spirit

torah portion

MEL DRYMAN

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18

June 29 • 2017

M

oses entered the stage of
Jewish history by heroically
striking an Egyptian task-
master who was beating an Israelite
slave. In contrast, his unfortunate
striking of a rock in this week’s bibli-
cal portion precipitated his exit from
the stage of Jewish history.
His first act of striking
ha’eidah). Speak to the rock
was done out of love for his
in their presence and it will
people and outreach to his
give forth its water. You will
brethren, an act of courage
thereby bring forth water
and self-sacrifice that forced
from the rock and allow the
him to flee the house of
community (ha’eidah) and
Pharaoh.
their beasts to drink.”
The striking of the rock,
Note that Moses is
however—which, in reality,
Rabbi Shlomo
told by God to assemble
was directed at the People
Riskin
the community (eidah).
of Israel, whom he called
However, “Moses and Aaron
“rebels” — was an expres-
assembled the assemblage
sion of deep frustration with
(kahal) in front of the rock.”
a nation that had defied
They, the leaders, had lost
his teachings and fomented
the vision of Israel as an eidah, a
rebellion after rebellion to under-
witness-community.
mine his and God’s authority. What
God wanted Moses to look at the
had happened to cause Moses to
motley crew of complainers and
lash out at his beloved nation?
see that behind the façade of rabble
Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Harlap
(1883–1951) describes the change in were to be found witnesses (eidim)
Moses’ mindset toward the People of of the Divine. God expected Moses
Israel by distinguishing between two to see through the angry mob and
inspiringly extract from deep within
descriptive nouns for them, which
them the faith of their forebears and
are usually taken for synonyms:
the glory of their descendants.
kehal and eidah, assemblage and
Moses, disappointed and dis-
community.
gruntled, can only see a congrega-
A kahal (assemblage) consists of
tion of kvetching individuals, a mass
the many individuals who gather
of fearful and immature freedmen
together, the separate and disparate
dancing before a Golden Calf; a dis-
persons who make up a crowd.
parate crowd of people who allowed
An eidah (community) is guided
themselves to become paralyzed in
by a specific purpose, which serves
fear before the Canaanites.
to unite and connotes individu-
He had lost sight of the com-
als united by their commitment to
munity of Israel and could only see
historic continuity from generation
the assemblage of Israel; he spoke
to generation. The continued sur-
to what was in front of him instead
vival of the nation of Israel despite
of to their potential, the great
exile and persecution in accordance
moments and the noble individu-
with the Divine covenant serves as
als who comprised historic Israel
eloquent testimony to the reality
and forged the Israelites in front of
and truth of God’s presence and of
him. And so he became incapable
Israel’s mission: humanity perfected
of speaking with love; he could only
in a world redeemed.
strike out in anger. Given this atti-
With this background, let us take
tude, Moses cannot continue to lead
a fresh look at our biblical portion.
the nation toward the fulfillment of
Immediately following Miriam’s
its historical destiny.
death, the desert wells dry up and
We must, each of us, view our
the Israelites assemble as a crowd
present-day Jewish communities as
of disparate rabble (vayikahalu) in
complaint against Moses and Aaron. communities, not vast masses. •
In response, God addresses Moses:
Shlomo Riskin is chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone
“Take the staff, and you and Aaron
and the chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel.
assemble the community (hak’hel et

Parshat Chukat:
Numbers 19:1-22:1;
Judges 11:1-33.

