Dear Friends,
We are complex, inconsistent beings, and we, as a people, are complex and inconsistent, too.
Note what transpires regarding the Israelites in the desert, thirsty and seeking water, in two, successive chapters of our Torah portion.
In chapter twenty, the people complained, clamored and quarreled, crying out for water. Moses heard their complaints and grievances, and turned to God for guidance who directed them to take their rod and order a rock to issue water. Of course, we know the story: Moses was angry and he struck the rock, twice, it yielded water, but God punished the intemperate Moses with not entering the Promised Land.
In the following chapter, 21, the people traveling in the desert, alight upon the site called Be’er (not ironically translated as “well”), and here, God instructed Moses to gather the people that God might provide them water. The people did not complain or grouse, but sang a song of praise for the well, which released its water without struggle.
Two chapters, 20 and 21, the same thirsty people, the same Moses and God, but vastly different results. Did the Israelites learn from chapter 20, and behave more magnanimously in chapter 21? Or was Moses irate from the kvetching that he was unable to control his impulses in the first instance, and did God adjust the Divine command in the next case, somewhat removing Moses from the direct interaction?
Surely, circumstances strongly impact our behavior. We cannot expect to be consistent in vastly differing situations, any more than the Israelites were in two successive chapters of Numbers. And, we might actually be a learning people – hopefully.
In this waning of the COVID-19 pressures, we are learning all over again how to step out into our reawakening world. People are interacting; businesses are recalibrating; even the virus is mutating.
One thing about which we can be utterly certain is that our own metaphorical chapter 21 surely will be dissimilar from our own chapter 20. Our tasks in this spring and summer of 2021 (nice how the year and the Torah chapters elide, hunh?!), is to allow ourselves the perspective of looking back, and to take the time to stop and see the vista looking forward.
Otherwise, we’ll be trapped in one or the other chapter…
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
We are complex, inconsistent beings, and we, as a people, are complex and inconsistent, too.
Note what transpires regarding the Israelites in the desert, thirsty and seeking water, in two, successive chapters of our Torah portion.
In chapter twenty, the people complained, clamored and quarreled, crying out for water. Moses heard their complaints and grievances, and turned to God for guidance who directed them to take their rod and order a rock to issue water. Of course, we know the story: Moses was angry and he struck the rock, twice, it yielded water, but God punished the intemperate Moses with not entering the Promised Land.
In the following chapter, 21, the people traveling in the desert, alight upon the site called Be’er (not ironically translated as “well”), and here, God instructed Moses to gather the people that God might provide them water. The people did not complain or grouse, but sang a song of praise for the well, which released its water without struggle.
Two chapters, 20 and 21, the same thirsty people, the same Moses and God, but vastly different results. Did the Israelites learn from chapter 20, and behave more magnanimously in chapter 21? Or was Moses irate from the kvetching that he was unable to control his impulses in the first instance, and did God adjust the Divine command in the next case, somewhat removing Moses from the direct interaction?
Surely, circumstances strongly impact our behavior. We cannot expect to be consistent in vastly differing situations, any more than the Israelites were in two successive chapters of Numbers. And, we might actually be a learning people – hopefully.
In this waning of the COVID-19 pressures, we are learning all over again how to step out into our reawakening world. People are interacting; businesses are recalibrating; even the virus is mutating.
One thing about which we can be utterly certain is that our own metaphorical chapter 21 surely will be dissimilar from our own chapter 20. Our tasks in this spring and summer of 2021 (nice how the year and the Torah chapters elide, hunh?!), is to allow ourselves the perspective of looking back, and to take the time to stop and see the vista looking forward.
Otherwise, we’ll be trapped in one or the other chapter…
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
