Shlomo Carlebach used to tell the story of “Yosele the Miser” who was looked down upon by everyone in town because he was so stingy. The day after he died, people started showing up at the rabbi’s house asking for assistance. Each one told of how they would anonymously receive a weekly envelope with money to support their families. They also recalled how each one of them had gone to Yosele to ask for money and had been refused. In each case, the anonymous envelopes started shortly after a fruitless visit to Yosele. The Rabbi put two and two together and realized that Yosele had secretly been supporting many families. It was only after he died that they were able to see all the good he was doing. While this story is a bit of an extreme case, the reality is that we rarely fully appreciate someone until after they are no longer with us.

In this week’s Torah reading Parshas Chukas, the Jewish people have been in the desert for close to 40 years and are dwelling in a place called Kadesh. Miriam (Moshe’s sister) dies and is buried there. The very next verse says “And there was no water for the congregation”. Rashi explains the connection between Miriam’s death and the lack of water by quoting the Midrash that says, until now they had received water miraculously from the “well”, and now the water stopped flowing. The well was a rock that Moshe had been instructed to strike at Mount Sinai early in their first year in the desert. When Miriam died, the miracle of the water stopped.

Kli Yakar comments that the water stopped as a punishment to the people for not appreciating Miriam. Throughout the 40 years, we do not see any acknowledgment of appreciation for her and even when she died, there is no mention of their mourning her passing. It was only after the rock stopped producing water that the people realized they had received water miraculously in her merit.

There are two lessons we can learn from this. For close to 40 years, the people had water that was miraculously provided continuously, yet there is no recording of their appreciation until later in this Parsha after the water was restored. When we receive things on a regular basis, we tend to take them for granted, instead of having renewed appreciation every day. Secondly, we interact with people who are doing great things on behalf of ourselves and others. Yet, we often do not recognize how special these people are.

Let us not wait until it is too late to recognize the specialness of our friends, relatives and community members. Let us take the time to look for the good that others do and the positive impact they have on us and everyone around us.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Shaps and the JET Team