CHUKAT

Could Israel have been led into the Land
By him with whom our G-d spoke face to face,
No force could have dislodged us from that place,
Proof against time and exile. So G-d planned.
But there was just so much Moshe could stand.
The calf, the spies, the plots had left their trace,
And he was slowly cracking under stress
Until he failed to honor G-d’s command
At Merivah, in all the people’s sight,
And from that moment could no longer be
The flawless lens transmitting Torah light,
For he had fallen from his high degree,
Though to our eyes the deviance seem slight,
The punishment an inscrutable decree.