Chukat - 2023

Chevre, this week’s parsha is חֻקַּת (Chukat). There is an idea that HaShem always gives you the solution before the problem, but you may not be aware of it or understand it. This week we have the Red Cow that explains how to become ritually pure followed by the death of Miriam. Miriam was the source of water and so the people now complain because they are worried about the source of water in the desert. This leads Moshe to strike the rock instead of talking to the rock (Alexa/Rock bring us water). Aharon and Moshe are punished. The Bnei Yisrael need to go around Edom because they didn’t get permission to enter (I guess they need better SSO or IAM permissions). They are attacked by Amalek via the King of Arad. Side Note, there is Tel Arad and you can see a bit of where the Arad people lived, it’s outside of the current Israel town of … Arad. and we wrap up with the battles of Sihon and Og.

What I find striking in the parsha is that Moshe and Aharon are mourning the loss of their sister and the people are immediately complaining about water. No outages are acceptable and 100% uptime is required. There is no real backup to Miriam and the remaining folks have to muddle through the project until they can rebuild or re-figure out what she did and how she did it. HaShem helps with some hints, like finding the person’s notes and trying to understand their shorthand to themselves since the procedures are not fully documented.

May we all learn to document our work and make sure we share how the production systems work so that others can support them when we have left the company or gone on vacation. Shabbat Shalom