Our Sidrah deals with many issues, among them Moses’ sin when he struck the rock with his staff in the wilderness of Zin.

We read in the Torah:

"There was no water for the assembly, and they gathered against Moses and Aaron: The people quarreled with Moses and spoke up saying, "If only we had perished as our brethren perished before Hashem: Why have you brought the congregation of Hashem to this wilderness to die there, we and our animals?: And why did you have us ascend from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? - not a place of seed, or fig, or grape, or pomegranate; and there is no water to drink!": Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the congregation to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and fell on their faces. The glory of Hashem appeared to them: Hashem spoke to Moses, saying: "Take the staff and gather together the assembly, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes that it shall give its waters. You shall bring forth for them water from the rock and give drink to the assembly and to their animals.": Moses took the staff from before Hashem, as He had commanded him: Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation before the rock and he said to them, "Listen now, O rebels, shall we bring forth water for you from this rock?": Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock with his staff twice; abundant water came forth and the assembly and their animals drank: Hashem said to Moses and to Aaron, "Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the Children of Israel, therefore you will not bring this congregation to the Land that I have given them." (Numbers 20:2-12)

The Stone Chumash summarizes in this way the main interpretations of Moses’ sin.

"Virtually all the commentators grapple with the question of defining exactly what was the sin of Moses and Aaron.

(a) Rashi's view is that they sinned in striking the rock, rather than speaking to it, as they had been commanded.

(b) Rambam (in Shemoneh Perakim, his introduction to Tractate Avos) states that Moses sinned in becoming angry, as he excoriated the complaining people, "Listen now, O rebels ..." (v. 10). This sin of anger was compounded because the people assumed that whatever Moses said was a reflection of God's will, and if Moses was angry with them, then God must be angry.

(c) R' Chananel, whose view is joined by Ramban, holds that the key words are Moses' rhetorical question, "Shall we bring forth water ...," which implied that he and Aaron had the power to produce water. Moses should have said, "Shall Hashem bring forth." This would explain why God said that Moses and Aaron had not sanctified His Name.

(d) Abarbanel agrees with Rashi that the immediate cause of the punishment was that Moses struck the rock, but he holds that there was an underlying cause: Moses and Aaron had erred before, but God did not call them to account until after this sin. Aaron had had a hand in making the Golden Calf, which caused national suffering. And Moses had dispatched the spies, whose false report had brought about forty years of wandering and the death of an entire generation. It would have seemed unfair for the nation not to enter the Land, but for Moses and Aaron to do so. Therefore, when they committed a sin that was worthy of a punishment of some sort, God chose to keep them out of the Land, like the rest of their generation.

(e) Chiddushei HaRim finds the key to the shortcoming of Moses and Aaron in the word "Beeineihem" – "before their eyes" (v. 8), implying that Moses had to speak to the rock in such a way that the people would see something, rather than merely know it. Similarly, at the transcendental Revelation at Sinai, the Sages say that the nation saw what is normally only heard (see Exodus 20:15), meaning that their understanding of that experience went beyond the normal limitations of human physicality. Here, too, God wanted Israel to see -- meaning that they should have unquestioned knowledge that God provides people with whatever they need to carry out His bidding. If they could achieve that perception, the barriers to belief would fall away and the nation could rise to new heights. The water flowed, but Moses failed to inculcate them with this perception."

Although in the course of his comments, Ramban declares "the matter is a great secret of the mysteries of the Torah", almost every ancient, medieval and modern commentator tried to find exactly what Moses’ sin was.

In his book "Yturei Torah", Rabbi Aaron Yaacov Greenberg, brings the powerful, yet unusual commentary of RaDaK (Rabbi David Kimchi) to our verses. And these are his words:

"All the Torah interpreters tried to explain in different ways what was exactly Moses’ sin at "the waters of strife" and each interpreter found a different sin. Abarbanel –for instance- enumerates ten different sins. And I, myself all my life avoided dealing with this verse, because I was afraid that by adding my own innovative interpretation, I would find myself adding –God forbid- a new sin to Moses’ –the master of all prophets"

Here we find a commentary that is not a commentary. A deep lesson without innovation. Here we find a great Rabbi who restrains himself to bring his own interpretation in order not to convey a derogatory image of Moses –our Master.

"Rabbi Shimon (son of Rabban Gamliel) says: All my days I have been raised among the Sages and I found nothing better for oneself than silence ... One who talks excessively brings on sin"

Rabbi Shimon’s words, in our case, can be taken literally: Rabbi David Kimchi thought that by adding another interpretation, he could –God forbid- add another sin to Moses.

It seems to me that Rabbi David Kimchi is telling us: ‘If, in order to transcend and to be famous, I need to find sins in others and to grow on others failures, I prefer not to transcend and not to be famous’.

What a great lesson for our days!

Slander and gossip are not always products of evil intentions. Sometimes we have an explanation of why we talk about others. We believe we merely describe the facts, or we want really to understand what’s happened. Sometimes we just want to discuss a problematic issue with friends, to ask their opinion, to find advice. However, by doing that, we get, most of the times, locked in a conversation where we talk about others’ behavior and others’ life in a derogatory way.

That is why Rabbi Akiva thought: "A protective fence for wisdom is silence". Silence is –sometimes- a fence. A fence, which protects the others but mainly, protects us.

Always we can find a justification for talking about others’ weaknesses. Rabbi David Kimchi could tell us that he only wanted to explore our verses from a new perspective. However, he chose to build a fence, a fence to protect Moses’ reputation and by doing that, by being a Mentsch, he also protected his own reputation as a Rabbi.

It is difficult to know when to speak and when to be silent. The Sages themselves had trouble drawing the line. Anyway we can ask God, Who "graciously endows man with wisdom and teaches insight to a frail mortal" to endow us graciously from Himself with wisdom, insight, intuition and understanding, so we’ will be able to do the right thing without hurting others and without hurting ourselves.

Shabbat Shalom!