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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