Gifts In The Desert

By: By R’ Mordechai Young

A few weeks before Pesach, Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, zt’l, reached out to Avner Israeli, president of Jewish society at Vilnius University. Avner was part of an organization whose philosophy was different from Torah hashkafah, and Avner wondered why the great rabbi of the generation would want to speak to him, especially so close to yom tov.

Rav Chaim served Avner coffee and tea and made him feel at ease. Then he told Avner that he had heard there were impoverished students who would not have enough money for matzah and wine for the upcoming Seder. Rav Chaim Ozer gave him an envelope with money to give to those students.

Avner was so impressed with the gesture and wondered how a great rabbi who is always getting halachic questions, especially during the busy period before yom tov, would have the time to think of these students. (Story recounted in the Torah Tavlin Haggadah by Rabbi Dovid Hoffman pp. 115-116.)

In this week’s parashah, Chukas, it states the great tzaddekes Miriam was nifteres. In the next pasuk (20-3), “there was not enough water for the congregation.” Rashi quotes the Gemara Taanis 9a and from here we learn that all 40 years they had water in the merit of Miriam. The Gemara there teaches that Rebbi Yossi, the son of Rebbi Yehuda, said: three great providers (righteous people) were there for Am Yisrael: Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam. Three good gifts were given to the people in their merit: the well water, the clouds of glory, and the manna. The water was given in Miriam’s merit, the clouds in Aharon’s merit and the manna in Moshe Rabbeinu’s merit. When Miriam was nifteres, the water stopped flowing and it returned in the merit of both Moshe and Aharon. I was wondering that since the merit of Moshe and Aharon brought the water back, why was there a stoppage at all? Baruch Hashem, I saw that the Maharsha asked the same question, and he answered by saying that the fact that it stopped showed the people that they were receiving the water in her merit. I was thinking, the Gemara in Berachos teaches that water represents Torah. Just like we cannot live without water, we cannot exist without Torah. So, maybe it would have been better to have Moshe Rabbeinu bring the water to begin with? The Sifsei Chachamim answers that since Miriam watched Moshe as a baby in the basket on the Nile River, she had the merit of bringing the water. The Chida asks, why do we have the yom tov of Sukkot to commemorate the clouds of glory but not the other two miracles in the desert (the water and the manna)? He answers that Hashem created us, so he will give us bread and water to sustain us. The clouds of glory demonstrate an extra level of love. They protected us, smoothed the roads ahead, and kept our clothes clean and fresh. Therefore, to show our love back to Hashem, we thank Him.

According to this beautiful dvar Torah, I was wondering why the Gemara stated that we had the water in Miriam’s merit and the manna in Moshe’s. Why did we need their merit given that Hashem created us and will therefore give us food and water? I was thinking that maybe here in the sefer Ben Yehoyada on Taanit by Yosef Hayyim (a major commentary on the Aggadah in the Talmud Bavli, which offers both an analytic as well as kabbalistic interpretations of the narrative). In the sefer Rabbi Yosef Hayyim explains that it states “three good gifts” were given to us. The word tov here (good) shows that it was an outpouring (shefa) of vast abundance (revach), giving us more than we needed and asked for. Like the manna would have been enough with its regular oily taste, we know that it could taste like almost anything we imagined. The water, besides quenching our thirst, would remove any sigim and helped them not to forget Torah. So, we see that yes, Hashem would have given us food and drink, but without the merit of the tzaddikim, we would have gotten only bread and water. It might have come in a difficult fashion as well.

We remember how Hashem not only sustains us, which deserves thanks in itself, but also goes the extra mile to show his love with some extra goodies.

Have a great Shabbos! 

R’ Mordechai Young can be reached for comments at [email protected].