JULY 30 • 2020 | 29
M
oses places an
entreaty before the
Lord at the end of his
life concerning the leadership of
the Jewish people in the Land
of Israel: He asks that he be
allowed “to cross over and see
the good land beyond the
Jordan River” and pre-
sumably continue to lead
the Israelites.
This entreaty to lead,
although not made direct-
ly, is implied in God’
s
response: “You must com-
mand Joshua, strengthen
him and give him resolve,
for he shall cross before
this nation and shall bring
them to inherit the land”
(Deuteronomy. 3:28).
Moses’
request to enter
the land is denied. But
after all his sacrifices and dif-
ficulties with an unwilling and
backsliding Israelite nation,
does he not deserve to reach his
life’
s goal?
Remember that when God
had originally asked Moses
to assume the leadership of
the Israelites the great proph-
et demurred, claiming to be
“heavy of speech” (literally,
kevad peh). Then the Bible testi-
fies that “the [Israelites] did not
listen to Moses [about leaving
Egypt] because of impatience
and difficult work.
”
Most commentators explain
that the Hebrews were impa-
tient and had no energy to
resist their slavery. But Ralbag
(1288–1344) explains this to
mean that it was because of
Moses’
impatience with his peo-
ple (the Hebrews) because of his
(Moses’
) difficult work in mak-
ing himself intellectually and
spiritually close to the Divine.
Moses was into the “heavy
talk” of communication with
God and receiving the divine
words. He did not have the
interest or patience to get into
the small talk, the necessary
public relations of establishing
personal ties and convincing
each Hebrew that it was worth-
while to rebel against
Egypt and conquer the
Land of Israel. He was
a God-person, not a
people-person or even a
family-person.
In the final analysis,
why was the prayer
denied the greatest
leader in Jewish history?
Apparently, it is because
the very source of Moses’
greatness — his lofty
spirit and closeness
to God — was what
prevented him from
getting down to the level of his
congregation and family to lift
them up. Moses succeeded like
no one else before or after him
in communicating God’
s word
for all future generations; but he
did not do as well with his own
generation.
In addition, perhaps Moses’
request was denied in order
to teach us that no mortal,
not even Moses, leaves this
world without at least half of
his desires remaining unful-
filled. And perhaps he was
refused merely to teach us that
no matter how worthy our
prayer, sometimes the Almighty
answers “no” and we must
accept a negative answer.
Faith, first and foremost,
implies our faithfulness to God
even though at the end of the
day, He may refuse our request.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is chancellor of
Ohr Torah Stone and chief rabbi of
Efrat, Israel.
Parshat
V’
etchanan:
Deuteronomy
3:23-7:11;
Isaiah 40:1-
26. (Shabbat
Nachamu)
Rabbi
Sholomo
Riskin
Spirit
torah portion
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