-2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","width":151,"height":175,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","medium-width":151,"medium-height":175,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","medium_large-width":151,"medium_large-height":175,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","large-width":151,"large-height":175,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":151,"1536x1536-height":175,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":151,"2048x2048-height":175,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":151,"post_full_size-height":175,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","home_baner-width":151,"home_baner-height":175}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Audio","tile_main_caption":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Numbers 20","tile_main_caption_size":"2","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/rabbi-david-silber-a-lesson-on-numbers-chapter-20","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"2","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":20,"id":"47849","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Numbers 20 ","post_title":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Numbers 20","slug":"sefaria-source-sheets-numbers-20","old_id":"47849","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42228,"post_title":"Sefaria","slug":"sefaria","old_id":"42228","first_name":"","last_name":"Sefaria","description":"Sefaria is a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. We are assembling a free living library of Jewish texts and their interconnections, in Hebrew and in translation. With these digital texts, we can create new, interactive interfaces for Web, tablet and mobile, allowing more people to engage with the textual treasures of our tradition.","short_description":"Sefaria is a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42230,"alt":"","title":"Sefaria Logo2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","width":1200,"height":1200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":1200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":1200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cThe Winds Will Blow and The Rains Will Fall\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Michael Paley: Summoning water in Jewish texts.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cThe Leadership and Death of Miriam\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Rabbi David Winship: Explore the character of Miriam. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Go deeper into the chapter....","tile_main_caption":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Numbers 20","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Click to get links to learning resources","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42232,"alt":"","title":"sefaria-words-sunburst","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","width":608,"height":395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","medium_large-width":608,"medium_large-height":395,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","large-width":608,"large-height":395,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","1536x1536-width":608,"1536x1536-height":395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","2048x2048-width":608,"2048x2048-height":395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","post_full_size-width":608,"post_full_size-height":395,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","home_baner-width":608,"home_baner-height":395}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Sefaria word sunburst visualization","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":21,"id":"107148","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points To Ponder: Numbers 20 ","post_title":"Points To Ponder: Numbers 20","slug":"points-to-ponder-numbers-20","old_id":"107148","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":false,"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

    \r\n\t
  1. Similar, yet different<\/em>. It happened too in Ex 17, forty years and 70 chapters earlier, that there was a complaint and water from the rock. Even the description there (verse 7), \u201cThe place was named Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and because they tried the LORD\u201d is reminiscent of \u201cThose are the Waters of Meribah, meaning that the Israelites quarreled with the LORD (verse 13). Perhaps in the nuances and differences between the two we can understand better Moses\u2019 sin.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Brother nations<\/em>. In Israel\u2019s request to pass through Edom, there is a tension between the relationship as described between brothers, to that between nations. Israel addresses Edom as a brother: \u201cThus says your brother Israel\u2026\u201d (verse 14), likewise describing their history going back almost to Jacob\/Israel and Esau\/Edom. And they describe their commitment as a nation - that they will stick to the main highway and won\u2019t be a drain on their resources. Edom, for their part, declined to treat them as a brother, and also as a nation, to reject their request.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. The king\u2019s highway.<\/em> Verse 17 - The main thoroughfare leading up through the Jordan river valley is indeed called \u201cthe king\u2019s highway\u201d (<\/span>derech hamelech<\/span><\/em>) - both in Hebrew and in Akkadian.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. Rebels (<\/span>morim)<\/span><\/em>. <\/em>Who are the rebels in the chapter? Moses and Aaron blame the people for their rebellion: \u201c\u201cListen, you rebels\u2026\u201d (verse 10). However, God puts that ball squarely back in the court of Moses and Aaron: \u201cYou disobeyed [<\/em><\/span>m\u2019ritem]<\/span><\/em>\u00a0my command\u201d (verse 24).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  5. Clothes make the job<\/em>. Or at least symbolize it. Just like in the first ordination of Aaron the priest in his position (Lev. 8), with the transferal of the position to Elazar (verse 28), Moses undresses and dresses the celebrant, thus sanctifying him in his new task.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Daily Summary","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder: Numbers 20","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/47661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}