Originally published in the Jewish Journal · Table for Five
Moses raised his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, when an abundance of water gushed forth, and the congregation and their livestock drank.
-Num. 20:11
Chukat seems like a discouraging passage through a parched wasteland. Moses’ two sibs Aaron and Miriam die. Miriam’s Well dries up. Poisonous snakes attack. Moses loses his temper and strikes the rock. Moses begs various kings for passage through their territory, promising that neither the Israelites nor their cattle will drink their water. They refuse and some tribes even wage war on them.
But the real message of Chukat is symbolized here. A torrent of water gushes from both the rock and Torah’s poetry. The parsha says “water” more than twenty times and alludes to it many times more. The red heifer laws tell us to bathe, cleanse, wash, sprinkle, and dip. There are wells, rivers, brooks, springs, tributaries, and wadis. There’s even a song celebrating wells!
This verbal stream contrasts to the parched parsha that preceded it. Korach and his heated mob, burning with indignation, bring fire pans as insurrectionist weapons. A heavenly fire consumes them instead, and Aaron burns more incense to quell the plague. Korach never mentions water!
Why are the floodgates suddenly opened here in Chukat?
Perhaps because the Torah’s entire tale of liberated slaves is one of thirst slaked literally and spiritually. Israel is fertile with mayim chayim, the living water of sustenance and hope, as Bilam’s blessing tells us next week. Like water from a rock, Israel’s survival is the result of the laws of history and nature flowing to fulfill their destiny, miraculously.
