And they turned and they went up on the road to bashan,

And og king of bashan came out to meet them in battle,

He and all his troops, at edrei.

(Bemidbar 21:33)

 

And Og went out - I have already explained in Parashat Lech Lecha why he was privileged to live so long, from Noah to Avraham.

(Hizkuni, ibid., ibid.)

 

And the fugitive arrived - Explained Rashi - "this was Og, who survived the generation of the flood. A midrash aggadah states:

The reason for his exceeding longevity from Noah to Moshe, meeting death at our teacher Moshe's hand, was as follows: Og had planned to kill Avraham and wed Sarah. Said the Holy One to him: By your life! You will be rewarded for your steps [taken as you ran to inform Avraham of Lot's falling into captivity] by longevity. But because you intended to murder that righteous man, by your life, you will witness thousands and tens of thousands of his progeny, and your end will be by their hand, as is written: And God said to Moshe: Fear him not etc. (Bereishit Raba)

(Hizkuni Bereishit 14:13)

 

 

A brief history of moses' staff

Yehonatan Chipman

This parashah includes the well-known story of how Moshe Rabbenu was denied his deepest wish - to enter the Land of Israel together with the people whom he had led for more than forty years - because of a seemingly minor infraction of God's command. Asked to take water out of a certain stone for the thirsty people by speaking to it, he instead hit it with his staff. Why was he punished so severely for this act?

In order to properly understand this incident, I would like to undertake a brief survey of the history of the central "actor" in this story: Moses' staff. What was it, where did it come from, what was it used for, and what did it signify?

We first encounter the staff in the famous scene of the bush that was "burning but not consumed" (Exod 3:2). In wake of this extraordinary sight, Moses encounters God for the first time, speaks with Him, is revealed God's name, Ehyeh asher Ehyeh ("I am that I am" or "I shall be that which I shall be"), and is charged with his life's mission - to take the people of Israel out of Egypt and to lead them to the promised land. At a certain point in the dialogue, after raising a series of problems and objections, Moses asks God, "And if they will not believe me and will not listen to my voice" (4:1) - what then? God's answer is roundabout and indirect:

And the Lord said to him: What is that in your hand? And he said: A staff. And He said: Throw it down on the ground. And he threw it to the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses shied away from it. And God said to Moses: Put out your hand and grab its tail; and he put out his hand and took hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand (Exod 4:2-3).

Following this scene, Moses begins the journey back to Egypt, taking his family with him: "And Moses took his wife and his sons and put them on the donkey, to return to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the staff of God in his hand" (ibid., v. 20). An interesting detail: the verse troubles to inform us that, in addition to the members of his family and the donkey (a necessary means of transportation), Moses took his staff with him, which is referred to as "the staff of God" (mateh ha-Elohim). Suddenly Moses' staff, which at the first meeting at Horeb was an ordinary shepherd's staff used to herd the flock, or perhaps a walking stick of the type used by inhabitants of the wilderness for help in walking over difficult rocky and mountainous terrain, became the "staff of God" - an object of Divine significance, meant to help Moses and Aaron perform wonders and miracles and thereby prove to Pharaoh that they were truly sent by the Lord, God of Israel.

And indeed, further on we see the staff serving as an instrument in an argument between Moses and the magicians of Egypt:

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: When Pharaoh speaks to you and says: Give us a sign; then you shall say to Aaron: Take your staff, and thrust it down before Pharaoh, it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron... did as the Lord commanded, and Aaron thrust his staff before Pharaoh, and it became a serpent. (Exod 7: 8-10).

Pharaoh's court magicians succeeded in performing the same act with their secret arts (7:11-13), but the staff/serpent of Aaron swallowed their staffs/serpents - presumably, a sign anticipating of the eventual victory of Moses and the Israelites over Egypt and its gods. Note that from this point onwards the miracles involving the staff were performed specifically by Aaron and not by Moses; from here on, it is "Aaron's staff."

