“Moshe raised his arm and struck the rock twice” (20:11)
One of my daughters is a successful architect. But it was not always that way. She spent many years honing her craft and learning by her mistakes. She said to me the other day, “Baruch Hashem, I didn’t become successful until I was ready!”
Sometimes we achieve precocious success and we’re not ready for it. And then we step up to the microphone in Carnegie Hall and show that we’re not the brilliant singer that everyone imagined we were.
Years of “paying your dues” provides us with a depth of ability which, when our big moment comes, stands us in good stead. We can go up to the mic with confidence.
Indeed, timing is important not only in our personal lives but also in the life of the Jewish People and its leaders.
Hashem commanded Moshe to speak to the rock that had previously given water, but Moshe couldn’t find it. So, he spoke to a different rock. Nothing happened. Moshe reasoned that if he couldn’t find the original rock that would yield water merely by speech, he would have to strike another rock and that would have the same effect. He was following the precedent in the Book of Exodus where indeed he had performed that miracle by striking the rock. His logic followed from the fact that Hashem had told him to bring his staff. Why else would Hashem have instructed him to bring his staff if not to strike the rock?
He struck the rock but only a trickle of water emerged. He struck it a second time and then a flood of water began to flow forth.
But that was not the way Hashem wanted the miracle to take place.
Moshe should have gone to every rock and spoken to it until he found the right one.
The right rock – at the right time.
