The Stuff of Satisfaction

“Moshe raised his hand and hit the rock with his stick twice, and copious water came out, and the congregation and their livestock drank.”

(Bamidbar 20:11)

The episode of drawing water from a rock doesn’t redound to the credit of the Jewish People; it cost Moshe and Aharon their entry ticket into Israel. It seems ironic that the Torah would stress that the less-than-stellar performance all around resulted in a great abundance of water. Were they rewarded for getting it wrong? Shouldn’t Hashem have just provided them with their needs and nothing more? (Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, based on Meshech Chochmah)

Too much stuff. There’s just too much stuff, I walked around the house muttering to myself.

Every so often I get this crowded-can’t-breathe-claustrophobic mood in my own house. While I’m not a minimalist, I need everything to have its place. And since I can’t keep building on to my apartment to accommodate all the stuff, every so often I need to go on a purge to keep my sanity.

I’d just hung up the phone after talking to my sister. My parents’ home had recently been sold. My sister volunteered to pack up over40 years of accumulated stuff before turning the house over to the new owners. She doesn’t share my clutter claustrophobia and was trying to convince me that I couldn’t live without certain items.

“What about your fifth-grade state report? Your veil? Your sticker album?”