Immediately thereafter, there begins a series of ten plagues. These are divided into three sets of three plagues each, each one of which follows a similar pattern; the tenth plague, the death of the first-born, is set apart as a unique plague, outside of the three-times threefold framework. In the first set of three plagues, the staff plays a central role:

Blood:

Go to Pharaoh in the morning... and stand to meet him by the shore of the Nile. And take with you the staff which was turned into a snake, and say to him: The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me, saying: Let my people go! ... By this you shall know that I am the Lord: Behold, I shall smite with the staff that is in my hand upon the water which is in the Nile, and it shall be turned to blood... And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over its rivers and canals and lakes, and over every gathering of water, and it shall be blood.... And [they] did as the Lord commanded, and Aaron lifted his staff and smote the water... (7: 15-17, 19-20)

 

Frogs:

... Speak to Aaron, stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and lakes, and bring up the frogs over the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt. (8:1-2)

Gnats:

And the Lord said to Moses: Speak to Aaron: Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, and there shall be gnats throughout the land of Egypt. And they did so, and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and hit the dust of the earth, and it became gnats, in man and beast; all the dust of the earth became lice in all the land of Egypt. (8:12-13)

But from the fourth plague on, there are a number of significant changes: (1) The plagues only affected those places where the Egyptians lived, but did not affect the Israelites ("And on that day I shall separate the land of Goshen... and I shall make a division between My people and your people" - 8: 18-19); (2) The court magicians are no longer able, with their arcane arts, to duplicate the plagues which God brings upon the Egyptians (this already began with the third plague); indeed, they barely attempt to do so. (3) The Torah emphasizes that the purpose of the plagues is to make known, both to the Egyptians and to the Israelites, God's greatness and exclusive sovereignty ("that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land" - 8: 18; "so that you may know that there is none like Me throughout the land... that you may tell My name throughout the land" - 9:14-15; "you shall know that I am the Lord" - 10:2; and similar verses). (4) Concerning our subject: after the third plague, the use of the staff ceases.

The conclusion called for, in my opinion, is that the staff was seen as a quasi-magical instrument, whose purpose was to prove the ability of Moses and Aaron to hold their own - and more - against the Egyptian magicians. Once this goal had been achieved, it is hardly used again at all. The more important and authentic message of the Torah is that of the dominion of the One God over the entire world, who at His will makes miracles and wonders on behalf of his people at His will, without any need for magical practices, as if He can be manipulated by secret arts known only to the few. This may also explain why the staff, which was originally Moses', became the staff of Aaron: because the (highly limited) use of such implements is a priestly function, and as such appropriate to Aaron, and does not belong to the prophetic realm of Moses.

There is one exception to this rule, one in which the staff is used specifically by Moses. At the time of the splitting of the Reed Sea, Moses lifts up his hand while holding the staff, in order to split the waters, and again to return the waters over the Egyptians. This is, if you will, a kind of last and final victory over the Egyptians and their magic:

Lift up your staff, and stretch your hand over the sea and split it, and the children of Israel shall pass through the sea on the dry land... Stretch out your hand over the sea, and the waters shall return over the Egyptians, their chariots and horses. And Moses stretched his hand over the sea, and the water returned before dawn as it was... (Exod 14:16, 26-27)

And now, finally, we turn to this week's reading. During all of the murmurings of the people in the wilderness - in the incident of the quail, that of the spies, the rebellion of Korah - no mention is made of the staff. Here it appears for the last time. God again commands Moses to use the staff, but only in order to gather the people together. Instead, Moses expresses doubt in his own ability - and in that of God - to take water out of the rock. Rather than speaking to the rock, hits it with the staff. I bring the text in full:

And the Israelites, the entire congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin, in the first month, and the people dwelt in Kadesh. And Miriam died there and she was buried there. And there was no water for the congregation, and they gathered against Moses; and the people quarreled with Moses, and they said: Would that we would have died when our brethren died before the Lord. Why have you brought the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness to die here, we and our cattle. And why have you taken us up out Egypt to bring us to this bad place: a place without seed, there are no figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink. And Moses and Aaron turned away from the people to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and fell upon their faces, and the Glory of the Lord appeared to them.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Take the staff and gather the people, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give its waters. And you shall take water out of the rock, and water the people and their cattle. And Moses took the staff before the Lord as he was commanded, and Moses and Aaron gathered the people together opposite the rock. And he said to them: Listen, you rebellious ones, shall we take water for you out of this rock. And Moses lifted up his hand, and hit the rock with his staff twice, and much water came out, and he gave to drink to the congregation and their cattle.

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not trusted in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation to the land which I have given them. These are the waters of Merivah ("Dispute") where the children of Israel disputed with the Lord. And He was sanctified therein. (Numbers 20:1-12)

And indeed, I would suggest that Moses' sin was not simply "lack of faith," as many traditional commentators say, but that he used an implement which properly belonged to the world of magic - a tool which had been used in Egypt merely in order to speak to them "in their own language," a language close to that of the world of paganism and idolatry. Here, in the wilderness, it was neither appropriate nor needed. He should have "sanctified Me" - that is, project a message of faith in the God who rules over the entire world as He wills, without any need of magical implements or gimmicks of any sort.

