‘Taken’  Parashat Vayera 5785

Abraham is sitting in his tent and while he has only recently undergone circumcision at the ripe old age of ninety-nine, he is still on the prowl for guests. He looks up and sees three travellers, weary from must have been a long journey. Not knowing that these “travellers” are actually angels, he invites them into his tent and tells them [Bereishit 18:4-5]: “Please let a little water be taken (yukach), and bathe your feet, and recline under the tree. I will take (v’ekcha) a loaf of bread and sustain your hearts”. A “loaf of bread” was only the beginning. Abraham runs to Sarah and tells her to take the finest flour she had and to bake some bread. Then he runs to the flock, picks a good looking calf, slaughters it and cooks up some steaks. Finally, he lays everything out before his guests [Bereishit 18:8]: “He took cream and milk[1] and the calf that he had prepared, and he placed [them] before them, and he was standing over them under the tree, and they ate.” All for three people he had never met before. Abraham, even when hobbled, exhibited unparalleled kindness.

Rashi[2] notices that while Abraham actively gives his guests bread, burgers and a milkshake, the pouring of water on the feet of his guests is passive. Abraham does not say the active “I will take water” but, rather, the passive “Let water be taken[3]”, apparently, by some third party. Rashi comments that as Abraham washed the feet of his guests through a messenger, G-d rewarded his children with water through a messenger, as it is said [Bemidbar 20:11]: “Moshe raised his hand, and he struck the rock [and water gushed out].” To get a better understanding of Rashi’s comment, we must look at his source, in the Talmud in Tractate Beva Metzia [86b]: “Every action that Abraham performed himself for the ministering angels, G-d performed Himself for Abraham’s descendants. And every action that Abraham performed through a messenger, G-d likewise performed for his descendants through a messenger.” The Talmud brings a number of examples. For instance, just as Abraham gave his guests bread, G-d, Himself, gave the Jewish People manna in the desert [Shemot 16:4]: “Behold, I will cause to rain bread from heaven for you”. Just as Abraham gave his guests meat, G-d, Himself, gave the Jewish People quail [Bemidbar 11:31]: “And there went forth a wind from G-d, and brought across quails from the sea”. But because Abraham poured his guests water via a messenger, G-d gave the Jewish People water through a messenger [Shemot 17:6]: “You [Moshe] shall strike the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink”.

Comparing Rashi’s words to his source in the Talmud reveals something striking: Rashi is quoting the wrong verse as his source. While the Talmud quotes a verse from the Book of Shemot describing how Moshe drew water from a stone soon after the exodus. Rashi quotes a verse from the Book of Bemidbar describing how Moshe drew water from a stone nearly forty years later. Not only does Rashi quote the wrong verse, he quotes a very wrong verse. When Moshe strikes the second time, he is blatantly disobeying G-d’s orders to speak to the rock. As a result, G-d punishes Moshe and Aaron, forbidding them from ever entering the Land of Israel. But when Moshe strikes the rock the first time, it is at the explicit direction from G-d. The verse that Rashi brings colours the entire concept, insinuating that G-d giving something to the Jewish People via a messenger is a bad thing. Says who? Doesn’t G-d always work through messengers? G-d did not bring the Jewish People quail with His Bare Hands – He sent “a wind”. Shouldn’t the wind be considered a messenger?

Before we propose a solution, we will take a closer look at the episode alluded to by the Talmud in which Moshe strikes the rock. The Jewish People, only a few days crossing the Red Sea, enter the desert and, unsurprisingly, they thirst for water. When they complain to Moshe, he asks them why they are being so contentious. Unsurprisingly, Moshe’s response makes them even more contentious, accusing him of taking them out of Egypt in order to make them die of thirst. Moshe turns to G-d for help, saying [Shemot 17:4] “What shall I do with this people? Before long they will be stoning me!” G-d answers Moshe [Shemot 17:6] “I will be standing there before you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock (ha’selah) and water will issue from it, and the people will drink.” Notice that the use of the definite article (heh ha’yediah) – strike the rock – means that G-d is referring to a specific, ostensibly well-known, rock. Which specific rock is He referring to?

