Cytowanie Komentarza do Wyjścia 17:5

Concerning the fact that he had been able to assuage G'd's anger on two critical occasions, he now said that G'd would עובר לפניך, in the sense this word occurred in Exodus 17,5 where G'd had said to Moses עבור לפני העם, suggesting that Moses forgive, "pass over" the sins he had accused the people of committing. At that time, G'd wanted the miracle of producing water to be credited to Moses rather than to Himself. On another occasion, immediately after the sin of the golden calf, G'd had said to Moses: "Let Me be so that I can destroy the people." In other words, it had been G'd who had given Moses a hint that his prayer might help (Exodus 32,9). In view of this Moses said: "He will pass over your sins Himself;" you do not depend on me doing this for you.

קח את המטה והקהל את העדה, “take the staff and assemble the congregation!” According to Rabbi b’chor shor, the instruction to Moses to take the staff was meant in order for him to strike the rock with it which was meant to produce the water. [The instructions addressed to both Moses and Aaron in the same verse, were addressed to both Moses and Aaron who were to speak to the people first Ed.] This was similar to the instructions in Exodus 17,6, except that there the rock was called צור, tzur. At that time G–d was going to provide both bread (heavenly), meat, (quails) and water, each one of which was listed in detail shortly thereafter. The provision of water on both occasions is to be understood as the same miracle, and that is also why the first location was called מסה ומריבה, “trying and strife,” and on this occasion reference is only made to מי מריבה, “waters of strife” (verse 13) When Moses, in retrospect, refers to these events in Deuteronomy 33,8 he uses both expressions in the same verse. They are referred to also in Numbers 20,24:למי מריבה ”at the waters of strife.” Those waters were in the desert of Sin, near Mount Sinai, (during the first year of the Exodus) As far as the instructions here for Moses and Aaron to address the rock by word of mouth, ודברתם אל הסלע, is concerned, they were meant to speak to the people near the rock in order to watch the miracle about to be performed. On the first occasion, Moses took the elders with him, but the people stayed far behind and they did not even witness the striking of the rock. Those elders had long died so that the present generation had not even been told what they had witnessed. (Exodus 17,5) The water at that time formed into a small river and that was where the Israelites filled their buckets from. Moses and Aaron, instead of announcing the miracle about to take place, addressed the people by calling them rebellious, and asking if they really expected that they were worthy of G–d performing such a miracle for them. They should have known that it was not in Moses’ or Aaron’s power to get water out of a stone, so what was the point of accusing them of the shortage of water. Therefore, they should have prayed to G–d in a deferential manner, asking Him to help them in their predicament. If Moses and Aaron had explained all this to them without displaying anger with a thirsty people, the result would have been a great sanctification of the Lord’s name. According to the plain meaning of the text, Moses’ and Aaron’s sin consisted of using the word נוציא לכם מים, “We are going to produce water for you,” instead of saying that “G–d is going to produce water for you.”

And it shall be if they do not believe in this sign alone, for they may say that since they have informers among them like the venom of those who crawl on the earth, their full stature has been lowered to the ground; therefore, as long as this cause remains, there is no remedy. Therefore, it is said, And the Lord said to him again, “Put your hand into your bosom.” With the word again He indicated that the first sign showing the cancellation of the effect is not sufficient, for no effect can be canceled as long as the cause remains. Therefore, you need a second sign indicating the cancellation of the cause, and the cancellation of the cause indicates the cancellation of the effect, for they depend on each other.
We have already said that the sin of the tongue caused all this to them, whether through the sin when Abraham said, How shall I know?, or through the sin when Joseph brought their evil report, for through this the matter developed and they went down to Egypt, or because there were informers among them, as it is said, Indeed the matter is known. The Holy One, blessed be He, showed him that the cause was canceled, for from now on they no longer have evil speech among them.
He hinted at the matter when it was said, Put your hand into your bosom, and, behold, it was leprous as snow. According to our Sages (Exodus Rabbah 3:13), Moses became leprous because he spoke evil of Israel when he said, But behold, they will not believe me. This is a sign that there are no longer those who cause division and speak evil speech in Israel, for if there were those who cause division and evil speech among them, Moses would not have been punished for them. For our Sages have said (Jerusalem Talmud, Peah 1:1) that it is permitted to speak evil of those who cause division. Rather, because this affliction was healed from Israel, Moses was punished for them.
As our Sages have said (Leviticus Rabbah 32:5), Israel was redeemed because there was no evil speech among them. Also, according to its simple meaning, the healing of Moses’s hand hints that the sin of the tongue was healed from Israel, which is the cancellation of the cause, which is a sign of the cancellation of the effect, namely, the Egyptian exile. Later, in the portion of Korach, in the verse, As the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses to him (Numbers 17:5), with God’s help, another reason for the leprosy of Moses’s hand will be explained.