a) Bem. 20: The original event at Kadesh takes places “in the EYES of the congregation”: Hashem wants everyone to gather and witness the miracle.

b) Bem. 20: Aharon ascends the mountain “in the EYES of the people.” When Moshe returns, the entire nation “SEES” that Aharon has died.

c) Bem. 27: Moshe is told -- twice -- that he will “SEE the land” but not enter it. Then Hashem repeats that the sin he committed was “in the EYES of Bnei Yisrael.”

d) Dev. 1: [no “seeing” pattern here].

e) Dev. 3: Moshe begs to “SEE the land,” by which he means to allow him to enter the land; Hashem refuses him, telling him he will only “SEE with his EYES,” but not enter there.

f) Dev. 32: Hashem repeats -- twice more -- that Moshe is to “SEE the land” but cannot enter it.

g) Dev. 34: Hashem “SHOWS” Moshe the land, then tells him, “I have SHOWN you in your EYES, but you will not pass to there.”

a) Bem. 20: The original event: “You shall not bring the people . . . .”

b) Bem. 20: Aharon dies in such a manner as to make the succession of Elazar an integral part of his death: the High Priestly clothing is removed from him and placed upon his son, and then he dies, as his son succeeds him.

c) Bem. 27: when Hashem commands that he die, Moshe responds by worrying about the succession; Hashem commands him to appoint Yehoshua, and he does so.

d) Dev. 1: “Encourage Yehoshua.”

e) Dev. 3: “Encourage Yehoshua.”

f) Dev. 32: “Encourage Yehoshua” (not in the text above, but just before the Song of Ha’azinu, 32:22-23).

g) Dev. 34: [not part of the succession pattern].

1) Abravanel: this is the straw that broke the camel’s back. In truth, Aharon loses the right to enter Eretz Yisrael because he built the Egel (Golden Calf) back in Sefer Shemot (Exodus); Moshe is punished for encouraging the meraglim (spies) in Parashat Shelah, which we read twwo weeks ago. Both of these episodes contributed to the people’s loss of their privilege to enter the land; the crime at Kadesh was only the minor crime of hitting the rock as opposed to speaking to it, but it added just enough to tip the scales in favor of punishment for Moshe and Aharon.

Abravanel is motivated to suggest this interpretation because hitting the rock seems so minor a crime, and the punishment which ensues seems too harsh. His solution: the punishment addresses more serious wrongs. One weakness with this interpretation, however, is that, as the above citations from the Torah show, the Torah repeatedly focuses on this *particular* episode as the key to Moshe and Aharon’s loss of their privilege to enter the Land. This focus is undue if the real focus is on the Egel and the spies.

2) Hazal: the crime was that Moshe spoke roughly to the people as he provided them with water: “Listen, you rebels!” Despite its didactic significance, this interpretation is difficult, as several mefarshim (commentators) point out: if Moshe’s manner of addressing the people is such a great crime, Moshe seems not to have learned his lesson, as in Sefer Devarim (Deuteronomy), he tells the people, “You have been rebels against Hashem from the day I knew you!”

3) Several mefarshim suggest that hitting is less impressive than speaking, so by hitting the rock, Moshe destroyed an opportunity for greater kiddush Hashem (sanctification of God’s name). Ramban responds to this suggestion by pointing out that from the perspective of physics, hitting and speaking should be equally likely to cause water to come out of a rock, so both would be equally miraculous. Abravanel raises the additional problem that hitting as opposed to speaking seems too minor a crime to merit such a weighty punishment.

4) Rashi: speaking to the rock would have inspired people to draw a “kal va-homer” (a fortiori reasoning) to themselves: “If the rock is obedient when Hashem (or His servant) speaks to it, surely we should be at least as obedient as the rock!” As an inspiring midrashic perspective, this is suggestion is beautiful and has much merit. But it is difficult to believe that the stiff-necked people we know so well from the rest of BeMidbar would be so easily and so subtly inspired. In addition, as Ramban points out, if this is indeed the crime, why does Hashem later describe it as “me’ila,” which implies that Moshe and Aharon usurped a prerogative of Hashem’s?

