Reliving Sinai

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

In this week’s parsha, Hashem commands Moshe to speak to the rock before the eyes of the Jews, and then the rock will give forth water. Moshe, unable to locate the rock, faced by the frustration of the nation, hits the rock instead. The rock produces water which quenches the thirst of the nation, but because he hit and did not speak to the rock, Moshe is punished by not entering Eretz Yisrael.

The verse (Bamidbar 20:12) states that Moshe’s sin was that he did not sanctify Hashem before the nation. Rashi (ibid.) explains that had Moshe simply spoken to the rock, the nation would have learned a critical lesson  – if an inanimate object obeys the word of Hashem, all the more so must we. Now that the rock gave forth water because it was struck, this lesson was lost.

This is hard to understand. What lesson was the nation expected to learn – that an inanimate object obeys the word of Hashem? The rock wasn’t “obeying,” it was broken open by a miracle! Whether it was spoken to or hit, in any case a miracle was needed for it to give forth water, so what lesson was that for the Jews? They could counter – Your miracle caused the rock to give water, but You’re not making miracles to cause us to obey the Torah.

My great-grand uncle, the Meshech Chachma, answers that this is an error – speaking the word of Hashem to the rock would have made it bring forth water even without a miracle. This is because the word of Hashem has power beyond our comprehension. Hashem’s words are like a 100-ton hammer, with more power than any man could have brought to bear on the rock.

At the Giving of the Torah, it states that “the nation saw the sounds” (Shmos 20:15), meaning they saw the reality of Hashem’s words, in all their might and glory. The entire world was still, no other noise was heard – the universe was batel (nullified) before the word of Hashem (see Rashi, ibid.). The command to speak to the rock was intended to make the experience of the Giving of the Torah come alive again. Moshe was to speak to the rock “before their eyes,” (Bamidbar  20:8) so that the nation could once again see the reality and unfathomable power of Hashem’s words, that everything is batel before them, and an inanimate rock gives forth water at His command.

Hashem commanded us: “And you shall remember the day of the Shabbos to keep it holy” (Shmos 20:8). If we would hear this command as absolute reality, as the Word of Hashem in all of its might – how different would our Shabbos be?

Rav Avraham Ziskind recalls that his father, as a boy, saw his father (Rav Avraham Ziskind’s grandfather) jump off of a train a bit before Shabbos because there was no other way he could avoid being mechalel Shabbos. Jumping off a moving train is perilous no matter what the conditions, but in this case, it was World War I and the danger was much greater. Moreover, it was winter and the ground was covered with a thick layer of snow. Nevertheless, his prime concern was not to be mechalel Shabbos. Rav Ziskind would say, “in the merit of my grandfather’s shemiras Shabbos, my father and all of his descendants remained Shabbos observant in South Africa, at a time when the entire Jewish population of their city was mechalel Shabbos, even though that made us the laughingstock of town.”

If we would work on feeling the full weight of a Torah command, reviewing again and again the truth of its reward and punishment to make it real to us, all our actions would be different.

Once, a talmid came to Harav Aryeh Leib Heller (author of Ketzos Hachoshen) asking that he give him the spiritual strength [chizuk] to meet his challenges, as he had to go out to work for most of the day.

The Ketzos spoke to him, adding the verse: “Rejoice O youth, in your adolescence … and know that all of this Hashem will bring to judgment” (Koheles 12:9). When the Ketzos came to the last words of the verse, he raised his voice and said them with great emotion. Years later, this talmid testified that the image of the judgment of Hashem that he felt at that time remained before him his entire life, and helped him to withstand all of the trials he later faced.

Not only at the rock was the reality of Sinai expected to come alive, the reality of Sinai can come alive every day in the beis medrash, says the Toras Chaim (Baba Metzia 85a), as the verse states that at Sinai, “a loud voice emanated that did not cease” (Devarim 5:19).

Every time a talmid says over a thought of Torah, he is making the Giving of Torah at Sinai come alive, as the Sages state (Vayikra Rabba 22:1), that “all the Torah that was to be thought of in the future was already given to Moshe at Sinai.” The Torah we learn is alive with all the power of Sinai, and can certainly uplift and improve us.

Rav Yerucham Levovitz used this idea to explain a passage in Iyov (cited in Bava Basra 16a). Iyov suggested that perhaps man has no free will, and that just as animals cannot change their natures, neither can human beings. If a person is born a tzaddik, he will live the life of a tzaddik, and if he is born with the character of a rasha, he will live the life of a rasha. If so, why should Hashem punish man for his sins?

Hashem answered that there is a difference – “I created the yetzer hara and I created the Torah as a remedy.” A man does have the power to change himself. Even though this requires a miracle, learning Torah provides that miracle.

Of course, if one learns mussar, it’s easy to understand how this can change him, but how can learning sugyos about kiddushin or the laws of damages change a person’s character? Nevertheless, it does, and Rav Chaim of Volozhin states (Ruach Chaim 3:9) that before learning, we should pray to Hashem that this learning help correct us, each in our own specific areas. The improvement may not come right away, but over time, Torah study proves again and again that it has the power to perfect people and enable them to overcome their bad nature.

Once, an avreich approached the Chazon Ish with a question:

“Every day I give a shiur in Ramat Gan, but today, due to harsh weather conditions, it will be very hard for me to go, and in addition, I’m almost sure that the participants of the shiur won’t be able to show up either. Should I make the effort to go anyway?”

The Chazon Ish asked if he felt that none of the participants would show up.

“Well, as a matter of fact, there is one person who will stop at nothing to come,” answered the avreich.

“In that case, even if only one person shows up, you should go and give the shiur. The Torah that he learns has the power to change him. You shouldn’t miss one shiur; after the shiur he’ll be a different person!”

May we be zocheh to keep the voice of Sinai alive!