Then Israel Sang

Then Israel Sang

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By: Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut

It says in Parshat Chukat regarding the song of the well (Bamidbar 21:17):

Then Israel sang this song: Come up, O well, announce it! Well that princes dug, that the nobles of the people excavated, through a lawgiver, with their staff. A gift from the Wilderness.

Regarding the Song by the Sea it says: "Then Moshe and Bnei Yisrael chose to sing this song to Hashem," while in our parsha it only says: "Then Israel sang." Where is Moshe Rabbeinu? Why is he not mentioned in this song? Moreover, why was this song sung at this time, at the conclusion of the forty years in the desert?

The Gemara says (Ta'anit 9a): "Three great leaders were appointed over Am Yisrael: Moshe, Aharon and Miriam, and three great gifts were delivered on their account, and they are: the well, the cloud and the manna."

If we examine the flow of the Parsha, we note that Am Yisrael is departing from the gifts of the desert generation one by one.

Phase I (Bamidbar 20:1):

Bnei Yisrael, the whole assembly, arrived at the wilderness of Zin in the first month and the people settled in Kadesh. Miriam died there and she was buried there.

When is this first month? It is the beginning of the fortieth year in the desert, exactly one year before Am Yisrael enters Eretz Yisrael. During this phase the nation starts to depart from the desert generations leadership, and a new leadership of Eretz Yisrael is beginning to arise. Therefore, when Miriam died - Miriam's gift departed with her, the well.

The nation does not fully digest the process which the new leadership is functioning by, the shift from a miraculous leadership to a natural one. "The people quarreled with Moshe and spoke up, saying, 'If only we had perished as our brethren perished before Hashem ... Why did you have us ascend from Egypt to bring us to this evil place?" (Bamidbar 20:3-5). The nation is unable to detach itself from the miraculous leadership that existed in the desert by the well.

Phase II (Bamidbar 20:22-28):

They journeyed from Kadesh, and Bnei Yisrael arrived - the entire assembly - at Mount Hor ... Moshe stripped Aharon's garments from him and dressed Elazar his son in them; then Aharon died there on Mount Hor, and Moshe and Elazar descended from the mountain. When the entire assembly saw that Aharon had perished, they wept for Aharon thirty days

The Midrash (also mentioned in Rashi) says: Do not read "saw" (vayir'u), but instead read "feared" (vayi'r'u). The clouds of glory had departed and the nation began to cry out in fear because they no longer had the miraculous guidance of the clouds of glory. This is what the Torah writes in the next pasuk: "The Canaanite king of Arad, who dwelled in the south heard." (Bamidbar 21:1) What did he hear? The Gemara says (Rosh Hashana 3a) that the clouds of glory had departed and it was now possible to wage war with Am Yisrael.

Phase III (Bamidbar 21:4-5):

They journeyed from Mount Hor by way of the Sea of Reeds to go around the land of Edom, and the spirit of the people grew short on the way. The people spoke against G-d and Moshe: "Why did you bring us up from Egypt to die in this Wilderness, for there is no food and no water, and our soul is disgusted with the insubstantial food?"

Moshe is still alive, but the nation is in the process of changing leadership, and is therefore even disgusted with Moshe Rabbeinu's gift - manna from heaven. This belongs to the miraculous leadership of the desert, and now at the end of the forty years the nation is detaching itself from that leadership.

The replacements for the three gifts that were in the desert are the three mitzvot that are mentioned at the end of Parshat Shelach: the libations, challah and tzitzit. The libations that a person offers from his vineyard and fields are supposed to replace the miraculous well that was drawn from the desert. The challah that a person separates from the bread that he derives from the earth is supposed to replace the manna, bread that descends from heaven. Finally, the talit – with which a person wraps himself in order to become attached to Hashem, so that he will not be drawn after his eyes and his thoughts – is supposed  to replace the clouds of glory that wrap him similarly, but in a miraculous way.

Now we understand what is the meaning of the new song: "Then Israel sang." Here Am Yisrael deliberately sang a song without Moshe Rabbeinu, because of the separation from the generation of the desert. What is the song? "Come up, O well  announce it! Well that princes dug." Who are the princes? Moshe and Aharon, who dug the well, but "the nobles of the people excavated, through a lawgiver, with their staff." Rashi writes: "Each and every tribal leader, when they would camp, would take his staff and draw towards his banner and his camp, and the waters of the well would be drawn through the marking and arrive at the camping of each and every tribe."

There is no longer a miraculous well that provides water for all of Am Yisrael. There is a natural leadership; everyone has to draw water on his own. Indeed, the new leadership draws its strength from the same well that princes dug – Moshe and Aharon, but there is no longer a miraculous leadership. There is a new phase of leadership towards the end of the forty years, the generation of those who enter the land - who already start acting on their own strength: "The nobles of the people excavated." This is the new song of, "Then Israel sang."

Shiur ID: 3813

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Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
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Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
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Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
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Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
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Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
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Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
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Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
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Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
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Rav Mordechai Greenberg <br> Nasi Hayeshiva
Rav Mordechai Greenberg
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הרב עדי יהודה נוסבאום
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Rav Aharon Friedman <br> Rosh HaYeshiva
Rav Aharon Friedman
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Rav Mordechai Greenberg <br> Nasi Hayeshiva
Rav Mordechai Greenberg
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ע
Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
ע
Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
Rav Zechariah Tubi, Rosh Kollel Rabbanut
ע
Rav Mordechai Greenberg <br> Nasi Hayeshiva
Rav Mordechai Greenberg
Nasi Hayeshiva
ע