Dear Friends,
Water… We have a precious relationship with water. Without it, we die. With it, we are nourished, and
we live. And, finding it may teach us lessons along the way.
Hence, in our history as Jews, we have a precious history with water, as well: from Jacob wrestling by
the river, Moses being drawn from the Nile, Miriam and her well, and then this week’s portion…
This week, we have two interesting and opposite encounters with thirst and seeking water. Firstly, at
the outset of the portion, the people cried out against Moses at their predicament wandering in the
desert, complaining about their thirsty circumstances, saying, “There is not even water to drink!” (Num.
19:5) God then instructed Moses to order a rock to give water – but Moses instead raised his staff and
struck the rock, and copious water came forth, and Moses would be punished for his anger and was
disallowed from entering the Land of Israel
Then, later in the portion, again the Israelites were thirsty in the desert, and arrived to a site called
Be’er, a well. This time, however, the Israelites opted not to complain and rail against Moses, but
instead, they sang a song:
Spring up, O well – sing to it –
The well which the chieftains dug,
Which the nobles of the people started
With maces, with their own staffs.
Wonderfully, the Israelites learned from the first episode to the second, that they could find water for
themselves. It was not a simple lesson. At first, they relied entirely on Moses to provide for them, to
intercede for them with the Eternal. Then, they learned that they could be self-empowered, and that
they did not need the provisioning or intercession of Moses. It was a profound realization: they could be
self-reliant.
And, hopefully, we learn the same, as well, that we might sing our own songs at the well... We live our
lives ontologically, beginning at the mother’s breast, and hopefully, eventually, weaning ourselves to
self-sufficiency. It requires undergoing the lessons of life, stumbling over the tripwires, falling into the
pitfalls and climbing out, feeling the hurts and the triumphs, and gaining new vistas and new thirsts. It
may require enduring the anger of a Moses or the wrath of God, but such we must endure if we will ever
get to sing our own song at the well…
As descendants of the early Israelites, we too, have our own precious relationship with water. May we
learn to find our own wells, and to sing our own songs, to conquer our thirsts, and to savor our thirsts.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Water… We have a precious relationship with water. Without it, we die. With it, we are nourished, and
we live. And, finding it may teach us lessons along the way.
Hence, in our history as Jews, we have a precious history with water, as well: from Jacob wrestling by
the river, Moses being drawn from the Nile, Miriam and her well, and then this week’s portion…
This week, we have two interesting and opposite encounters with thirst and seeking water. Firstly, at
the outset of the portion, the people cried out against Moses at their predicament wandering in the
desert, complaining about their thirsty circumstances, saying, “There is not even water to drink!” (Num.
19:5) God then instructed Moses to order a rock to give water – but Moses instead raised his staff and
struck the rock, and copious water came forth, and Moses would be punished for his anger and was
disallowed from entering the Land of Israel
Then, later in the portion, again the Israelites were thirsty in the desert, and arrived to a site called
Be’er, a well. This time, however, the Israelites opted not to complain and rail against Moses, but
instead, they sang a song:
Spring up, O well – sing to it –
The well which the chieftains dug,
Which the nobles of the people started
With maces, with their own staffs.
Wonderfully, the Israelites learned from the first episode to the second, that they could find water for
themselves. It was not a simple lesson. At first, they relied entirely on Moses to provide for them, to
intercede for them with the Eternal. Then, they learned that they could be self-empowered, and that
they did not need the provisioning or intercession of Moses. It was a profound realization: they could be
self-reliant.
And, hopefully, we learn the same, as well, that we might sing our own songs at the well... We live our
lives ontologically, beginning at the mother’s breast, and hopefully, eventually, weaning ourselves to
self-sufficiency. It requires undergoing the lessons of life, stumbling over the tripwires, falling into the
pitfalls and climbing out, feeling the hurts and the triumphs, and gaining new vistas and new thirsts. It
may require enduring the anger of a Moses or the wrath of God, but such we must endure if we will ever
get to sing our own song at the well…
As descendants of the early Israelites, we too, have our own precious relationship with water. May we
learn to find our own wells, and to sing our own songs, to conquer our thirsts, and to savor our thirsts.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn