Thoughts that Count

This is the statute of the Torah... and they shall take to you a red heifer (Num. 19:2)

In speaking of the laws of the red heifer, the Torah states, "This the statute of the Torah," not just the statute of the red heifer. The red heifer has the power to purify one who was defiled, yet those who partake in the preparation of the red heifer become defiled. The verse is teaching us one of the basic lessons of the Torah, that we are obligated to help our fellow Jew, even if it requires sacrifice. (The Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt’l)

And Miriam died there and she was buried there (Num. 20:1)

It is significant to mention both facts, that Miriam died and she was buried. During the forty years that the Jews wandered in the desert as a punishment for speaking ill of the Land of Israel, every year those people who were between the ages of twenty and sixty at the time of the exodus would dig graves for themselves and went to sleep in them. Those who were meant to die did, and those who did not die returned to their tents. Therefore, Miriam was the only person at that time who died before she was buried. (Sh'nei Ham'orot)

G-d said to Moses and 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 into the land I have given them." (Num. 20:12)

Aaron was punished, as well. For, Moses hit the rock twice and Aaron should have stopped him after the first time, telling him that the commandment was to speak to the rock and not to strike it. (Shaar Bat Rabim)