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

(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

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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