At the thirty-eight year ‘yard line’, Miriam dies, and the well suddenly stops yielding its waters. They protest and complain, demanding water. 

Moshe is upset with the nation and in frustration hits the rock rather than speak to it. 

G-d takes Moshe and Aharon to task, decreeing that they will not be destined to lead the people into the land, remaining shunned from their long-awaited entry to the promised land. 

From this juncture and on, the entire nature of their relationship with their challenges is no longer one where open miracles lead their way.  

They try to negotiate permission with the king of Edom, to take a more direct route to their ultimate destination, and are categorically refused, turning dejectedly away. 

They face their first battle with an enemy who succeeds in taking a captive. Moshe is not depicted as leading them miraculously, leaving them to their own devices in beating down the Canaanite king of Arad. (העמק דבר) 

Longing for the normalcy of a natural existence they deride the miraculous Manna, finding nature rebelling against them with a sudden onslaught of fiery serpents who kill many of them. (חתם סופר, הרשר"ה) 

What changed the course of their journey so suddenly? 

In truth, the Torah begins this recording of events with the introduction of the laws of impurity as they pertain to contact with the dead, and its remedy of the Red Heifer. 

The entire notion of the reality of death was a result of the Sin of the Golden Calf. If not for that failure we would have lived according to the original plan of eternal life on earth. 

It is precisely the ‘Mother Cow’ that must atone and cleanup after its young ‘Calf’. 

The reality of our mortality is reinforced by the recording of the deaths of the remarkable prophetess, Miriam, and the beloved Aharon HaKohen. 

Despite living within the realm of morbidity the nation still lived with open miracles that defied nature. It was only after the failure of Moshe and Aharon at the Waters of Strife, that the world devolved once again. 

The nature of Moshe’s failure is the subject of numerous opinions. 

The Maharal offers a very practical understanding of their error. 

If [Moshe] had been stronger and more steadfast in his faith, he would have experienced the joyous feeling to act without anger. This is what is meant [when G-d tells Moshe and Aharon after this incident], “Since you did not believe in Me.” It would have been proper for Moshe to be strong in his faith, and if he had been strong in his faith in the Almighty, he would have achieved an exalted stature and would have acted with joy, rather than being moved to anger. 

Had Moshe’s emunah been complete, he would have reached the level where he could remain joyous and calm even under the trying circumstances, and he would not have become angry at Bnei Yisrael. 

Certainly, Moshe only erred on a level that is beyond our comprehension, yet for him it was considered a sin. 

The Rambam quotes a remarkable idea on the Mishna in Avos (4, 4), where Rebbe Levitas of Yavneh says, מאוד מאוד הוי שפל רוח — Be exceedingly humble in spirit: 

 I saw in a book on virtues where they asked one of the important pietists (hassid), what was the happiest day of your life? He said: The day I sailed aboard a ship, and I was on the least of the places on the boat, among the baggage, while there were on the boat merchants and men of wealth. I was lying in my place and one of these men on the boat got up to urinate, and I was so exceptionally low in esteem in his eyes, that he exposed his nakedness and urinated on me. I was astonished at the strength of his brazenness in his soul, but I swear by G-d’s life, that my soul was not pained at his behavior at all. My strength was not aroused, and I was so greatly happy that I reached the point that being degraded did not hurt.  

One experiences true joy when one senses that no matter what comes one’s way it is destined from above and precisely the best thing that could happen for his ultimate benefit. 

When we live by the personal expectations we desire and assume are our entitlement, we are doomed to getting frustrated and angry when things do not go according to plan. 

When we submit to His will without expectation, ready to roll with whatever punches come our way, then we may ‘hope’ — not expect, that G-d will intervene for our benefit. However, when we stubbornly continue to expect things to go our way then we are subjected to the consequences of the ‘laws of nature’ and its random results. 

Until we ‘get it’, we will be vulnerable to our enemies and assorted snakes that seek our doom.  

Perhaps the introduction to our portion — the realities of death and its consequences, is instructive in teaching us that after the Sin of the Golden Calf, there is only one item in life one is permitted to expect — death. As the saying alleged to Benjamin Franklin goes: In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes. After that, it is up to us to live without any expectation in any circumstance of life and live the joy that stems from living according to His plan.  

Might that be the intimation in Rebbe Levitas’ statement — to be exceedingly שפל רוח, most times translated as a lowly (humble) spirit, but perhaps may I suggest alternately, a deep breath, a summons to chill and inhale deeply, not reacting per our expectations, but only in submission to a higher will. 

Might that be the deeper understanding of his emphasis in the second half of his prior statement: שתקות אנוש רמה — for the anticipated end of mortal man is worms.  

Man must live life taking calm and deliberate breaths, in not reacting to stimuli beyond his control or expectation, because there is only one thing that one may expect: the worms that will consume your mortal being one day! 

Rav Meilich Biderman tells the story of the great Posek, the Minchas Yitzchok, who headed the Eidah Chareidis. He was a young exceptional scholar who was sought after by many wealthy baalei batim and prominent Torah scholars as a match for their daughters. One girl was fortunate to become his future wife. On the way to the wedding, the mother of the chosson discovered that the kallah possessed a terrible flaw that she felt would doom his marriage and future life. She insisted on canceling the wedding. The young man calmly told his loving and protective mother that he plans on going ahead with the wedding, blemishes notwithstanding. 

He asked his mother to imagine the pain the kallah would experience upon discovering he backed out. She was guiltless, he asserted, as she had no idea her defect was never mentioned.  

He went on to marry her and having one son together. The war broke out. She perished, but he and his son survived. He eventually married two more times but was never blessed with more children. From his only son he merited many descendants. 

He commented later in life that it was clear to him that according to ‘natural law’ he was not destined to have children. It was only because he maintained his cool, never getting frustrated in the fact he married a woman he never expected he would, and because he accepted the will of G-d, doing an extraordinary kindness with faithful joy, that he overcame nature and merited the birth of his only child! 

If we live in a world of expectations, we are limited to its finite offerings. But if we joyously accept the higher will, we stand the chance of experiencing true and miraculous joy in our sojourn in this mortal world! 

אף — angst, equals טבע — nature. (81) 

The counterforce to אף is its acronymous representation,  אמונה פשוטה — simple (and joyous) faith.  

It is the only way to live. No expectations. No disappointments. Only pure and unadulterated joy! 

באהבה, 

צבי יהודה טייכמאן