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June 29, 2001/Tamuz 8, 5761, Vol. 53, No.39
Thinking before speaking
Torah Study
RABBI SHAUL FEINBERG
Chukat/Numbers 19:1-22:1
People should think before they speak. This is common sense, but judging from the number of miscommunications and painful verbal exchanges that occur each day, this sense is not so common - even for Moses and Aaron in this week's portion, Chukat.
Confronted by the people's bitter complaints about the lack of water, God counsels Moses and Aaron to speak to the rock so that it will bring forth water.
However, rather than use words, Moses takes his staff and hits the rock, not once but twice. The people now have water to drink, but their leaders are reprimanded for not obeying God exactly. We learn that because they did not publicly show faith in God's enabling them to provide water through words, Moses and Aaron's punishment was severe: They were denied entry to the Promised Land.
Maimonides gives another reason for their punishment in his Introduction to the Mishnah: Moses' and Aaron's display of anger deviated from the mean of patience. Such behavior in our leaders is considered a chilul HaShem, "desecration of God's Name." It was their frustration with themselves at not being able to constantly satisfy the needs of the people that provoked their words of biting, demeaning sarcasm: "Listen, you rebels (morim), shall we get water for you out of this rock?" (Numbers 20:10)
Midrashic wordplay on morim, which also means "teachers" (Numbers Rabbah 19:9), indicates another significant deficiency on the leaders' part. It interprets Moses' and Aaron's reply as a rebuke to the people: "Listen, do you presume to be teachers, daring to teach us, who are your teachers?" We would have expected empathy with the plight of this stiff-necked people instead of such a harsh response.
Knowledge and wisdom, passion and humility are prerequisites for educational leadership. What kind of example is Moses setting here?
The Babylonian Talmud (Eruvin 65b) teaches that each person - not just teachers and leaders - can improve himself or herself. A person is known according to kiso (his or her pocket), how generous that individual is with material means; koso (his or her glass), his or her drinking (and eating) habits; and ka-aso (his or her anger), how that person manages his or her tendencies toward anger.
How do we use the sacred gift of speech to inspire such faith? We learn that when God breathed life into Adam and Eve, each one became a nefesh chayah, "a living creature ... a speaking spirit."
Every moment, we are confronted with a fateful choice of words: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." (Proverbs 18:21)
How do we - leaders and citizens, mentors and learners, parents and children - use our words during moments of tension and frustration with ourselves or others? Do we use words that heal or harm?
God's words are known through the teaching and deeds of a community's leaders. When crises evoke expressions of bitterness and undignified disdain, which voice do people hear through us?
Thinking creatures become "speaking spirits" if we think before we speak. And each time we speak, we have an opportunity to renew the works of Creation - Baruch she-amar - "God speaks and the world comes to be."
Rabbi Shaul Feinberg, Ph.D., is the associate dean of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem.
Torat Hayim, produced by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, is on the Internet at www.uahc.org/growth.
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