Chukat: Water Consciousness

Jul 6

Original author - Rabbi Yonatan Neril, edited by the GrowTorah Summer Inchworms 2021-2022

View the Accompanying Source Sheet Here

This week’s parsha, Chukat, is yet another piece in the narrative of the Jewish people and water. The word mayim (water) is mentioned twenty-two times. The portion begins with the para aduma, Hashem’s command to mix water with the ashes of a red cow for purification. Miriam then dies, and the well that provided Bnei Yisrael with water (based on Miriam’s merit), disappears.[1] The Jewish people quarrel with Moshe, complaining, “There is no water to drink!”[2] Moshe and Aharon then strike the rock and Hashem brings forth water. Additionally, Moshe asks the Edomites to pass through their land, with a promise not to drink their water,[3] or alternately, to buy it from them.[4] The Jewish people travel by way of the Sea of Reeds (where Hashem had split the sea for them) and, on their desert journey, complain again about lacking water. They finally arrive near the East Bank of the Jordan and sing an exultant song about their appreciation to Hashem for water.[5]

Bnei Yisrael’s experiences with water in the desert can be understood as a spiritual training to cultivate appreciation for Hashem’s goodness. Hashem takes the essential, tangible resource of water (without which we cannot live for more than a few days) and gives it to us in an environment where we do not have it. We learn to appreciate water and to know who really provides it by taking it for granted, losing it, and then having it granted once again by Hashem; the see-saw experience of having water and then losing it develops the spiritual muscles of appreciating Hashem.

While there is a lesson to be learned from this cycle, it is easy to feel frustrated with Bnei Yisrael when reading about their ingratitude during their constant struggles with water. We can understand Moshe’s anger, expressed as he strikes the rock, an action for which he is punished harshly.[6] How, after water was miraculously provided for them so many times, could Bnei Yisrael take it for granted?

Considering our own experience with water, perhaps it should be easier to sympathize with Bnei Yisrael. Today, indoor plumbing is incredibly convenient; it frees us from gathering and lugging our water from streams and cisterns to our homes. A significant portion of America is dealing with severe drought, but our water system remains strong—many could not tell you where the water that comes out of their taps actually comes from.[7]

We also lose sight of how much energy goes into bringing every gallon to our faucet. In many areas of the United States and around the world, electricity-producing generators supply power to pumps that raise water hundreds or even one thousand feet. Elevating the water from underground aquifers to tanks at the top of local mountain ranges, eventually making its way to our homes.[8] It is estimated that the energy used in the water supply accounts for almost 5% of America’s total energy use, and likewise 5% of the total carbon emissions. This shows that misusing water is also wasting energy and can contribute unnecessarily to climate change.[9]

Climate change is causing sea levels to rise, projected to impact sandbars like Long Beach (New York), and islands like Manhattan, as well as causing more intense storms and floods. [10] Even though all water is part of the same global cycle, as long as water continues to flow from our faucets at the desired rate, we are not forced to look to its source. Like Bnei Yisrael, when we have water, it is easy for us to take it for granted, and therefore when it disappears, it is easy to consider this necessity as something that is owed to us, something to be demanded.

It is perhaps this sympathy that underlies Hashem’s response to Bnei Yisrael. Hashem instructs Moshe to coax water from the rock by speaking to it, a patient demonstration of Hashem’s dominion and the miracle of water. Hashem wants to work in harmony with nature to teach Bnei Yisrael to be appreciative, even though Moshe’s performance of His instructions is much less harmonious. While Bnei Yisrael do not learn the lesson immediately, complaining once more and being punished with fiery snakes, their song towards the end of the parsha finally reflects this message: “Spring up O well – sing to it –”[11]

The Torah is a blueprint for spiritual living in a physical world. It enables us to transform our daily, mundane behaviors into holy acts. If we can preserve our connection to Hashem’s sustaining power in our world of great abundance, we can transform our lives and the world in holy ways. This is our challenge. And in light of mounting global environmental issues, what might also be called, a revolutionary moment in our history. The great sage, Rabbi Tarfon, teaches that “The day is short, the work is much, the workers are lazy, the reward is great and the Master is pressing.”[12] Perhaps our issue of water is quite parallel - the climate is changing, the seas are rising, and the glaciers are melting, but the reward is great. Every tenth of a degree of warming we can mitigate, every community that we can provide water for, and every moment of appreciation we can find in nature is a reward in and of itself, paving the way for a better future and better world.

Suggested Action:

As a way of connecting to nature and to your water, try to find the physical source of the water you drink. Go observe it.
You can also assess your water usage with this calculator.
Install low-flow faucets and toilets.

Click here to sponsor a parsha.

Notes:

[1] Rashi on Bamidbar 20:2, Ta’anit 9a

[2] Bamidbar 20:3

[3] As per Targum Onkeles (Israel, 2nd century) to 20:17

[4] As per Rashi (France, 11th century) to 20:17

[5] Bamidbar 21:17-18

[6] Bamidbar 20:12

[7] For information on the current state of drought in America, see here.

[8] To understand where household water in America comes from, start here.

[9] See this report.

[10] Read the IPCC report on sea level rise, and this explanation of a Rutgers report for a look into what Sea Level rise might mean for New Jersey.