Famously, Moshe Rabeinu sins in our sedra by ostensibly hitting a rock which he was commanded to speak to. What exactly was the sin? There are several opinions here; we shall cite a few of them. Rashi (20:11-12) writes the above point; that Moshe was supposed to speak to the rock but hit it instead (see Gur Aryeh for full explanation). The Rambam holds that the sin was that Moshe got angry with Klal Yisrael. Rebeinu Chananel is of the opinion that the sin was Moshe saying the words (20:10) ‘should we bring the water out of this rock,’ when he should have stressed that HaShem was going to bring the water forth. The Ramban writes that the sin was that Moshe hit the rock twice, thus making it out as if ‘nature’ was providing the water. See the peirush haTur and the Abrabanel for other approaches. The Netziv writes that Moshe was supposed to get the people to daven for the water to come – this being a more ‘natural’ way of obtaining the water. But instead, Moshe hit the rock, using a more miraculous, supernatural means of procuring the water. This, the Netziv continues, is why Moshe was punished by not being allowed into Eretz Yisrael, for the entry into Eretz Yisrael was to see Bnei Yisrael go from relying upon miracles to finding HaShem within the natural course of things. This is why Moshe was supposed to use the davening (‘natural’) route in procuring the water – to get the people accustomed to using natural means. Thus, when Moshe chose the more supernatural route he effectively rendered himself unfit to lead the people into the more ‘nature-governed’ (at least vis-à-vis Bnei Yisrael’s existence in the desert) Land of Israel.
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