27 Jun PARASHAT CHUKAT: WE SHOULD NEVER FEEL LOST

Parashat Hukat tells the
story of Moshe hitting the
rock, and how Hashem
punished him severely
for this sin, decreeing that
he would not enter into
the Land of Israel.
The most common understanding of this
episode is Rashi’s understanding – that Moshe
was supposed to produce water for the people
by speaking to the rock, but he struck the rock,
instead.
However, later commentators questioned this
approach, raising a number of difficulties. First,
Hashem specifically told Moshe to bring his
staff, which would certainly suggest that
Moshe was expected to hit the rock. Secondly,
what difference would it make if Moshe hit the
rock or spoke to the rock? Was the miracle
any less spectacular because Moshe hit the
rock?
Therefore, the commentators offer many
different explanations. For example, the
Rambam writes that Moshe sinned through his
anger. Before hitting the rock, he shouted at
the people,“Listen, please, O rebellious
ones! Will we produce water for you from this
rock?!” The Rambam writes that Moshe
angrily called the people “rebellious ones” –
when Hashem was not angry at them.
The Sefer Ha’ikarim writes that Moshe sinned

in that he should not have waited for Hashem
to instruct him to hit the rock. He should have
realized on his own that this is what he should
do to provide water.
But the Maharal of Prague gives an explanation
which, in a sense, encompasses many of the
other approaches, and which offers us a crucial
lesson.
The Maharal writes that Moshe sinned by
losing his cool, so-to-speak. He did not react
to this crisis in a calm, composed manner like
the way he handled all the other crises which
he handled throughout his years as leader
of Am Yisrael. He became flustered; he
buckled under the pressure of a whole nation
yelling that they needed water. For a man with
his level of emunah, this was considered a sin.
All people, no matter how wealthy they are,
how healthy they are, how good a marriage
they have or what kind of children they have,
are going to deal with difficult
problems. Everyone has challenges of one
kind of another. Hashem sends us challenges
so we can develop our steadfast emunah. We
are tested to see if we remain calm and
composed, placing our faith in Hashem,
without getting flustered.
In the Book of Bereshit, we read the story of
Hagar, who was sent away from Avraham
Avinu’s home together with her son,
Yishmael. The Torah writes,“She went about

and was lost in the desert of Be’er
Sheva.” Rashi explains this pasuk to mean that
Hagar returned to the worship of idols; after
leaving Avraham’s home, she resumed the
idolatry that she practiced as a youngster. Many
later rabbis asked how Rashi saw any
indication in the text that Hagar once again
worshipped idols.
Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, the
Ponevezher Rav, answered that Rashi reached
this conclusion on the basis of the word “was
lost.” A believing Jew, the Ponevezher Rav
said, is never lost. No matter how difficult life
gets, no matter what crisis one is going
through, he is not lost if he believes that
Hashem is caring for him and guiding him
even when he faces problems and hardship.
The Klausenbeger Rebbe, who survived
Auschwitz and lost his wife and eleven
children in the Holocaust, led a prayer service
for survivors in a displaced persons camp on
the first Yom Kippur after the war. He stood
up in front of a room full of broken people,
who lost their families and experienced untold
suffering and horror. What could he tell them?
He picked up a mahzor and read through
the vidui (confession) – Ashamnu Bagadnu
Gazelnu… He mentioned each sin, and said
that nobody there was guilty of that sin. Having
been imprisoned and tormented by the Nazis,
they were not guilty of any of the sins listed in
the vidui.
However, the Rebbe said, there was one sin
that they were all guilty of. They all had
moments when they gave up, when they lost
hope, when they felt they could not go on. And
for this – and this alone – they needed to
confess. Because a Jew never loses hope, a
Jew is never lost. No matter what we are going
through, Hashem is with us.
Of course, none of us have ever been tested
the way the Jews in the Holocaust were
tested. But all people have tests of one kind or
another. And our job is to remain steadfast in
our emunah, to retain our composure, to not
feel lost, to remember that Hashem is taking
care of us, even in life’s most difficult
moments.
The lesson of Moshe’s mistake, the Maharal
teaches us, is to try to remain calm and
confident even during life’s challenges, to feel
that we are being cared for by Hashem in all
situations, that He is holding us by the hand,
taking us where we need to go – such that we
are never lost.