Parashat Chukat: Why We Always Look for Someone to Blame

"Kid, are you okay?" an older man asked a little boy who was wandering back and forth along a busy street. "Are you lost?"

"No," the child replied confidently. "I'm perfectly fine. I just don't understand where Mom and Dad got lost..."

The joke is amusing because of its absurdity. The child assumes that he is exactly where he should be and that everyone else must be the ones who have lost their way.

As strange as that sounds, we often do the same thing.

A Nation Without Water

One of the most painful events in Parashat Chukat occurs when the Jewish people arrive in Kadesh during the fortieth year in the wilderness. There, Miriam HaNeviah, the sister of Moshe and Aharon, completes her mission in this world and passes away.

Then, almost immediately, another crisis strikes.

"And there was no water for the congregation."

Try to imagine the scene. An entire nation, numbering in the millions, suddenly finds itself without water in the middle of the desert.

For forty years, the people had relied on a miraculous well that accompanied them throughout their journey. Chazal describe its waters flowing in abundance, providing for the needs of the entire nation. Water was never something they worried about.

And then, without warning, it was gone.

The People's Response

How would you have reacted?

The Torah tells us that the people gathered against Moshe and Aharon.

They complained.

They argued.

They revisited grievances from decades earlier.

"Why did you bring us to this wilderness?" they demanded. "Why did you take us out of Egypt?"

Yet there is something striking about their response.

The well disappeared immediately after Miriam's passing. The timing could hardly have been more obvious. The miraculous source of water that had accompanied them for forty years vanished at the very moment Miriam left this world.

Wouldn't it have made sense to consider that perhaps the two events were connected?

Instead, the people searched for someone to blame.

Looking in the Wrong Direction

Rabbi David Bodnik zt"l, one of the outstanding disciples of the Novardok yeshiva, raised this very question.

Why did the people immediately turn their accusations toward Moshe and Aharon? Why did they not recognize that the disappearance of the well was connected to Miriam's passing?

To understand his answer, it helps to first hear a remarkable story from his life.

The Dog in the Forest

One winter day, Rabbi David was walking through a forest near Mezritch when a wild dog suddenly charged toward him.

The animal lunged, sank its teeth into him, and Rabbi David collapsed unconscious.

When he awoke, he found himself lying in bed, surrounded by concerned friends who had brought him to safety.

His fellow students were puzzled.

For years, they had worked on overcoming fear and strengthening their trust in Hashem. Rabbi David was considered one of the most accomplished among them.

"David," they asked him, "a dog bites you and you faint?"

His answer astonished them.

"A dog?" he replied. "What I saw was the word of Hashem clothed in the form of a dog. The Creator commanded it, 'Go bite David ben Chaya Bodnik.' When I saw the intensity with which it carried out Hashem's will, I became ashamed of myself. Why don't I serve Hashem with the same passion and devotion? Out of that shame, I fainted."

The Lesson Behind the Story

Rabbi David explained that people naturally search for explanations in other people.

When something goes wrong, we look for someone to blame.

When difficulties arise, we search for human causes.

When plans fall apart, we ask who is responsible.

But a Jew is meant to look deeper.

Behind every event stands the Creator of the world.

The people in the wilderness saw the well disappear and immediately focused on Moshe and Aharon. Rabbi David teaches that they should have looked beyond the visible circumstances and recognized the hand of Hashem directing events.

Finding Ourselves

This perspective does not mean we ignore practical realities. Rather, it means we remember that every event carries a message from Heaven.

The challenge is not to spend our lives examining everyone else's mistakes.

It is to examine ourselves.

Too often, we ask why someone else acted the way they did, why another person disappointed us, or who is responsible for our frustration.

The little boy in the opening story thought his parents were the ones who got lost.

Parashat Chukat teaches us to ask a different question.

Instead of focusing on where everyone else went wrong, perhaps we should ask where we ourselves are standing and what Hashem wants us to learn from the situation before us.

A Message for Everyday Life

Living with awareness of Divine providence is not easy. Few people can reach the level of Rabbi David Bodnik and see the hand of Hashem so clearly in every event.

But even a small measure of that perspective can elevate a person's life.

When challenges arise, before looking outward, pause and look inward.

Before searching for someone to blame, ask what message may be hidden within the experience.

Because sometimes the most important thing we need to find is not another person.

It is ourselves.