Today is Flag Day in the United States.
Candle Lighting time is 8:33
Chukkas
Remember the Beatles song, Revolution? Well, in this week’s parshah we have yet another revolution against Moses. And you think you have troubles at work?
Following the death of Miriam, the well that had accompanied our ancestors on their journey through the desert stopped flowing. The people were irate and said to Moses, “Would that we had perished when our brethren perished before the LORD! And why have ye brought the assembly of the LORD into the wilderness, to die there, we and our cattle? And wherefore have ye made us come to this place out of Egypt, to bring us unto this evil? it is no place of see, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.”
And Moses thought Pharoah was hard to deal with? With the likes of Korah and these folks to deal with, its no wonder that Moses was at wits end. And so God told Moses he would provide water for the people when Moses spoke to the rock, but Moses finally loses his cool just a little bit in the face of these rebels and instead of speaking to the rock as instructed, taps the rock with his staff and water flows from the rock.
Now it is God who is angry with Moses and Aaron, and He tells them that because they did not follow His instructions, they will not be permitted to enter the Promised Land.
Now I will grant you that Moses should never have disobeyed God, but how many men could have dealt with all that Moses had dealt with without messing up a single time? Couldn’t God have withheld the water when Moses tapped it with his staff and told Moses that he was not following instructions?
Could it be that this incident had to happen so that God could appoint a younger leader, Joshua, to take the new generation into the Holy Land?
What do you think?
The parshah also includes the perplexing story of the red heifer, the death of Aaron, and a crushing military victory over the Amorites.
All in all, a most interesting parshah.
CONGREGATIONAL MEETING
The Annual Meeting of our Congregation will be held on Sunday, June 23, at 2 p.m. in the Shul’s Social Hall. Refreshments will be served. We hope to see you there.