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By Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky,
B’nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica

Translated by Inés Baum - Proofreading by Ellen Zindler

The famous episode of Moses and the rock appears in our parashah: The people complain bitterly to their leader about the lack of water, to which God tells Moses and Aaron to speak to a rock, and water will flow from it to quench the thirst of the entire people and their animals. Moses taps the rock and scolds the people, but even so the water flows. At last, God punishes Moses and Aaron by prohibiting them from entering the land of Israel.

Several questions arise from this story, but perhaps the best known and discussed, is the reason for Moses’ punishment. Commentators of every age and place have been astonished by the serious sanction bestowed upon our most distinguished leader, especially because the text does not reveal an exceptional mistake on his part and never explains the reason for his punishment. This is why scholars have tried to discover within the story the behavioral mistakes that Moses could have committed. Itzjak Abarbanel’s commentary is famous: he makes a list of ten mistakes found by previous commentators, to finally affirm that all of them were wrong and add one more.

Shmuel David Luzzato, a Jewish-Italian sage, writes, in his nice and deep commentary to our text, that his predecessors have already discovered at least thirteen different sins in Moses, for which he decided to leave the matter alone, so as not to find one more error in Moshe Rabbenu. He has already been accused of too many.

In all probability, Luzzatto is trying to save the honor of our Teacher, and maybe is also criticizing the excessive efforts made to find alleged small errors committed by Moses. But I believe he is trying to communicate something else: The effort we should make to see our fellow men with a kind heart. If we are too meticulous when judging the conduct of others, we will certainly always find errors in their ways, since that is our nature. If we search for misconduct “with a magnifying glass”, we will find them even in Moses, the only man who, according to Maimonides, reached the highest degree of the prophecy.

The Torah offers two versions of creation in the first chapters of Bereshit (Genesis). In the first, God is remembered by the name Elohim, which sages identify with the quality of justice, midat hadin. In the second, the name Adonai is added, which refers to divine mercy, midat harachamim. The Midrash (Pesichta Rabbati 40) explains this difference by saying that, at the beginning, God created the world with the purpose of judging it according to the pure attribute of justice. When He realized that the world could not manage like that, He decided to add the attribute of mercy, which allowed creation to continue living. Hence we learn that, if God judged us exclusively on our actions, we would all be condemned, since perfection is out of our reach. Even the more righteous must struggle against jealousy, envy, and greed. God would simply be unable to put up with us if He saw us with an unmerciful look.

We should develop, too, in our lives, the ability to show a compassionate look, as did the sage Luzzatto regarding Moses’ conduct. Those who cannot assume a kind look will hardly be able to accept others, their friends, their partners, and their fellow men. In fact, perhaps they will not be able to stand even themselves. In order to build our social and affectionate relationships, we must always practice a little bit of tenderness and compassion.

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Forwarded by Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik, from Kol Shearith Israel Congregation, Panama.
Translated by Inés Baum and proofread by Ellen Zindler, from B’nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica.

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