5) Rambam (Shemona Perakim): the crime was Moshe and Aharon’s inappropriate anger with the people. This suggestion is vehemently and powerfully rejected by the Ramban, who points out that this does not account for the phrases we find in the various descriptions of the sin: “You did not believe in Me,” “You rebelled against My word,” etc. [Rambam’s suggestion does, of course, fit nicely with his view of anger: unlike other personal characteristics, with regard to which Rambam advocates moderation, when it comes to anger (and arrogance), Rambam insists that we must be radical, allowing no room at all for this emotion. It is understandable, in this light, how anger in Moshe and Aharon would be understood as a fundamental failing and a grave sin.]

6) Ibn Ezra: Moshe’s sin was in his momentary distraction from his usually perfect spiritual concentration on Hashem. This, I believe, is difficult to refute, but even more difficult to support from the text or from logic.

7) Rabbeinu Hananel, R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, Ramban, Sefer Ha-Ikkarim (R. Yosef Albo): Moshe and Aharon did not make clear who had caused the water to come out; it sounded like Moshe and Aharon were ascribing to themselves (rather than to Hashem) the act of providing water. This is supported by the text, which has Moshe and Aharon saying, “Now hear, you rebels, from this boulder shall **we** bring water for you?”

This last possibility is the one to which we will now turn our attention, as it a fascinating and usually neglected perspe.

Read Bem. 20 again and think about the following: What is the people’s complaint? Is it any different from any of the complaints we have seen before?

The people blame Moshe and Aharon for their misery and for the entire process which has ripped them away from Egypt -- that great carefree vacation-land, that Eden of luxury and leisure -- and dropped them into the barren and waterless desert. There is nothing new about this sort of talk. But one element seems new: the people refer to themselves as “Hashem’s people”! Instead of just saying “us,” they refer to themselves as “Hashem’s nation.” In other words, it is not just “us,” a group of innocent people whom you have harmed -- it is Hashem who has been stricken, in effect, by your leading His nation into this predicament! This is a new level of chutzpah: accusing Hashem’s chief messenger of having led His people astray!

Moshe and Aharon have no response. This, too, is not new, as we noted in Parashat Shelah, where Moshe has no response to the evil report of the spies. Moshe and Aharon now turn to Hashem, who delivers a series of instructions to them. Hashem wants to provide water for the people in a public, miraculous way: “Speak to the rock and extract from it water for the people and their animals.”

Moshe bitterly says to the people, “You rebels! Will we now take water from this rock for you?” Let us leave this enigmatic phrase for now; we will return to it soon.

‘Spring up, O well, sing in chorus to it;

The well that was dug out by princes

That was excavated by nobles of the people

With scepter

With their rods.’”

1) BeHa’alotekha: The people complain for water, then for meat. Moshe experiences a catastrophic sense of failure as a leader: he is unable to provide for his “baby,” as he puts it. He cannot meet the people’s needs, and he turns to Hashem in anger at the burden placed upon him. Hashem accedes to Moshe’s request to share the burden of leadership with others -- the Zekenim (Elders). While this spreads the burden onto other shoulders, it does not mitigate Moshe’s feeling of powerlessness and failure. He believes that he may have been right from the very beginning, when he said to Hashem in Sefer Shemot: “I am not a man of words”; “Send someone else -- anyone!”; “I am a man of uncircumcised lips.” Send someone else, I am not capable of the job.

Hashem then turns to the problem at hand -- providing the people with meat -- and instructs Moshe to let the people know that meat will soon be arriving. Moshe refuses to believe it: there is not enough meat in the whole world for the people! Hashem scolds Moshe, but gently: “Is God’s arm too short? Now you shall see if My words come to pass or not!” In Moshe’s mind, the task of feeding the people had for a moment loomed impossibly enormous, so overwhelming that it surpassed even what Hashem could do. Moshe’s feeling of failure and despair is so black that for a moment, it is not only *he* who cannot feed the people, but that the people simply cannot be fed. It is an impossible task.