Rabbi Nir Weinberg, the Rabbi of the town of HaZor’im, near Tiberias, draws our attention to another use of the word “the rock”. Moshe is trying to convince G-d to forgive the Jews for the sin of the Golden Calf (egel). He asks G-d [Shemot 33:18] “Let me behold Your Presence!” G-d offers Moshe the best seat in the house [Shemot 33:21-22]: “See, there is a place near Me. Station yourself on the rock. and, as My Presence passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and shield you with My Hand until I have passed by.” Which rock is He referring to? The Ibn Ezra answers, again unsurprisingly, that “the rock” is “Mount Sinai”, the rock upon which Moshe had just spent forty days and forty nights studying Torah. Reflecting this insight back onto the first story of Moshe striking the rock, Moshe must have struck Mount Sinai, which began to gush with water. This is not merely alluded to, it is clearly stated. Scripture tells us that “the rock” was in “Horeb”, another name for Mount Sinai.

The resetting of the scene so that it occurs not with some random rock in some random location in the desert, but rather, on Mount Sinai, gives the scene a very different hue. When G-d tells Moshe “I will be standing before you on the rock”, He is not merely giving Moshe a geographic location. How can G-d stand “[together] with Moshe”? After all, to quote R’ Moishy Tannenbaum, “G-d is here, G-d is there, G-d is surely everywhere”. I suggest that the fact that Moshe draws water specifically from Mount Sinai, the Gateway to Heaven, the place in which G-d’s Divine Presence came as close as it would ever come our corporeal world, is teaching that when Moshe acted as a Divine Emissary, he served as a perfect conduit. He transmitted everything he was tasked to transmit and added nothing that he was not tasked to transmit. Moshe was the corporeal arm of an infinite G-d. Moshe didn’t bring forth water, G-d did. In the same way, the wind didn’t bring the quail, G-d did.

With this insight, we can see the words of the Talmud in a new light. As long as the messenger remains a conduit, it makes no difference if an action is performed by the messenger or by G-d Himself. In Abraham’s case, the identity of the person who washes the guests’ feet, is not even mentioned. Because when Abraham gives foot-washing to a messenger, he does so in order to free himself to prepare dinner, so as to better offer kindness to his guests. As far as G-d is concerned, Abraham did everything himself. Why, then, does Rashi replace the verse quoted in the Talmud with a different verse? Because Rashi is not only explaining, he is teaching. As long as the earthly messenger performs G-d’s charge precisely as charged, he becomes the Hand of G-d. But if he strays from his mandate, by even one iota, he can no longer be considered a Divine messenger. Why does Moshe strike the rock instead of speaking to it, as G-d had commanded? Rashi suggests that Moshe was afraid that the next time the Jewish People sinned, G-d would compare them to that rock, the rock that did exactly as it was commanded, and yet the Jewish People were incapable of doing the same. A nation that was not even as good as a rock would not deserve to survive. Moshe hit the rock so that the Jewish People should live. But by using his own calculations to justify hitting that rock, Moshe demonstrated that he could no longer serve as a Divine Messenger.

The actions of the fathers our signposts for their descendants. In our service of G-d, we must act in the way we believe G-d wants us to act, not in the way we wish He would.

Ari Sacher, Moreshet, 5785

Please daven for a Refu’a Shelema for Shlomo ben Esther, Sheindel Devorah bat Rina, Esther Sharon bat Chana Raizel, and Meir ben Drora.

[1] Abraham seemingly serving meat and milk to his guests is a topic for another essay.

[2] Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, known by his acronym “Rashi,” was the most eminent of the medieval commentators. He lived in northern France in the 11^th century.

[3] “Yukach” is in the Hebrew “pu’al” form.