Parashat Chukat - The Secret of Miriam's Well and the Power of the Tzaddikim

The Departure of the Well and the Search for the Rock

It is brought down in the parashah that Miriam the Prophetess passed away, and then the well departed, and Moshe Rabbeinu had to search for water. The Midrash Rabbah on Parashat Chukat (20:8) states:

"Take the staff and gather the assembly, you and Aharon your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes that it shall give its waters. You shall bring forth water for them from the rock, and give drink to the assembly and their animals."

From here we see that Hashem has pity on the property of Israel. "And Moshe and Aharon gathered the congregation before the rock", the entire congregation, all six hundred thousand, stood next to the rock - the lesser holding the greater. For when a person is holy and pure, then he is "the lesser holding the greater." And each and every individual saw himself standing right before the rock.

The Midrash recounts that when Moshe Rabbeinu went to search for the rock, the people looked and wondered, what is going on here? We thought Moshe would speak: "Rock, rock, give water," and water would start flowing. If they need to search for a rock - that is something suspicious. Why is Moshe searching for a rock? Rather, Moshe must surely know the "rule of the rock" and knows where there is an underground spring, so that if he strikes there, water will come out, and afterward he will tell us that it burst forth on its own miraculously.

So they said to Moshe, do not search for a specific rock, bring forth water from this rock! If your word is fulfilled, and "a tzaddik decrees and Hashem fulfills," then why are you searching for a specific rock? This is suspicious; who knows with what tricks you have performed all the miracles until today?

The Midrash explains that Moshe Rabbeinu was searching for the rock under which Miriam's Well was hidden. Hashem had told him, "and speak to the rock", only to the specific rock, the rock of Miriam. And Moshe sees that the people are rising up, grumbling and complaining, and a desecration of Hashem's Name is already occurring, so he did not know what to do. Perhaps it is "a time to act for Hashem, they have voided Your Torah," and he needs to sanctify Hashem's Name and show the people that water can be brought forth from any rock?

An Awesome Foundation from the Chatam Sofer: The Merit of Miriam

The Chatam Sofer asks, why was there this whole story where Moshe had to bring forth water specifically from a certain rock, why let the people suspect Moshe, and from this suspicion came about what came about? The Chatam Sofer reveals to us an awesome foundation. Hashem came to teach us something entirely new. Hashem could have brought forth water for us from any rock, but Hashem wanted to tell us, so that we would know until the end of all generations, that all the water we will ever have is in the merit of Miriam the Prophetess, this is the merit of that righteous woman who had self-sacrifice for Moshe Rabbeinu.

As it is written (Shemot 2:4):

"And his sister stood from afar, to know what would be done to him."

She went to watch and ensure that Moshe would reach good hands. And she endangered herself in doing so, because if they caught someone hiding a child, they would kill them. If the Egyptian officers had come right then and seen a child, they would have searched to see who was hiding there and watching to see what would happen to the child, and they would have caught her and killed her. Yet she "stood from afar," and sacrificed her life for the sake of Moshe.

And all her life she would pray over the troubles of Israel, and therefore she was called Miriam, for she would pray over the bitterness of Israel; she truly felt the troubles of Israel! When the people of Israel are in trouble, a person must feel the trouble of the people of Israel and not say, "Peace be upon you, my soul." If a person goes and locks himself in his house when there are troubles in Israel, then he is punished for it. One must share in the troubles of Israel, sit on the ground, tear one's garments, and cry out, "Master of the Universe, what is happening to us? How are Jews being killed? Until when, until when?!" and pray to nullify the decrees.

And Miriam was the one who would prostrate herself day and night, weeping over the troubles of Israel. And when Pharaoh told the Hebrew midwives, who were Miriam and Yocheved, "If it is a son, you shall kill him," and they did not listen to the voice of Pharaoh, he sent men to kill them. And then the "Midrash HaGadol" says (Shemot 1:21):

"And it was, because the midwives feared God, He made them houses."

They turned into two pillars, like the pillars of a building that support the ceiling. Every time they searched for Miriam and Yocheved, they would turn into pillars.

In the Merit of the Tzaddikim the World is Sustained

So how would we know the greatness of Miriam, how would we know that everything is in the merit of Miriam, how would we know that all the water until the end of the world is in the merit of Miriam? Miriam's Well is in the Kinneret; today everyone drinks from the Kinneret, everyone drinks from Miriam's Well. So how would people know that all the water until the end of generations is in the merit of Miriam, and that wherever a spring bursts forth, it is in the merit of Miriam?

So the Chatam Sofer says - this is what the Torah came to teach us. And therefore Hashem preferred even that Moshe would not enter the Land of Israel, because Hashem foresees the generations in advance. Hashem knew that Moshe would not enter the Land of Israel; He knew that through the search for the rock and through the entire nation rising up against Moshe, then what would happen would happen, and the people of Israel would not merit for Moshe to enter the Land. Hashem knew everything.

But Hashem said, what is important now at this moment is that the people of Israel know that all the water until the end of generations is only in the merit of the tzaddikim. If there is water in the Land of Israel and if there is water in the entire world, it is only in the merit of the tzaddikim! And the main thing is the merit of Miriam, in whose merit is all the water until the end of generations. This is what Hashem wanted, that we should know that in the merit of the tzaddikim the entire world is sustained.

The Foundation and Sustenance of the Entire Torah

And this is the first thing a Jew needs to know regarding what the world stands upon - a tzaddik is the foundation of the world. In whose merit is the world sustained? - A tzaddik is the foundation of the world! And to search for who these tzaddikim are who truly sustain the world, to go from tzaddik to tzaddik, from yeshiva to yeshiva, to search for who this tzaddik is in whose merit the world is truly sustained.

And this is what Hashem came to teach us: I do not want Moshe to bring forth water for you from any other rock besides the rock of Miriam. Moshe can bring forth water from any rock, but I want you to know until the end of generations, that your water until the end of generations is in the merit of Miriam the righteous woman, Miriam the Prophetess. And this, says the Chatam Sofer, is the foundation and sustenance of the entire Torah. And therefore, when Miriam passed away, the well departed, to show that the entire well was in the merit of Miriam.

And this is the first thing we must learn, that this is the foundation for the sustenance of the entire Torah. Because people are used to saying, there are many tzaddikim, and Your people are all tzaddikim, all are children of the World to Come! - But there are tzaddikim who are the "unique ones of the generations," there are tzaddikim who draw down the water, they draw down the manna, they draw down the Clouds of Glory, they protect the people of Israel from all evil; they are the ones who protect us, and no one else!

And this is the first foundation, which is the foundation of foundations and the sustenance of everything, that a person should not become arrogant to think that his prayer worked, that his Torah study worked, but rather he should know that there are tzaddikim who are the ones who accomplish it, upon them the world exists, and in their merit is everything, and this is the foundation and sustenance of the entire Torah.