PARASHAT CHUKAT

Parshat Chukat deals with a whole array of issues and conflicts that befell our nation. Bnei Yisroel suffered from Miriam’s death, lack of water and ultimately the pronouncement of chukim such as the Parah adumah. There is much to be said concerning Bnei Yisroel’s desperation for water and the vocalization of their need. In (21: 18-20), we are told of Hashem’s gift of the well to Bnei Yisroel. In the Pasuk, it says that “the princes dug and the nobles of the people (Rashi: Moshe and Aharon) excavated, through a lawgiver (Rashi: namely Moshe)… a gift from the wilderness (Rashi: Hashem’s gift was that a wellspring was found in the dry dessert) that went to Nachliel and from Nachliel to Bamot and from Bamot to Hagai…” Rav Scheinbaum, in his Peninim on the Torah gives lends deeper meaning to the places of the wells travelings. True definitions of Nachliel, Bamot and Hagai are inheritance, greatness, and a valley, respectively. Chazal in Talmud Nedarim 55A explains two different ways of receiving the Torah. We can either view the Torah as a gift or as an inheritance. Chazal then states that true elevation in Kabbalat Hatorah is the leap from gift to inheritance. When one views something as an inheritance, all of their heart and soul goes into protecting that thing and honoring it. We see this recognition of mesorah many times in Tanach, with Bnot Tzelafchad, Moshe to Yehoshua, and even in Pirkei Avot when mesora is listed before many mishna teachings. Rav Scheinbaum offers that perhaps there is a deeper meaning in the Pasuk. Ever since middle school, we have been taught “Torat Mayim Chaim,” and it has been explained that Torah equals water which equals life. We have a job inherent in us as Jews. We need to acquire the Torah in a selfless manor (with no ulterior motives of gaining reward- as we learn in the first perek of Pirkei Avot) as a gift and then, and only then, come to the extreme height and level of viewing and perceiving the Torah as an inheritance. Rav Scheinbaum explains that through this elevation, we reach the level of Bamot (greatness), and if not, we revert to the level of Hagai (low level of a valley).