A Hebrew newsletter from the Orthodox movement Achvat Torah uses this week’s Torah portion, Hukkat, to explore how people respond when basic needs feel uncertain. The article opens with a hypothetical: if a city cut off your water but promised to refill the rooftop tank every day, would you trust that arrangement or move out?
It then links that image to four biblical scenes. First, after Miriam dies, the Israelites lose the “well of Miriam,” a steady miracle that had supplied water through the desert, and panic because what had once felt routine suddenly disappears. Next, God tells Moses and Aaron to speak to the rock so it will give water, but Moses strikes it twice instead. The writer argues that speech represents trust and connection, while force reflects fear and the false belief that survival requires coercion.
The article then turns to Edom, where Moses asks for safe passage and offers payment for water, but Edom’s king refuses and threatens war. In the writer’s reading, this turns water into a political and economic weapon. Finally, when the people again complain that they have no bread and no water and are disgusted with the manna, God sends “fiery serpents.” The snakes symbolize the downward, anxious gaze of a people who have lost faith, while the copper serpent on a pole restores the ability to look upward.
The piece ends with a practical message for parents, educators, and leaders: do not try to produce results by pressure or “hitting the rock,” and do not use resources cynically to control others. Instead, it urges a “well mentality,” meaning open communication, trust, and generosity, and suggests that when patience runs out, people should pause for 10 seconds and replace anger with calm, direct speech.
