BS"D || Rabbi Geier

Chukat 5784

Parashat Chukat is a complicated parashah. It is the parashah in which Moses receives his punishment, which prevents him from entering the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land. After 40 years of accompanying, teaching, and educating the people once freed from slavery in Egypt, and after all the suffering, complications, and disputes with a people that clung to the supposed benefits of slavery instead of holding onto faith in the God who gave them freedom and accompanied them with miracles, Moshe does not enter Canaan.

What is most incomprehensible is the origin of the punishment. What provokes it?

The people once again complain about the lack of water in the desert. Once more, they corner Moshe and choose slavery in Egypt over risking death in the desert, where the Lord guides and protects them. Moshe becomes angry. The Holy Blessed One tells him: "Take your staff, speak to the rock, and water will come out." Moshe takes the staff, strikes the rock, and water flows. The people can quench their thirst, but for failing to follow the command—striking instead of speaking to the rock—he receives his punishment. Just like that, in an instant, with a simple mistake or loss of control on the part of the Master of all Masters.

For this, he does not enter the Promised Land. Severe, very severe punishment.

But it is even harsher when we understand that he had previously drawn water from a rock at the Lord's command by striking it. The Holy Blessed One had told him not long before, "Take your staff and strike the rock," which could have led to confusion. In the midst of the turmoil of the argument with the People of Israel, he might have thought to himself, "I’ll do the same thing I did before and strike the rock," without thinking too much about it.

Moreover, Moshe was the one who did everything for this people. What is happening here? There is something that catches our attention: the parashah begins with the account of the Parah Adumah. The Para Aduma was a red heifer that was born very rarely, and the Torah prescribes that when this occurs, it must be offered to the Creator, and its ashes collected. These ashes were used for the purification of those who had come into contact with death; those who, for some reason, had touched a corpse, human or animal, and had become impure. Death is the archetype of Tumah, of impurity. This impurity was "cured," purified precisely with the ashes of the Parah Adumah.

Why does the parashah begin with the description of this ritual? Why with death? Why with water? Why the punishment? Why does the Lord get angry with Moshe if previously the leader of the People of Israel had become angry and had not been punished? Why is the punishment so severe now because of Moshe's anger? The punishment comes for Moshe's anger; for the disobedience in striking the rock; for getting angry with the people again; for losing control.

There is a key point. Miryam has just died. In the first verses, we learn that Moshe's older sister has just passed away. She was the one who sheltered him as a baby, cared for him, raised him, and accompanied him. She was the spring that provided water, according to Midrash, to the people of Israel in the desert. Miryam dies, and of course, there is desperation. Of course, there is anger. Of course, there is something that Moshe cannot manage because, ultimately, he is human. This is the exact connection with the precept of the Parah Adumah, the red heifer.

Death is present throughout our lives. It is an integral part of our existence. Moshe will also die, and Aharon will die too. The Lord communicates to him, "And you too will die. You will not enter Canaan."

Perhaps Parashat Chukat is precisely about that: not about reward or punishment. Not about determining if the punishment corresponds with Moshe's fault or if it would have been better to give him a reward for all he did for his people. Perhaps it is about understanding that at some point we must step aside because we will have to step aside whether we want to or not. We need to realize that even the best leadership comes to an end and that even the best leader or the best father will one day no longer be there; that if we understand on our own that it is time to let others take over, train others, and pass the baton to someone else to continue our journey, we can even enjoy the transition and see how our legacy continues in those who follow us in the long chain of life.

We must understand that we can never persist beyond our lives if it is not through those who continue us. Parashat Chukat teaches us that we are mortal beings of flesh and blood, that we return to dust because we are merely dust.

Let’s think about it. It is not about reward or punishment; it is about understanding our limitations and taking action.