Water Drawn Through Deed and Speech
בענין מי מריבה דכתיב קח את המטה כו' אתה ואהרן כו' ודברתם כו' ונתן מימיו והוצאת להם מים כו'
Regarding the matter of the Mei Merivah (the waters of strife), about which it is written, "Take the staff... you and Aharon... and you shall speak... and it will give forth its waters, and you shall bring forth for them water..." (Bamidbar 20:8).
The piece opens with the episode of the Mei Merivah, where Hashem commanded Moshe Rabbeinu to take the staff together with Aharon and to speak to the rock so that it would give forth water for Bnei Yisrael.
ונתן הוא בחי' מתנה כמ"ש אסוף את העם ואתנה להם מים
And "it will give" (v'nasan) is an aspect of a gift (matanah), as it is written, "Gather the people and I will give (v'etnah) them water" (Bamidbar 21:16).
The word v'nasan ("it will give") signals that the water was meant to come as a free gift from Above, just as elsewhere Hashem says "I will give them water."
וכ"כ וממדבר מתנה
And so too it is written, "And from the wilderness, a gift (mattanah)" (Bamidbar 21:18).
The Torah itself links the well to the concept of a gift in the verse "and from the wilderness, a gift," reinforcing that this flow was a matanah.
וזהו בחי' באר כי בור הוא מה שמכניס שם האדם ובאר הוא התגלות שורש המעין והמקור וזה בחי' מתנה
And this is the aspect of a be'er (a well that wells up of itself), for a bor (a dug pit/cistern) is that which a person places there, whereas a be'er is the revelation of the root of the spring and the source — and this is the aspect of a gift.
The Sfas Emes distinguishes a bor, a cistern that merely holds water a person pours in, from a be'er, a well that reveals an inner spring welling up from its own source — and this self-revealing flow is what a gift is.
ומעין זה בימי המעשה הוא בחי' בור
And the spring of this kind during the weekdays is the aspect of a bor.
During the ordinary weekdays, when a person draws down spiritual influence through his own effort, the spring functions like a bor that holds what is placed into it.
וש"ק שנק' מתנה טובה הוא בחי' באר
And the holy Shabbos, which is called "a good gift" (matanah tovah), is the aspect of a be'er.
Shabbos, called "a good gift" in Hashem's treasury, is the aspect of a be'er, where the inner source itself is revealed rather than filled by human labor.
ז"ש פי הבאר נברא בע"ש כי לעולם זה הבאר משקה לכל הברואים אבל בשבת נפתח פי הבאר שורש המעין כנ"ל
This is the meaning of "the mouth of the well was created on Erev Shabbos" (Avos 5:6), for at all times this well gives drink to all the creatures, but on Shabbos the mouth of the well — the root of the spring — is opened, as explained above.
The Mishnah's teaching that the mouth of the well was created at twilight of Erev Shabbos means the well always sustains creation, but specifically on Shabbos its mouth opens to reveal the root of the spring.
ויש דברים שצריכין להיות בבחי' עובדא ומלולא כדאיתא בזוה"ק בצלותא
And there are matters that need to be in the aspect of both deed (uvda) and speech (milula), as is brought in the holy Zohar regarding tefillah.
The Sfas Emes introduces from the Zohar that certain avodos require both action and speech together, as tefillah does, to be complete.
ונראה שכן הי' הרצון בכאן דכתי' קח את המטה בחי' עובדא
And it appears that such was the will here, for it is written "Take the staff" — the aspect of deed.
He suggests this dual requirement was Hashem's intent at the rock, since "Take the staff" represents the aspect of physical deed.
ודברתם בחי' מלולא
"And you shall speak" — the aspect of speech.
And "you shall speak to the rock" represents the aspect of speech, the second half of the pairing.
ומשה רבינו ע"ה הוא בחי' מלולא
And Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, is the aspect of speech.
Moshe Rabbeinu embodies the aspect of speech, the inner, gift-like channel.
ואהרן ע"ה בחי' עובדא
And Aharon, peace be upon him, is the aspect of deed.
