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Please mail a check to:
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Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
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For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
Thoughtful words have power. Every moment’s uniqueness allows each of us to enter a “promised land” with an even more promising future. Learning the lessons of Parashat Hukkat with Rabbi Matt Berkowitz.
At its essence, Parashat Hukkat brims with questions and mystery.
From its opening with the curious purification ritual of the “red heifer” to the water crisis at Kadesh to the bizarre copper serpent of Moses, we seem to be wrestling with far more queries than answers. One of the most cryptic episodes of this week’s parashah is connected to drought in the immediate aftermath of Miriam’s death. The People rise up against Moses and Aaron, demanding water to drink. Moses and Aaron “fall on their faces.” God tells Moses to take his brother Aaron, rod in hand, assemble the community, and speak to the rock. Moses strikes the rock, water flows, and God punishes Moses. God turns to Moses and Aaron, declaring, “Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you will not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them” (Num. 20:12).
יַ֚עַן לֹא־הֶאֱמַנְתֶּ֣ם בִּ֔י לְהַ֨קְדִּישֵׁ֔נִי לְעֵינֵ֖י בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל לָכֵ֗ן לֹ֤א תָבִ֙יאוּ֙ אֶת־הַקָּהָ֣ל הַזֶּ֔ה אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־נָתַ֥תִּי לָהֶֽם׃
What was Moses’s egregious act that he deserves such a severe punishment?
Rabbi Shmuel Avidor Hacohen explains,
Many commentators exhausted themselves in an effort to understand why this excessive punishment is levied against Moses for striking the rock rather than speaking to it. Clearly, Moses intended good as he wanted to bring quenching waters his people; he struck the rock exactly as he had done before immediately after the Israelites left Egypt . . . Torah, however, is coming to teach us that a leader who ceases believing in the power of the spoken word, who fails to believe in his power or persuasion, and who begins to raise his voice forcefully in place of rational explanations, is no longer fit to lead the Israelites into the Land of Israel.
The ethical authority of a leader ceases the moment a leader begins to use violence and force; and it is for this reason that Moses is punished. The purpose is to demonstrate a vital lesson to future generations and leaders: when it is possible to achieve one’s goal through the spoken word and through explaining one’s self, it is forbidden to use coercion, force or the power of the stick (Likrat Shabbat [trans. from the Hebrew], 161–162).
Too often, in the heat of a moment, we resort to force, power, or coercion. Even when we are impatient with others and feel that we are indeed fully “in the right,” as wise leaders we must take a step back, decompress, and use healing words that bring about a constructive resolution. Moses tragically missed his opportunity—and even more tragically, it led to the loss of his redemptive moment of bringing the Israelites into the Promised Land.
While thoughtful, rational words are important, it is also vital to learn another lesson. Whereas striking the rock “worked” in the immediate aftermath of the Exodus, it failed Moses in this context.
A leader cannot act in a simple rote, formulaic, or Pavlovian way. Solutions must be tailored to each unique circumstance. Becoming aware of the power of thoughtful words and the uniqueness of every moment ultimately allows each of us to enter a “promised land” with an even more promising future.
With continued prayers for the return of our hostages, for Israel and for the entire Jewish world .
Shabbat shalom from the Schechter Institutes
image; Jacopo Tintoretto – Moses Drawing Water from the Rock, 1577 Scuola Grande di San Rocco (via wikicommons)
Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz, an accomplished educator and artist, brings decades of experience in development to his position. From 1999 to 2008, he served as JTS’s Senior Rabbinic Fellow based in NY and Florida, responsible for cultivating and expanding the donor base and teaching adult learning study groups throughout the United States. From 2009, he served as Director of Israel Programs for JTS working closely with rabbinical and cantorial students to significantly enrich their Israel experience.
He is a founding partner of Kol HaOt studio project in Jerusalem’s Artist Lane — which weaves the arts deeply into Jewish learning.
Rabbi Berkowitz is the author and illuminator of the widely used The Lovell Haggadah published by Schechter in 2008.
Matt is a Wexner Graduate fellow alumnus and serves on the faculty of The Wexner Heritage Program.
He is married to Nadia Levene and the proud father of three children.
