24 July 11 • 2019
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M
odern Israeli songs and
poetry are filled with sharp
contrasts such as the famous
song “Al Kol Eleh” — “For All of These,
”
which begin as follows: “For
the honey and for the stinger,
For the bitter and for the sweet
…
”
This embracing of life’
s
dualities can be seen even in
the pages of the Torah and the
poetry it contains.
In this week’
s portion, for
example, we have two excerpts
of two very different poems
that interrupt the narrative,
adding new tones and special
insights to what is otherwise
an account of the travels of the
Israelites as they come to the
borders of the Promised Land.
In the first poem, in Numbers 21:17-
18, we have what is called “The Song
of the Well” (it begins like the “Song
of the Sea” of Exodus 15:1). It seems to
be a plea for the waters of the well to
come forth from the Earth as they had
previously done during Miriam’
s life,
enabling the tribal leaders to dig or use
their rods to mark such spots. One of
the commentators (Tosefta, “Sukkah
73”) explained that each tribal leader
would draw a line from the well with
his staff to the area of his tribe and the
waters would begin to flow there so that
there were actually small rivers flowing
between the location of each tribe in the
encampment.
Later commentators (Midrash
Aggadah) even saw in this whole poem
an allegorical reference to the Torah as
the wellspring of all wisdom and suc-
cess, transforming the entire nation into
one of nobility that knew how to prop-
erly serve God in their lives.
Can we relate to this as we face the
problems of numerous droughts, floods
and the dramatic changes in the Arctic
ice shelves and our oceans’
water levels
because of global warming? Will we
even be able to sing the praises of the
beautiful life-sustaining waters of our
Earth if we don’
t use our knowledge
and political acumen to bring about
widespread changes in our lifestyles that
will preserve our precious but limited
resources? On a spiritual level, are we
not also faced with the potential
drying up of the wells of Judaism
if we do not continue to dig deep-
ly ourselves and ask our children,
friends and neighbors to do so,
too?
In Numbers 21:27-30, we hear
of the triumph of King Sihon of
the Amorites who captured the
Moabites’
lands and gloried in
this victory. Yet the last four lines
are a total reversal of tone and of
fortune, telling of the Israelite vic-
tory over Sihon and the capture of
these same lands. Our Talmudic
sages (Tractate “Hullin”) took
these lines as a warning for
Israel and the world that first, God can
help change the course of events of all
nations for His own purposes; and sec-
ond, that we consider whether we are
using our resources wisely to perform
mitzvot and succeed in life or living
without self-control, gratifying our
desires but ultimately leaving destruc-
tion behind us and meaninglessness in
our future.
We Jews have a responsibility to
speak up and act to help guide our
world to live with a clear and positive
vision of the future, to redirect those
forces that have steered us off this path
and to overcome those who would
gratify their own selfish desires without
regard to the lives of the people around
them.
We can restore the living waters of
the well of sanity and abundance for all
humanity; we need not rely on the fires
of forces that would destroy or conquer
others because those same flames can
turn against us. Instead, let us give
thanks for the blessings that God gives
us and courageously do what it takes to
bring peace and hope into every corner
of our world. ■
Rabbi Dorit Edut teaches, counsels and runs the
Detroit Interfaith Outreach Network
The Wellsprings In Life
Rabbi
Dorit Edut
Parshat
Chukat:
Numbers
19:1-22:1;
Judges
11:1-33.
spirit
torah portion
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