Drasha
Ironically, while Parshat Chukat might be named for, and best known as, a section full of unresolved questions, as it presents the mysterious ritual of the red heifer, the rest of the Parshah that follows is one full of resolutions. As the desert narrative begins to wrap up, the Torah reader is given closure to many of the figures we’ve been following throughout the story. The generation that leaves Egypt dies, giving way to a new generation that will enter the land of Israel. Similarly, the leadership is confronted with its own mortality, as Miriam dies at the beginning of our Parshah, Aharon passes at the end, and in the middle, Moshe is told he will meet his end before entering the land of Israel.
Yet, while this offers us some amount of closure and resolution, it also raises an important question. Why exactly is Moshe, the greatest prophet and leader in Jewish history, denied entry to the land of Israel? Of course, our Parshah tells us that Moshe was punished for the episode at Mei Merivah, where God told Moshe to speak to a rock and, miraculously, water would spring forth, but instead, Moshe disobeys the divine command and hits the rock. While this seems to be a direct act of disobedience, at the end of the day Moshe provided the Jewish people with water as needed, and, seemingly, with some amount of divine approbation– as, if God really didn’t approve of what was happening, He wouldn’t have made water miraculously emerge when Moshe struck the rock. So why does Moshe receive such a harsh punishment?
One approach to make sense of this confusing episode is to play up the sin Moshe committed. Perhaps the most extreme example of this, the Or HaChaim explains that Moshe’s act of disobedience was of major significance. According to the Or HaChaim, when Moshe hit the rock instead of speaking to it, Moshe was rendered a Navi Sheker, a false prophet, as he mistransmited the divine command that was given to him. As we see elsewhere in the Torah, the punishment for a false prophet is the death penalty, and thus, Moshe was punished with dying in the desert before ever seeing the land of Israel. Of course, this approach is extremely difficult to swallow. Are we really to believe that Moshe Rebbeinu, the transmitter of the Torah and the greatest prophet in Jewish history, could have been rendered a Navi Sheker– one of the greatest sins against God one can commit? Any attempt to play up Moshe’s sin will ultimately be faced with a similar difficulty. ... continued
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