If you were Moses' speechwriter what would you suggest that he include in his final farewell address to the Jewish People?
Applying a famous concept of Rav Soloveitchik, Moses must assure the Jewish People that their future is bright, and he must encourage them to embrace their destiny.
(3) It was in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, that Moses addressed the Israelites in accordance with the instructions that the LORD had given him for them,
In the opening of his address, Moses chose to include the promise that God made. The Land of Canaan would be an eternal possession of the Jewish People. The second generation of the wilderness would have to make good on that promise. He wanted to motivate the Children of Israel and reflect on their journey.
Look at verse 8 below. Note the combination of the early ancestors' names as they appear in the verse below (verse 8) - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses brings them back into their history, beyond the redemption from Egypt and the generation of their own parents.
We use this "calling upon the ancestors" formula in our Amidah to move worshippers beyond their own life experiences. How does it work in our lives to help us embrace the destiny of the Jewish People?
Every word of a speech is important - especially Moses'! So now read the verses that came before Moses' reminder about the Promise. Verses 6 & 7 are below.
Keep in mind these questions:
When Moses mentions Horev, another name for Mt. Sinai, is he referring to another of God's kindnesses? Is he characterizing the giving of the law at Sinai in any way here? How might you characterize God's giving the Torah to the Jewish People at Sinai? A kindness? A challenge? An opportunity? Law, for developing a society of law and order? To develop character in us?
Why does Moses mention Sinai/Horev as the place where God spoke to us instead of as the place where we received the commandments?
Why does Moses remind them of their journey being from Sinai and not from Egypt? (verse 7)
(6) The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying: You have stayed long enough at this mountain. (7) Start out and make your way to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the Shephelah, the Negeb, the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and the Lebanon, as far as the Great River, the river Euphrates.
In the next section of the chapter, his speech, Moses goes inward.
Why does he make this turn at this point? What can we learn from this reflecting aloud that Moses shares?
Is Moses demonstrating tshuvah? Sharing a personal growth moment?
Finding a way to bless the Children of Israel?
וָאֹמַ֣ר אֲלֵכֶ֔ם בָּעֵ֥ת הַהִ֖וא לֵאמֹ֑ר לֹא־אוּכַ֥ל לְבַדִּ֖י שְׂאֵ֥ת אֶתְכֶֽם׃ יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֖ם הִרְבָּ֣ה אֶתְכֶ֑ם וְהִנְּכֶ֣ם הַיּ֔וֹם כְּכוֹכְבֵ֥י הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם לָרֹֽב׃ יְהוָ֞ה אֱלֹהֵ֣י אֲבֽוֹתֵכֶ֗ם יֹסֵ֧ף עֲלֵיכֶ֛ם כָּכֶ֖ם אֶ֣לֶף פְּעָמִ֑ים וִיבָרֵ֣ךְ אֶתְכֶ֔ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר דִּבֶּ֥ר לָכֶֽם׃ אֵיכָ֥ה אֶשָּׂ֖א לְבַדִּ֑י טָרְחֲכֶ֥ם וּמַֽשַּׂאֲכֶ֖ם וְרִֽיבְכֶֽם׃
Thereupon I said to you, “I cannot bear the burden of you by myself. The LORD your God multiplied your numbers and today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky!— May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as He promised you.— How can I bear unaided the trouble of you, and the burden, and the bickering!
First ever איכה?
The word “eichah” occurs only 18 times in the entire Bible. In each instance, it conveys this rhetorical complaint:
Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit. There would be consequences. Despite the promise of blessings for human life and all that could flourish on the Earth, God turned to humanity and asked - "how could you?!" "where are you?"
When Moses said, "How can I bear all this?" might he have been asking the question to demonstrate and model and validate the question(s) of the second generation: how can we bear all this?! Where are we now that our parents have left us and Moses is about to die? Will we live up to the challenge? the Covenant?
Moses uses the word איכה eicha which (in letter combination) was used first in the Garden of Eden - "ayeka?" - where are you?
