By Zev Dever

happening throughout this whole parsha; namely that the Israelites were doubting both god, and their ability to really leave their circumstances and establish a new life (and a new world order?). Through which god had to continue to prove to them that they'd be alright if they kept faith (even if he did so with unscrupulous methods at times). But here in the end it seems as though we give up on a resolution to this conflict, and admit to ourselves that though we can win for a day, the struggle with doubt when it comes to our peoples self actualization will be a constant one for all generations. The only thing to really fear then is if we forget this, and stop struggling.

So from me to you, fight on, and hopefully we all learned some good manipulation techniques, and lessons about the inescapable nature of slavery this week (I'm in a dark place).

P.S. The haftorah this week is about Deborah, the second woman to be a prophet and kind of a bad-ass. Similar to miriam in she also sings a song reveling in a bloody victory! What's interesting about her though, besides her affinity for sitting under trees (so as not to be alone in private with men, - another good hadracha move), is that she was said to be both a prophet and a judge. To be a judge is to obsess yourself with the mundanity of day to day life, and other peoples problems (the worst!), while to be a prophet means to transcend physical concerns so as to be connected to the spiritual realm, and somehow Deborah had the light to walk both paths (she is said to be the wife of lapidot, but lapidot also means torches, which light a path).

P.P.S. if you made it this far I'll assume you're a more hardcore student than me, so I have a question: the part where moshe strikes the stone, i always learned that he was supposed to ask nicely, but looses his cool, however in the direct text it says god told him to strike the stone in the first place. What gives? Was I living a lie in the form a midrash my whole life or am I missing something? And if not why wasn't Moses allowed into Israel in the end? let me know if you have an answer/suggestion.

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