This is the first sign that Moshe’s faltering belief in himself has begun to affect his function as the conduit between Hashem and the people: he momentarily loses sight of Hashem’s omnipotence.

The next crucial event is Miryam’s harsh criticism of Moshe, which we discussed in detail last week. Miryam’s words are so painful to Moshe not only because they are so patently false -- the humblest of all men did not marry a Cushite woman in order to take on airs -- but because it is his very sister who voices the words, and Moshe, the humblest of all men, is deeply affected by them. Moshe is shaken: perhaps she is right -- perhaps he has taken more honor and authority than his due. Moshe, so vulnerable, so humble, is so hurt by Miryam’s words. Hashem responds ferociously, trying to prop Moshe up by purposely scolding Miryam in Moshe’s presence. Hashem delivers a breathtaking account of Moshe’s special place in Hashem’s “house,” attempting to undo the damage Miryam’s words have done, but it is too late. Moshe has been seriously weakened.

2) Shelah: the debacle of the spies shows again how Moshe has been weakened. He sends the spies with the hope that they will return with beautiful fruits, with an impressive report of the Land and its riches. When they return with an evil report instead, Moshe is silenced: he makes no response, abandoning the stage to Yehoshua and Calev. Moshe manages to save the people’s lives when Hashem threatens to kill them on the spot, but he can do more: he has lost faith in himself and in the people, and he cannot generate the will to beg Hashem to forgive the people (and allow them to enter the Land), as he did after the Egel. Hashem offers him opportunity after opportunity to jump in and demand that He forgive them, but Moshe remains eerily silent. He cannot take up the cause of the nation because he has lost faith in their ability to accomplish the mission, and because they have attempted to replace him as leader: “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt!”

3) Korah: as we discussed last week, Moshe first interprets Korah’s attack as directed against Aharon, but eventually discovers, to his shock, anger and frustration, that the people are rejecting him as well. He becomes defensive and bitter, insisting on his innocence of any abuse of power. More importantly, when he at first sees the attack as directed against Aharon, he responds by telling the people that they are really attacking Hashem, not Aharon. But when he realizes that he is a target as well, he does not say the same thing: he turns to Hashem and defends himself instead of deflecting the attack and telling the people (and himself!) that the real target is Hashem, and that there is no cause for him to be defensive.

Moshe continues to defend himself as the parasha goes on -- another sign of trouble. He summons the Earth to swallow the rebels in order to prove his legitimacy as leader, not in order to defend Hashem per se. When the people then accuse Moshe and Aharon of havingmurdered the people who died, Hashem becomes angry with them: havthey not learned by now that He is behind Moshe and Aharon? But there is an echo of truth in the people’s accusation -- it is not clear how much of what has happened was for Hashem, and how much was necessary to prop up Moshe’s and Aharon’s leadership.

4) Then comes Hukkat: Moshe is wounded, angry at the people for rejecting his selfless leadership and for accusing him of self-aggrandizement. But then the people complain once again, and this time it is too much. As usual, the people complain not against Hashem, but against Moshe and Aharon. In fact, they specifically acknowledge Hashem, referring to themselves as His people. So the villains are Moshe and Aharon, not Hashem. But this time it is too much. Moshe responds differently to this rebellion than he has in the past. Instead of trying to show the rebels that their real complaint is with Hashem and not with him, Moshe simply becomes angry at the people.

Hashem instructs Moshe and Aharon to provide the people with water from a rock. This is just the latest chapter in the long process of the people’s learning to trust Hashem. One more miracle. Not a great one, nothing like the splitting of a sea, but impressive nevertheless. And perhaps impressive also because of its mundanity: there is no dramatic backdrop here, no Egyptian cavalry giving murderous chase, there are only thirsty people and thirsty animals. And Hashem cares enough to perform a miracle to provide for them.

