Imagine you are one of the Israelites at this point in time - you've been wandering the desert for 40 years and there's no end in sight. How would you be feeling? What would you do?
If you were Moses or Aaron at this point, how would you be feeling? Do you think that you would trust God?
Why do you think Moses hit the rock rather than asking it for water? Was this a good decision? Is his punishment fair?
IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
[...]
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
[...]
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
Taken from the poem 'If' by Rudyard Kipling
The poem above is often read as the study passage at Bnei Mitzvah ceremonies. Do you think it sounds like a good way to live? Do you agree that living in this way will make a person a 'man' (in this context, an adult)?
Is this how Moses led the Jewish people? If not, is one way better than the other?