Komentarz do Liczb 21:17

עלי באר COME UP, WELL from the valley and bring up what you have to bring up! — Whence do we know that it was the well that announced to them these miracles as it is stated above? Because it is said: ומשם בארה “and from there to the well”. For you cannot say that it means: “from that place was (they got) the well”, because was it indeed from there that they got it? Had it not been with them from the beginning of the forty years’ wanderings? But it means that from there it flowed down to the Israelites to proclaim the miracles! Then again, also, the paragraph beginning with the words: אז ישיר … השירה הזאת were spoken at the end of the forty years whilst the well was given them at the beginning of the forty, and what reason then can there be to write it as late as here. But the subject of the song has to be explained in connection with what precedes it (that it was a summons to the well to bring up the bodies of the slain) (Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 20).

אז ישיר ישראל, Then Israel sang, etc. What precisely was the point of this song? Besides, why had the Israelites not acknowledged the mannah by a song just as they acknowledged the water? The entire paragraph needs explaining. Perhaps the entire song really was an acknowledgement of the Torah. This is why one cannot criticise that generation for not breaking out in a song of thanksgiving when the Torah was described as its מורשה, something precious left to them as an ongoing possession (Deut. 33,4). The reason is that the people had already acknowledged the gift of the Torah in the song recorded here, the song acknowledging "water." After all, Torah has frequently been compared to a well of water. It is called "well" because it originates with G'd the ultimate well from which all springs forth. It is also called "water" as it symbolises water and its life-giving properties. When the people sang עלי באר, "arise o well," this was not a reference to the physical well and the waters beneath the earth's surface, but to a celestial well. The words ענו לה are similar to Exodus 15,23 ותען להם מרים, the responsive nature of the chant.

אז ישיר ישראל את השירה הזאת, “Then Israel sang this song:” According to the plain meaning of the text the principal content of this song is the reference to the Emorites who drowned in the river Arnon and whose blood mingled with the waters from the well which accompanied the Israelites on their journeys (compare Rashi). This might account for the mention of ואת והב בסופה ואת הנחלים ארנון, “and the gift of [the Sea of Reeds and the rivers of Arnon”] (verse 14).
Personally, I believe the meaning of the verse is that what occurred there was also recorded in the Book of the wars G’d fought on behalf of the Israelites, and the word בספר in verse 14 does not mean “book” so much as “enumeration;” i.e. this “war” which the Israelites only learned about after they saw all the blood in the river Arnon was accounted another one of the wars recorded for posterity. G’d had destroyed a town known as והב by means of a tornado or something like it, סופה being a reference to a great storm. The tributaries of the river Arnon were also destroyed by that storm.
A Midrashic approach based on Tanchuma Chukat 20: the words את והב בסופה mean “what He had given to them (the miracles G’d performed, i.e. the assistance He had given) at the Sea of Reeds.” The words ואת הנחלים ארנון mean “and the rivers and the miracles He performed for them at the river Arnon and its tributaries.” What precisely were the miracles performed at Arnon? Answer: אשד נחלים “so much blood was poured into these rivers that they looked red.” Onkelos uses the word שפך here for the spilling of the blood of the Emorites, a similar expression he used in Leviticus 4,12 on the words אל שפך הדשן, which he renders as מישד קיטמא, a place for shedding blood.
The background to all this is the tradition that the Emorites were hiding in the clefts of these high rocks on either side of the river Arnon. The river was narrow but deep, its banks forming a deep canyon. The opposite sides of the rocks were so close together that people on one side could converse with those on the opposite side. However, the only way they could get across to one another was by first descending to the river and then climbing the cliffs on the opposite bank. The Emorites planned to exploit this phenomenon to ambush the Israelites when the latter would attempt to cross the river by bombarding them from above with a hail of all kinds of missives, rocks, burning torches, etc. G’d brought about a storm or earthquake which banged together the two opposing sides of these cliffs squashing he Emorites who had been hiding inside them. The blood of these people drenched the river so that the Israelites did not even become aware of their miraculous escape until hey saw that the river had become red with blood. This was the comparison with what happened at the Sea of Reeds that our verses alluded to in poetical form. The words אשר נטה, “when it veered,” in verse 15, describes the motion of the cliff in the opposite direction toward Moav during this happening. The cliff then stuck to its opposite number across the river.

From within the valley. Rashi says “from within the valley” because one always arises from a low place to a higher place. And because the meaning of the word “arise” was not that it would come up, rather that the limbs would come forth so that Yisroel should be aware of the miracles that were done for them, Rashi added the words “and lift…” Nonetheless, since by arising it would lift up, the Torah wrote עלי ["arise"] rather than העלי ["lift"].