Human beings started missing the mark and eating forbidden fruit and ultimately experienced a murder when brother killed brother. How could they forego the blessings and commit the crimes they did?! How could it be, Moses begins his address, that we could be getting set to inherit the land and the first generation, freed from bondage, lost faith, stopped believing, committed idolatry and left fulfilling the promise to the second generation? How could we complain, argue and accuse one another when the Torah is in our possession and the journey is supposed to refine us?
Moses' recalling and recounting the episodes of his own inner struggles is a type of tshuvah. He is sharing his vision which means staring into the mirror and into the reality that unfolded. "Do not squander your opportunities!" He is telling the Children of Israel that looking back at our travails and travels is as important as remembering the blessing of the Promise of our Ancestors. That is what Tisha B'Av and our other fast days are for. That is why we even allow Shabbat to be infused with the spiritual work of preparing for Tisha B'Av - the day we remember the greatest calamities of the Jewish People.
Read the following passages from the Talmud to recount what led to the Temple's destruction in the Sages' conception:
Future generations (including us) are asked to recount the sinful, tragic, and stressful history of our People. That spiritual direction began in earnest when Moses, in chapter 1 of Deuteronomy, asked the Second Generation, the ones who would inherit the Promised Land, to remember the difficult chapters of their ancestors history and their parents' misfortune despite the blessings they set into motion.
The first chapter of Deuteronomy is usually characterized as starting with the rebuke of the Children of Israel, but Moses invitation is to recount and retell the stories of the times when faith failed them, broken-hearts were understood by God, and the fears and the tears built the character of the Jewish People. Despite the consequence of their not inheriting the Promised Land and Moses' own grappling with knowing his own fate, to never be allowed in, the first generation cried and prayed, in order to inspire the Second Generation to become stronger champions of God's plan and embracers of their own destiny.
Consider these words towards the end of chapter 1 of Devarim (Deuteronomy):
(22) Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to reconnoiter the land for us and bring back word on the route we shall follow and the cities we shall come to.” (23) I approved of the plan, and so I selected twelve of your men, one from each tribe. (24) They made for the hill country, came to the wadi Eshcol, and spied it out. (25) They took some of the fruit of the land with them and brought it down to us. And they gave us this report: “It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving to us.” (26) Yet you refused to go up, and flouted the command of the LORD your God. (27) You sulked in your tents and said, “It is because the LORD hates us that He brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to wipe us out. (28) What kind of place are we going to? Our kinsmen have taken the heart out of us, saying, ‘We saw there a people stronger and taller than we, large cities with walls sky-high, and even Anakites.’”
In this week's Haftarah, this is Isaiah's reminder, too. Here is the beginning of his vision:
(1) The vision - the prophecies of Isaiah son of Amoz, who prophesied concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. (2) Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, For the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up— And they have rebelled against Me! (3) An ox knows its owner, An ass its master’s crib: Israel does not know, My people takes no thought.” (4) Ah, sinful nation! People laden with iniquity! Brood of evildoers! Depraved children! They have forsaken the LORD, Spurned the Holy One of Israel, Turned their backs [on Him]. (5) Why do you seek further beatings, That you continue to offend? Every head is ailing, And every heart is sick.
(19) The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; those crushed in spirit He delivers.
And when we cry:
But Moses reassures:
And about Jerusalem Isaiah adds:
How could that kind of hate, Sinat Chinam, baseless hate, be counteracted?
When questioned why he loved Jews distant from the ideals of Torah, Rav Kook would respond, “Better I should err on the side of baseless love, than I should err on the side of baseless hatred.”
Rav Kook gave practical advice on how to achieve this love, called Ahavat Chinam.
- Love for people does not start from the heart, but from the head. To truly love and understand people - individually as well as a group — requires a wisdom that is both insightful and multifaceted. This intellectual inquiry is an important discipline of Torah study.
- Loving others does not mean indifference to baseness and moral decline. Our goal is to awaken knowledge and morality, integrity, and refinement
- If we take note of others’ positive traits, we will come to love them with an inner affection. This is not a form of insincere flattery, nor does it mean white-washing their faults and foibles. But by concentrating on their positive characteristics — and every person has a good side — the negative aspects become less significant