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Parshat Eikev: Deuteronomy 7:12-
11:25; Isaiah 49:14-51:3.

T

his week's Torah portion,
Eikev, is a portion of a bitter-
sweet speech that Moses gives
on the top of Mt. Nebo. In Moses' final
sermon, Moses is able to see into the
Promised Land, but knows he will not
be entering it.
I have always envisioned Moses at
the top of the mountain,
knowing that his death was
imminent, looking into the
Promised Land. Mt. Nebo
seems like one of the sad-
dest places in the world. It
is the place of life's most
bitter disappointment. It
is the place where Moses'
great dream will go unreal-
ized for him.
And yet, perhaps, it
wasn't as tragic as we think.
Moses gets to climb up the mountain,
where he is allowed to look to the land
of his promise, knowing that he has
literally laid hands on the person who
will take his place, Joshua.
Joshua will have the privilege of
leading the Children of Israel back
to our land of promise. And Moses,
knowing this, dies peacefully at the
top of the mountain, buried by his
partner, his co-parent of the Jewish
people, the Eternal One.
Moses gets to see into the land and
yes, he does not get to enter the land,
but he also is freed from all of the
difficulties that are going to present
themselves when we enter the land:
the military battles, the conquests, the
setting up of courts and judges, the
politics, the infighting.
If Moses thought the Jews were
whiny and rebellious as we were wan-
dering in the desert, at least he didn't
have to deal with us as we established
a nation with all of the birth pangs
of nation-building: taxes, political

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dealings, power struggles. As H. Ross
Perot used to say, "The devil is in the
details:' Moses got to see the big pic-
ture, the land and the promise without
those devilish details.
In the gorgeous, patriotic song,
"America the Beautiful," we sing: "0
beautiful for spacious skies, for amber
waves of grain, for purple
mountain majesties above
the fruited plain:' It, too, is
the song of the land, of the
promise. And it's remark-
ably short on details and
doesn't mention a single
person. The song is not, "Oh
beautiful Senate chamber
with PACs and corporate fat
cats, with sleazy politicians,
always holding out their
hats."
Yes, the land is beautiful, but the
people in it bring lots of problems.
The promise, the vision from the top
of the mountain, is perfect. The reality
is another matter.
For those who live in Israel and for
those who live in this land of promise,
this week's Torah portion can literally
ground us. We have moved past Mt.
Nebo. We have to deal with the view
not from the top of the mountain, but
from much more close up.

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August 18 • 2011

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