It is also an opportunity for Moshe to show that he is dedicated to the people’s welfare, repudiating their claim that he has imposed his leadership on them for his own aggrandizement and that he has led them to die in the desert. But Moshe is already impatient with the people and angry at their accusations. For him, the personal issue has begun to overshadow all else. Extracting water from the rock is not just another effort to strengthen the people’s faith in Hashem, it is a chance to bitterly blast the people for their attacks on him and to demonstrate his continued readiness to care for their needs despite their behavior. “Ungrateful rebels! I provide you with everything I can, even as you reject me again and again! And here I offer you water from this rock!”

It is not that Moshe believes that he (and not Hashem) has made the water come out of the rock. It is that he feels vilified by the people, accused of having his own interests at heart instead of theirs, accused of having done them wrong. Moshe says bitterly, “I remain devoted to you even as you reject me!” Moshe means only to show the people that he now does and always did do his best to help provide for the people’s needs. Moshe does not mean for the people to understand that he and Aharon should get the credit for the miracle -- but that is exactly what happens. This is what the people sing as they celebrate the “digging” of this magical well. Moshe did not mean to give himself credit as opposed to Hashem, he meant only to defend himself, to show that he was devoted to the people even as they rebelled against him, but the result was that what should have been an opportunity to nurture the people’s trust in Hashem became instead an opportunity for the people to acknowledge Moshe and Aharon as devoted to their care.

Moshe’s function from the beginning has been to be the conduit between Hashem and the people. He hears the Torah from God and teaches it to the people; he leads the people out of Egypt as Hashem’s messenger. He brings Hashem to the people. But once he is attacked and rejected by the people, he becomes defensive. He makes personal use of what should have been another opportunity to act as that identity-less conduit to Hashem. The people come away impressed with Moshe, not with Hashem.

For a religious leader, this misstep is fatal. A religious leader is so only insofar as he bridges the gap between Hashem and the people. The degree to which his personal issues cloud his actions is the degree to which he fails as a religious leader.

“Since you did not believe in Me” -- as Ramban interprets, “You did not cause the people to believe in Me” -- you caused them only to believe in you!

“To sanctify Me in the eyes of the Bnei Yisrael” -- to make Me appear special in the eyes of the people; instead, you made yourself seem special.

“Therefore you shall not bring” -- therefore, you are removed as leaders. The punishment is not formulated as a “personal” one, that Moshe the man and Aharon the man will never enter the Land, but that they will not bring the nation to the Land: they are no longer the leaders because instead of taking this opportunity to sanctify Hashem, they use it to sanctify themselves in the eyes of the people. This is why, every time this story is mentioned afterward in the Torah, it is always connected with Elazar and Yehoshua. Moshe and Aharon’s punishment is not simply not entering the Land, but joining the failed generation of the desert as its failed leaders, never to enter the Land as leaders of the successful new generation.

“And He was sanctified in them” -- do not think that just because Moshe and Aharon failed to sanctify Hashem here with the water, that He is not sanctified through this event: He sanctifies Himself through Moshe and Aharon themselves! As punishment for not sanctifying Hashem through the rock, Moshe and Aharon themselves become objects through which Hashem is sanctified. The entire people was supposed to have SEEN Hashem’s great miracle, but they SAW “Moshe and Aharon’s great miracle” instead; in return, the entire nation SAW as Aharon ascended the mountain, and the entire nation SAW that he did not return: they SAW that Hashem had denied him the opportunity to lead into Eretz Yisrael, and had replaced him with his son. And the same with Moshe, who in addition is told time and again that he will “SEE” the land but never enter it. He sinned by distracting the SIGHT of the nation from Hashem, so his own VISION of the Land would be only from afar. By punishing Moshe and Aharon publicly for usurping the stage, Hashem demonstrates to the people His power.

“Ma’altem bi” -- appropriating something dedicated for a higher purpose, and using it for personal use: “You stole from Me an opportunity to show My caring for the people and My power, a chance to sanctify Myself, and used it to show the people that YOU cared for them.”

“I have shown it to you with your eyes” -- I have shown it to you with your EYES, but you will not go there as leader, because of the PEOPLE’S eyes -- because you took advantage of the people’s sight for your purposes. The moment your orientation became personal, you automatically ceased to be a religious leader, and therefore, “to there you shall not go.”