22 Jun HUKAT: MOSHE RABBENU’S LOVE FOR BINEI YISRAEL

Parashat Hukat tells
the famous story of
Meh Meriba – Moshe
Rabbenu’s sin of
striking the rock to
produce water after
G-d had instructed him to speak to the rock.
Hashem punished Moshe, decreeing that he
would not have the privilege of entering the
Land of Israel along with the rest of the nation.
Numerous different approaches have
been taken to explain the nature of Moshe
Rabbenu’s mistake, and to answer the question
of how Moshe, the greatest prophet who ever
lived, a man of such towering spiritual stature,
could have disobeyed G-d’s explicit command
to speak to the rock.
A particularly fascinating explanation is
offered by the Hatam Sofer (Rav Moshe
Sofer of Pressburg, 1762-1839), who notes
a mysterious nuance in G-d’s command to
produce water by speaking to the rock. Hashem
said to Moshe, “You shall speak to the rock
and it shall give forth its water, and you shall
bring water for them out of the rock…” (20:8).
Surprisingly, Hashem here twice mentions the
production of water: 1) “and it shall give forth
its water”; 2) “and you shall bring water for
them out of the rock.” It seems that Moshe was
to extract water from the rock in two different
stages through his speech.

The Hatam Sofer solves this mystery based on
the conclusion of this verse: “Ve’hishkita Et
Ha’eda U’be’iram” – “you shall give water to
drink for the congregation and their animals.”
The rock was to produce two streams of water
– one for the people, and one of their animals.
The Hatam Sofer explains that throughout
the forty years which Beneh Yisrael spent in
the wilderness, they ate heavenly food – the
manna – but drank ordinary water. This water
was provided through supernatural means – a
well which miraculously traveled with them,
in the merit of Miriam, Moshe’s righteous
sister – but the water was ordinary water. The
manna originated from the heavens, and was
spiritual food, whereas the water itself was no
different from regular water that the people
were accustomed to drinking. But now, as
Beneh Yisrael were entering the final stage
of their sojourn through the wilderness, they
were ready to be brought to an especially
high spiritual level. To this end, Moshe was
to speak special words of Torah and prayers to
the rock so it would produce a special kind of
water – spiritual water, the liquid equivalent
of the manna, that would uplift the people to
great heights.
This explains why the Torah speaks of two
kinds of water. Moshe’s words were to cause
the rock to pour forth a stream of spiritual
water for the people, and a second stream of

regular water for their animals.
Moshe, however, was afraid of producing
this special spiritual water for the people.
He feared that if they would then sin after
having ingested this water, this would be
unforgivable. Once they would reach such
lofty spiritual heights, any failure would be
deemed an especially grave transgression,
and they might, Heaven forbid, be severely
punished.
It was thus out of compassion that Moshe
struck the rock instead of speaking to it. He
exclaimed, “Listen, O rebellious ones – shall
I bring water for you out of this rock?!”
(20:10). He was, in essence, telling the
people, “I know you will in the future be
rebellious – I therefore cannot produce the
spiritual water for you.” He instead struck the
rock and produced regular water, which both
the people and their animals drank, as implied
by the verse, “Va’tesht Ha’eda U’be’iram”
(“The congregation and their animals drank”
– 20:11).
When the Torah tells of Hashem informing
Moshe and Aharon of their punishment for
disobeying, it refers to Hashem with the Name
of “Havaya,” which is associated with G-d’s
attribute of compassion. This indicates that
G-d’s anger was tempered by compassion –
because Moshe acted as he did out of genuine
love and concern for Beneh Yisrael. He did

not, Heaven forbid, intend to disrespect G-d’s
authority by disregarding His command.
Rather, he was overcome by sincere love for
the people and wanted to protect them.
For a towering Sadik of Moshe Rabbenu’s
stature, this was considered a sin. For us,
though, the story of Meh Meriba provides
us with an example of unbridled Ahabat
Yisrael – love for our fellow Jews. In this
specific instance, Moshe’s love for His people
resulted in his doing something which G-d
disapproved of. But we can only wish to have
the same level of Ahabat Yisrael as Moshe
Rabbenu. We are to follow this example of
genuine, heartfelt concern for each and every
one of our fellow Jews, to the point where
we are willing to do whatever we can to help
them.