[Avodah] Since Moshe received the Torah, didn't he know that God would punish him for hitting the rock?

[Eliyahu Grossman]

The Torah says that Moshe was punished for a sin that both he and Aaron did
at a specific place. But it does not specify the sin, but it is hidden from
us. I do not believe that it was because of hitting the rock, because Aaron
didn't do that. It cannot be because of his outburst of anger, because Aaron
is the epitome of never doing that. There were other things that they did
together, and there are Midrashim that hint at these. 

But it does bring up a good point that has been addressed, which is that
there were a lot of things that happened, plagues, rebellion, and others.
And had he known the future, one would have expected him to avoid these
pitfalls. I have seen a number of ways of working around this, some more
interesting than others. Saying he wrote things down but without spaces so
he didn't know what he was writing is the least acceptable to me. Saying
that he wrote down everything at the end, or in segments along the way is
more acceptable to me, because it permits Moshe Rabbeinu to have a semblance
of free choice.


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Date: Wed, 2 May 2012 11:06:56 +0300
From: Yaacov Shulman <yacovdavid at gmail.com>
To: avodah <avodah at aishdas.org>
Subject: [Avodah] Since Moshe received the Torah, didn't he know that
	God would punish him for hitting the rock?
Message-ID:
	<CABmDTUQsa5FnbCStxKEFdPuz+w0yFCY4gJDuqL6aTvsxeqAjVA at mail.gmail.com>
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Since Moshe received the Torah, didn't he know that God would punish him for
hitting the rock?

How would you answer this question, please...?

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