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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