V. 17. אז ישיר, damals, als ihnen der Brunnen wieder gegeben werden sollte, עלי באר, das Volk rief ihn wieder herauf aus der Tiefe, ענו לה, es ist ein Brunnen, den man mit Wettgesang aus seiner Tiefe heben kann; wie er geistig entstanden, horcht er auch auf den ihn wieder weckenden Ruf.

It was then that Yisroel sang. Since it does not say, “It was then that Moshe and Bnei Yisroel sang,” we understand that Yisroel recited this song about Moshe, for the well was returned to them in his merit, after it had ceased with the death of Miriam. For this reason Miriam is not mentioned in this song, and Moshe is mentioned, alluded to in the verse: “The well dug by princes, that the nobles of the nation excavated, through the lawgiver (מחוקק).” The expression “lawmaker” refers to Moshe, as it says (Devarim 33:21), “for there the great scribe’s (מחוקק) burial plot is concealed.” In Taanis (9a), the conclusion is that the well came back in the merit of Moshe.

אז ישיר ישראל, At that point Israel broke out in a song of thanksgiving; when the people took possession of this well their hearts were full of gratitude, as they had previously been afraid of if not dying from thirst themselves, their livestock dying due to a shortage of drinking water. According to Rashi, Moses did not join in that song, seeing that according to Onkelos as well as Targum Yonathan ben Uzziel, Moses and Aaron had dug that well. (Compare verse 20)

Sing to it! The entire song was not recited by the congregation of Yaakov. Rather, it was Yisroel, the great Torah scholars, who sang it. They recited it to the entire nation, and the people answered to each stanza: “Arise, O well.” Such a method was also used for reciting Hallel, as explained in Perek Arvei Pesachim.

אז, “then,” i.e. after G-d had provided them with the well from which to slake their thirst, they broke out in a song of thanksgiving. This song has not been recorded at the time it had been sung because at the same time this location had become the one at which both Moses and Aaron had been punished. When the time came to make a specific reference to that well, the Torah also reported this song that the Israelites had sung. An alternate interpretation about the meaning of the line: 'בספר מלחמות ה, “in the Book recording the wars of the Lord:” This book was comparable to the Book of Chronicles kept by every nation in which a record has been made of all the wars between one nation and its neighbours, in which its victories have been recorded.

ומשם בארה, “and from there to the well;” from there (the river Arnon) the stream of blood flowed all the way to the well which was the source of drinking water for the Israelites. When the people realized their miraculous escape upon seeing this blood, they immediately composed the song of thanksgiving described in verses 17-20.

Was it from there? Meaning: The Torah says (v. 18), “From the wilderness as a gift,” meaning that it was given to them at the time they came into the wilderness.

חפרוה שרים, which the princes dug. Bereshit Rabbah 64, states that by means of Torah study man is able to make repairs to celestial sources called באר, "well." The extent of the "repair" achieved depends on the depth of the Torah study by the individuals concerned and the spiritual level of those scholars. The Patriarchs who were on a very exalted spiritual level dug this "well," and made its waters fit to drink. This is the mystical dimension of Genesis 29,10 והאבן גדולה על פי הבאר, ויגל את האבן העל פי הבאר וישק את הצאן. "The stone was large on the mouth of the well, and he (Jacob) rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the flocks." From that moment on the Torah was fit to be given to the people of Israel although the stage had not yet been reached where Israel could drink from it. This stage was not reached until Moses "dug" in it, i.e. brought it down to the Jewish people from Mount Sinai. The שרים in our verse are the Patriarchs, the נדבי העם is a reference to Moses. Subsequently the Torah was handed from generation to generation through the elders, the prophets, and eventually, through the Men of the Great Assembly. These people explained the Torah and its secrets. The meaning of the words כרוה נדיבי העם is that if we have only the written Torah without the oral Torah we cannot drink from the Torah's waters.

עלי באר ענו לה, “arise O well sing unto it” The verb ענה, is used in a similar manner Deuteronomy 27,14: וענו הלויים, “the Levites responded at the top of their voices.”

The expression: את והב (verse 14) is to be understood as being a single word, just as the word אתיהב, where the letter ו has been exchanged for the letter א. We have a parallel for this in Genesis 45,1 where Joseph is described as misrepresenting himself with the word: בהתודע, a word from the root ידע. Another example of such an unusual construction is found in Genesis 27,29, where Yitzchok in his blessing to Yaakov is quoted as saying: הוה גביר לאחיך, “be senior over your brothers.” We would have expected the word: היה instead of הוה. It, i.e. the word והב is intended as an alternative to נתינה as in “gift,” as in Numbers 26,62, כי לא נתן להם נחלה, “for no ancestral piece of land had been given to to them.” The Targumim, translators into Aramaic, render the word נתן there as אתיהב. Here where we hear about the defeat of the King of Moav against Sichon of the Emorites, the words ואת והב בסופה, mean that that king at the end of that war had had to cede lands to the victor.