Two parting comments, the first perhaps a bit caustic: There is a familiar Hebrew children's song, U-Moshe hikha al tzur - "And Moses hit the rock, and water came out of it; miracle of miracles, wonder of wonders, Amen Selah." There is no mention in this song that the Torah presents this story as the reason for which Moses was punished. What does this say about the secular culture out of which it sprung?

A second comment: In this Torah portion we encounter another implement which many understood as a magical tool: the serpent of bronze which Moses made in order to cure those people who had been bitten by real snakes (Num 21: 4-9). Hazal already noticed the problematic nature of this story, and took care to make clarify: "And does the [bronze] serpent give death or bring to life? Rather, when Israel looked upwards and submitted their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they were healed; and if not, they [their wounds] putrefied" (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 3.8). But in the end, more than half a millennium later, the same bronze serpent became an object of worship in the folk religion, close to paganism. It was called Nehushtan and was even offered incense until King Hezekiah, the great religious reformer, came along and broke it into pieces (2 Kings 18:4).

Rabbi Yehonatan Chipman is a translator by profession, specializing in Jewish studies. He writes a weekly sheet (in English) on the portion of the week and the haftara, titled "Hitsei Yehonatan". (Anyone interested in ordering a sample of subscription can write via email to: yonarand@internet-zahav.net.

 

God has no desire for human sacrifices

Thus says Scripture: "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; A wise man captivates people." (Proverbs 11:30) If one be righteous, even if he be a tzaddik, but does not engage in Torah, he is empty handed. "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life" - this is Torah, for by being a ben Torah, he learns how to win over souls, as it written, "A wise man captivates people." For if he vows to order souls, he learns from the Torah how to do so. And if he has no Torah, he has nothing. So you find in the case of Yiftach the Giladi; because he was not a ben Torah, he lost his daughter. When? When he waged war against the people of Ammon, and vowed, as is written "And Yiftach made the following vow to the Lord… whatever comes out… shall be the Lord's and shall be offered by me as a burnt offering." (Judges 11:30-31) At that time, The Holy One, Blessed Be He, was angry with him. He said: Had there come out of his house a dog or a pig or a camel, it would sacrifice it before me? Therefore He arranged that his daughter come out. What is the purpose of this? So that all who vow will carefully learn the laws of vows and oaths, so that they do not err in their vows.

 "There was his daughter coming out to meet him… on seeing her, he rent his clothes and said ‘Alas, daughter… for I have uttered a vow to the Lord and I cannot retract" (Ibid, 34-35) But Pinchas was present!? Why did he say "I cannot retract"? But Pinchas said: I am a high priest, how can I go to a boor? Yiftach said: I am head of the judges of Israel, head of the officers - I shall go before a commoner?! Between the two of them, the poor girl lost her life. Both were liable for her blood. Pinchas - the Holy Spirit left him; Yiftach - his bones were dispersed, as is written: "and he was buried in the towns of Gilead" (Ibid. 12:7)

Because he wanted to sacrifice her, she cried before him. His daughter said to him, Father, I went out to greet you in joy, and now you slaughter me? Did The Holy One, Blessed Be He, write in his Torah that Israel should offer up before The Holy One, Blessed Be He, human sacrifices? Does it not say in the Torah "When any of you presents an offering of cattle to the Lord, he shall choose his offering from the herd" - from the herd, not from humans. He replied: My daughter, I vowed, "Whatever comes out of the door of my house . . . shall be offered by me…" Can one who has vowed not fulfill his vow? She said to him, Our father Jacob vowed, "From all that you will give me I will give a tenth, (Bereishet 28:22) and The Holy One, Blessed Be He, gave him twelve sons, did he offer up one?... All these things she said to him, but he did not listen to her. When she saw that he was not listening to her, she said, give me leave and I will go before a Bet Din, perhaps they will find a way to release you of your vow… she went before them, but they found no way to nullify the vow, because of their sin in slaughtering members of the tribe of Efrayim… for God had concealed the Halacha from them, so that they do not find a way to release Yiftach of his vow. He went up and slaughtered her. And the Holy Spirit screams out: Did I want to offer before me that "which I never commanded, never decreed, and never entered my thoughts". (Jeremiah 19:5) I did not command Avraham to slaughter his son, but I told him: "Do not raise your hand against the boy" - to notify to all the world of Abraham's love, who did not spare his only son from me, to perform the will of his Creator. I did not tell Yiftach to sacrifice his daughter.

(Tanhuma, BeHukotai, 5)

 

 

 

 

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