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A Horse, a Horse,

My Kingdom

for a Horse 1

Rabbi Moshe Miller

aman was the first one to asso- with him, G-d decreed that he will not Moshe addresses the one unprogrammed
ciate the idea of happiness with be the one to lead Am Yisrael to the Prom- entity in Creation, the one creature with
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Adar. The Talmud tells us that ised Land, condemning him to die in the free will – human beings – and demands
Hhe rejoiced when the lottery wilderness. behavior of them based on the behavior
chose Adar because Adar was the month The midrash explains Moshe’s failure: of all the programmed entities in Creation
of Moshe’s death. He reasoned that it that do not have free will! Whenever we
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would be an auspicious time to destroy [If you had spoken to the rock] to bring forth face an apparent absurdity in the Torah,
the Jews, making him happy. But how water, it would have done so. Then, Yisrael we must escape the boundaries of our
would Moshe’s death assist Haman’s plot? would have derived a lesson [of supreme impor- thinking. We must realize that the Torah
In other words, what is the connection tance] by a fortiori logic. Yisrael would have teaches us something with this ludicrous
between Moshe’s death and Purim? concluded that if a rock that is neither pun- logic that contradicts everything we
ished nor rewarded for its actions obeys G-d’s thought we knew. And it turns out that the
After the death of Moshe’s sister Miriam,
Am Yisrael lost its miraculous source of commands, how much more must we [who are only way to understand this bewildering
logic is through Purim.
rewarded and punished for our actions] obey
water in the desert, the well that accom- G-d’s commands? 5
panied them throughout their wander- There is a striking midrash that lifts the
ings. The people complained of thirst, This logic is veil:
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and G-d told Moshe to take his staff and pa ten tl y
speak to a rock in the Jewish people’s pres- absurd. “Hashem, You are a dwelling” (Tehillim 90:1)
teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He is the
ence, which would then provide water in dwelling of the world, and the world is not the
response to his request. However, Moshe dwelling of the Holy One. Rabbi Abba bar Yudan
hit the rock with his staff said, ‘think of a warrior who rides on a horse
instead of speaking
to it. Furious with many weapons on his right and left. The
horse depends on the rider, and the rider does
not depend on the horse, as the verse states,
“That You ride on Your horses (Chabakuk 3:8).’” 6
A visitor from another planet who sees
small bipeds riding horses might under-
standably think the horses are giving
directions. They are, after all, much larger
and more powerful than the men riding
them. But, upon further observation, he

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