Opening Eyes to Hidden Sustenance

בפסוק ודברתם אל הסלע לעיניהם ונתן מימיו עפ"י המד' בפ' וירא ויפקח כו' ותרא באר מים מכאן שהכל בחזקת סומין עד שהקב"ה מאיר עיניהם

Regarding the verse "And you shall speak to the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth its water" (Bamidbar 20:8) — this follows the Midrash in Parashas Vayeira on the verse "And Hashem opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water" (Bereishis 21:19), from which we learn that everyone is in the presumed status of the blind until the Holy One, Blessed is He, illumines their eyes.

The Sfas Emes opens with the principle, drawn from Hagar's well, that all people are in the status of the blind regarding spiritual reality until Hashem opens their eyes to perceive what is truly there.

ופי' מו"ז ז"ל כי לעולם כל הנצרך לכל ברי' מוכן בכל מקום ובכל עת רק שנסתר מעין הגשמי וכשהקב"ה מאיר עיניו רואה שהכל לפניו

And my grandfather, my teacher, of blessed memory, explained that in truth everything that any creature needs is always prepared in every place and at every time; it is merely hidden from the physical eye, and when the Holy One, Blessed is He, illumines a person's eye, he sees that everything is right before him.

Citing his grandfather, the Chiddushei HaRim, he teaches that whatever any creature needs already exists, prepared at every place and time; the only barrier is the physical eye, which cannot see this hidden abundance until Hashem illumines it.

וכמו כן הכא הי' רצונו ית' שיפקחו עיני בני ישראל ויראו כי המים מוכן בסלע

And so too here, it was the will of Hashem Yisbarach that the eyes of Bnei Yisrael be opened, so that they would see that the water was already prepared within the rock.

Applying this here, the drawing of water from the rock was meant to open the eyes of Bnei Yisrael to recognize that the water was already present within the rock, not to create something new.

ויובן עפ"י מאמרם ז"ל כי פי הבאר נברא בע"ש ביה"ש ובמ"א כתבתי על פסוק וירא אלקים כו' כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאוד שהוא על עשרה דברים שנבראו בע"ש ביה"ש ע"ש

This may be understood in light of the teaching of our Sages, of blessed memory, that the mouth of the well was created on Erev Shabbos at twilight; and elsewhere I have written on the verse "And Hashem saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good" (Bereishis 1:31), that this refers to the ten things that were created on Erev Shabbos at twilight — see there.

He grounds this in the teaching that the well's mouth was among the ten things created at twilight on the first Erev Shabbos, linking it to his own teaching that the "very good" of creation refers to those ten twilight-created things.

[*עי' בתרגום יונתן פרשת ויכולו] נראה מזה כי אלו עשרה דברים הם כלל עשרה מאמרות שנמצא בכל הבריאה ענין פרט וכלל

[See the Targum Yonasan on Parashas Vayechulu.] It appears from this that these ten things are the all-encompassing klal (collective principle) of the Ten Utterances by which the world was created — for in all of creation there is found the matter of the prat (particular) and the klal (collective).

Citing Targum Yonasan, he proposes that these ten twilight items embody the all-encompassing klal underlying the Ten Utterances, reflecting the structure of prat and klal woven into all of creation.

כענין שאמרו במאמר אחד הי' יכול להבראות

This is along the lines of what the Sages said, that the world could have been created with a single utterance (Avos 5:1).

He supports this with the Mishnah in Avos that the world could have been made with a single utterance, pointing to an underlying unity behind the Ten Utterances.

וכשזוכין לגילוי עינים באין לזה הכלל שהוא בחי' האחדות ולכן נתצמצמו כל בנ"י במקום אחד על פני הסלע שהוא בחי' האחדות כנ"ל

And when one merits the opening of the eyes, one arrives at this klal, which is the bechinah (aspect) of achdus (oneness); and therefore all of Bnei Yisrael were contracted together into one place upon the face of the rock, which is the aspect of oneness, as stated above.

When a person merits to have his eyes opened, he reaches this unifying klal, the aspect of achdus; correspondingly, all of Bnei Yisrael were gathered into one place at the rock, an embodiment of that same oneness.

והיו רואין שהכל נמצא לפניהם

And they would have seen that everything is present right before them.

In that state of unified vision, they would have perceived that everything they needed was already present before them.

אך ע"י המריבה לא זכו לזה ויש רמז לפי' זה בילקוט ע"פ יען לא האמנתם הי' לכם ללמוד ק"ו מה להגר פתחתי באר מים ע"ש:

But on account of the quarrel they did not merit this; and there is an allusion to this explanation in the Yalkut on the verse "Because you did not believe in Me" (Bamidbar 20:12) — you should have learned a kal vachomer: just as for Hagar I opened a well of water, how much more so [would I have done for you] — see there.

But the quarrel forfeited this attainment; the Sfas Emes cites the Yalkut, which faults Bnei Yisrael with a kal vachomer from Hagar — if Hashem opened a well for her, surely He would have done so for them.

Summary: This piece teaches that the command to speak to the rock rests on the principle that all are like the blind regarding spiritual reality, which is already fully present and merely hidden from physical sight until Hashem opens the eye to perceive it. As the Chiddushei HaRim taught, everything any creature needs is prepared at every time and place, so the miracle at the rock was meant to open the eyes of Bnei Yisrael to see that the water was already waiting within it. The Sfas Emes connects the well's mouth, created at the first Erev Shabbos twilight, to the all-encompassing klal underlying the Ten Utterances — the bechinah of achdus, by which, as Avos teaches, the world could have been made with a single utterance. Therefore Bnei Yisrael were contracted into one place upon the rock, the very aspect of oneness, and had they reached it they would have seen that all they needed stood before them. But on account of the quarrel they did not merit this, as the Yalkut hints through the kal vachomer from Hagar, for whom Hashem revealed a well of water.