Rokut, losing Miriam.

It's a scene that still has the power to shock and disturb.

The people complain. There's no water.

It's an old complaint and a predictable one.

That's what happens in a desert.

Moses should have been able to handle it with ease.

He'd been through far tougher challenges in his time.

Yet suddenly at Maymariva, the waters of contention, he exploded into vituperative anger.

Listen, you rebels, shall we bring you water out of this rock? Moses raised his hand and struck

the rock twice with his staff. In past essays, I've argued that Moses didn't sin.

It was simply that he was the right leader for the generation that left Egypt,

but not the right leader for their children who would cross the Jordan

and engage in conquering a land and building a society.

The fact that he wasn't permitted to lead the next generation wasn't a failure.

It was just an inevitability.

As a group of slaves facing freedom, a new relationship with God and a difficult journey

physically and spiritually, the children needed a strong leader capable of contending with

them and with God.

But as builders of a new society, they needed a leader who

wouldn't do the work for them, but would instead inspire them to do it for themselves.

The face of Moses was like the sun, says the Talmud, the face of Joshua, like the moon.

The difference is that sunlight is so strong it leaves no work for a candle to do.

...