Aharon embodies the aspect of deed, the channel of human action and effort.
והי' צריך להיות כלול משני הבחי' כדאיתא לקחת מתנות בלקיחה ניתנה לו ובמתנה
And it had to be composed of both aspects, as is brought regarding "to take gifts" (Tehillim 68:19) — that through taking (lekichah) it was given to him, and as a gift (b'matanah).
The drawing-forth of the water needed to combine both aspects, as Dovid HaMelech's verse "to take gifts" hints — that it came both through human taking and as a Heavenly gift.
כי יש מעלה בבחי' לקיחה שנעשה בכח האדם ויש לו יותר דביקות בזה
For there is a virtue in the aspect of taking, in that it is accomplished through the power of the person, and he has greater dveikus (cleaving) through this.
There is a special merit to taking, because it is achieved through the person's own power, and that effort produces a stronger bond of dveikus to Hashem.
ויש מעלה בבחי' מתנה שהוא כפי כח הנותן לאין סוף אבל לקיחה רק כפי הכנת מעשה האדם
And there is a virtue in the aspect of a gift, for it is according to the power of the Giver, reaching to the Infinite (Ein Sof); whereas taking is only according to the preparation of the person's deed.
Yet there is also a higher merit to a gift, because a gift flows according to the limitless power of the Giver, reaching Ein Sof, whereas taking is bounded by how much a person has prepared through his deeds.
וכאן הי' ב' הבחי' לכן כתיב ונתן מימיו וגם והוצאת להם
And here there were both aspects, therefore it is written "and it will give forth its waters," and also "and you shall bring forth for them."
At the rock both aspects were meant to be present, which is why the Torah uses both "it will give forth its waters" (the gift) and "you shall bring forth for them" (the taking).
אבל אח"כ דכתי' רק ויך את הסלע כ' ויצאו מים ולא כתי' לשון מתנה
But afterward, where it is written only "and he struck the rock" (Bamidbar 20:11), it is written "and water came forth," and the language of a gift is not written.
But once Moshe struck the rock instead of speaking, the verse records only "and water came forth" — the deed remained, but the language of gift, the higher channel, was lost.
ולכן איתא כי אהרן לא חטא כי בחי' עובדא הי' בלי חטא רק בבחי' מלולא הי' חטא
And therefore it is brought that Aharon did not sin, for the aspect of deed was without sin; only in the aspect of speech was there the sin.
This is why the tradition teaches that Aharon did not sin: the aspect of deed which he embodied was carried out faultlessly, and the lapse lay only in the aspect of speech.
ולכן איתא אם לא הי' החטא בסלע לא היו שוכחין את התורה כי הי' בבחי' מתנה בדביקות שורש המעין כנ"ל:
And therefore it is brought that had there not been the sin at the rock, they would not have forgotten the Torah, for it would have been in the aspect of a gift, in dveikus to the root of the spring, as explained above.
And this is why our Sages teach that had the sin at the rock not occurred, Bnei Yisrael would never have forgotten the Torah, for the Torah would have been received in the aspect of a gift, with dveikus to the revealed root of the spring.
Summary: In this piece the Sfas Emes reads the episode of the Mei Merivah through the contrast between a bor, a cistern that merely holds what a person pours into it, and a be'er, a well that reveals its own inner source — the latter being the aspect of a matanah, a free gift from Above, just as Shabbos is called "a good gift" while the weekdays correspond to the bor. He explains that drawing forth the water was meant to unite two avodos: deed (uvda), embodied by Aharon and the command "take the staff," and speech (milula), embodied by Moshe Rabbeinu and the command "speak to the rock." Taking through one's own effort yields a stronger dveikus, but a gift flows without limit according to the boundless power of the Giver, so both "it will give forth its waters" and "you shall bring forth" were needed together. When Moshe struck the rock rather than speaking, the language of gift fell away and only the deed remained, which is why Aharon — the aspect of deed — did not sin, while the lapse lay in the aspect of speech. Had this sin not occurred, Bnei Yisrael would never have forgotten the Torah, for it would have been received as a gift in dveikus to the revealed root of the spring.