במחקק במשענתם refers to the additional insights into Torah the scholars have revealed throughout the generations. These insights are likened to someone who adds decrees to existing decrees, not comparable to the earlier generations who have truly dug to explore primary meanings of the Torah. Even the additional aspects of Torah discovered by scholars in recent generations were discovered only with the help of the earlier generations, i.e. במשענתם, by using them as a crutch. We are not free to innovate new meanings and הלכות unless we can show that our conclusions are the direct continuation of the path in Torah shown us by the earlier generations of scholars.

This included the valley of the river Arnon. The well (through the rock) from which the Israelites were provided with water after Miriam’s death therefore was directly connected to what had once been Moav.

The Torah goes on וממדבר מתנה, "and from the wilderness to Matanah." This is a hint that whatever Torah-scholarship we acquire is due only to our first making ourselves like a wilderness, as we explained on Exodus 19,2 on the words "they camped in the desert." Torah can be acquired only by men who first train themselves to be humble. The Torah goes on in verse 19 וממתנה נחליאל, "and from Matanah to Nachliel." This is an allusion to the fact that G'd inherited us as it were by means of the Torah which He gave to us. This is spelled out in Deut. 32,9 יעקב חבל נחלתו. The words also mean that G'd chose only us as we know from Psalms 135,4: "for the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel as His treasured possession." He even left His abode in heaven and took up residence amongst us.

ומנחליאל במות, "and from Nachliel to Bamot." Due to the fact that we have become His inheritance, He has turned us into במות, someone on a high elevation, i.e. higher than the angels. The Torah goes on ומבמות הגיא אשר בשדה מואב, "and from Bamot to the valley which is in the field of Moav." This whole line is a reminder that the principal reward for מצוה--performance is not in this world, "in the valley," but in a higher world and that in this world true spiritual wealth cannot be achieved.

As a result of the foregoing considerations it is essential that man must be removed from this earth in order for him to receive the full reward he is entitled to at the hands of G'd. When it appears to us that death has been caused by sin, this means that but for sin man would live on earth forever. If that were so, how could G'd pay man the reward due to him for his good deeds, etc.? Kabbalists answer that had it not been for sin, man would have ascended to heaven and have been allocated appropriate accomodation there. The prophet Elijah is an example of someone who had not died and who ascended to heaven in order to receive the reward due to him. It is true that the body finds it impossible to survive in those regions even after it has been refined to the highest degree possible so that it is has become comparable to something spiritual. Still, such spirituality is as nothing when compared to the higher degrees of spirituality. Our sages in the Zohar, volume 1, page 209 explain that as soon as Elijah had reached the domain (galaxy) of the sun (in his ascent) he was stripped of his body, leaving it behind in that domain. Whenever he has occasion to descend to earth to fulfil his various assignments, he picks up his body in the גלגל חמה before completing his journey to earth. Our sages have also said that at the moment G'd gave the Torah to the Jewish people they were freed from the need to die and became like original man before the sin. They allude (Exodus 32,16) to this by reading the expression charut al haluchot as cherut al haluchot (compare Shemot Rabbah 41,7). Since this was the new found status of the Israelites, at that time, they too ascended to the domain (galaxy) of the sun and divested themselves of their bodies there, just as Elijah did many years later. When the Torah writes here מבמות הגיא, "from the heights to the valley," this describes the subsequent descent of the Jewish people from their places in the celestial domain to a domain called "valley," i.e. the grave. This valley was in the "field of Moav," i.e. the earth is called "field." The resason the Torah speaks of מואב is a reference to the "Father" who has created the universe.

Alternatively, the word שדה refers to woman who has also been called שדה as we know from Zohar volume 1 page 36. The meaning of the verse then would be as follows: "the valley (grave) which was a state reached due to woman, who had been formed out of the "father" of all mankind, Adam, is the only one who had been created in this fashion, part of the rib of Adam, her husband." She had become the cause of mortality of man so that man's bones (remains) are buried in the grave, i.e. בגיא. This situation can be retrieved only by means of the Torah which is the remedy that can help us be restored to the condition of Adam before the sin. When man achieves that state his body will be of the order of the "valley" in the Celestial Regions, just as it used to be when G'd had created it.

I do not know the precise parameter of the region the Torah describes as ראש הפסגה. Perhaps it is a place in higher Celestial Regions, the area where G'd keeps the souls before they are assigned to bodies or after they have returned from earth. This might be alluded to by the words ונשקפה על פני הישימון, "looking down upon the desert" in verse 20. The word ישימון is connected to שממה, a wasteland, the letter י suggesting a land which is going to be laid waste. It may also be called thus as an allusion to the evil urge as it tries to dominate and lay waste all creatures. The area it looks down upon is the galaxy of the sun where all the people destined for the גיא, the grave, are found. The upshot of the paragraph is that the useful function of the Torah is that it enables both body and soul to remain alive.