“And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice…” (20:11) This moment—Moshe Rabbenu striking the rock instead of speaking to it—has bewildered commentators for millennia.

There you will find a small painting by Dutch master Jan Steen (1626-1679) called “Moses Striking the Rock,” a fanciful, artistic interpretation of Numbers 20. The story is well-known. Water is in ...