ודברתם אל הסלע
God commanded Moshe to speak to the rock in front of the people in order to obtain water for them (Numbers 20:8).
To speak to the rock is to show the people the essential unity of all God’s creations on this earth. We think we can speak only to people, that only humans have this divine consciousness inside us. But to know God on a deep level is to know that the divine pervades all things, that it is the same divine consciousness inside and outside us, that we can bridge that divide, that we can, in essence, “speak to” a rock, cross that barrier and be in communion, be connected, feel a sense of kinship and belonging, even with the inanimate parts of God’s creation. This was perhaps Moshe’s failure, a failure to show the people the underlying unity of God’s world.
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