It is interesting to note that when Moshe begins his final
address to Klal Yisrael, a review of all that they have experienced as a
nation, he does not begin with leaving Egypt, crossing the Sea, or even
receiving the Torah at Sinai. Instead, he begins with a listing of their journeys
and the setting up of a system of civil courts. The only laws that appear to be
repeated in Parshas Devarim are commandments meant to ensure impartiality in
the judicial system. While the parsha speaks of several occurrences in the
wilderness, the two most prominent seem to be the incident of the scouts and
the land allocation of Reuvain, Gad, and half of Menashe. Thus it is worth
wondering at Moshe’s choice of these the two main narratives for the opening parsha
of Sefer Devarim.
Although both of these stories are recorded in Sefer Bamidar
and read just a few weeks before Parshas Devarim, they occurred years - actually decades - apart. They are, in truth, opposites: the end of the beginning and the beginning
of the end. When the scouts returned from the Promised Land and put fear in the
hearts of the nation, that was the end of the first era of Klal Yisrael’s
journey. The raw energy of emergence, of change, of becoming a nation at Sinai,
here proved itself unsustainable as the driving force of this nation. Even
after all of the blatant miracles and God’s forgiveness after the Golden Calf,
the people demonstrated an inherent inability to truly trust Hashem or believe
in their own worthiness.
The generation that saw “explosive” miracles, that sang the
great Shira at the Yam Suf, blunted their own spiritual fire. Certainly, part
of this came from their having begun as slaves, and possibly some of it was
because the actual impact of each of their experiences had been so majestically
miraculous.
Moshe was able to grant the request of Reuvain and Gad because
this generation was different from their fathers’ generation. They knew of the
great and wonderous miracles, but the miracles in their own lives – while still
spectacular to us today – were both more subtle and more constant. When we today think about the generation of
the wilderness, we think of how wonderous it must have been to have been close
to active miracles, to have witnessed a cloud descending on the Tent of Meeting
or experienced life fully provided for by Hashem (manna, water from Miriam’s
well, ever-lasting clothing…). But for that generation, raised since their youth
surrounded by these active miracles, it must have been difficult to even
perceive them as miraculous – this was just life. Hashem was a tangible
presence in their lives – providing cause and effect, consequences such as
Korach being swallowed by the earth. And even though their life was “easy,”
they were ready to go forward and put in the necessary work and effort.
The granting of the land in response to the request from Reuvain
and Gad demonstrated the difference of this second generation to that of their
elders. Their request was not a demand, as, it is now explained, had been the
idea to send the scouts. Indeed, according to numerous commentators, when Moshe
says: V’tikravoon eyli koolchem, and you gathered around me all of you, he is
subtly describing how the generation that came from Egypt had forced the idea
of the scouts upon him, how they were impatient and demanding. The second
generation, however, was willing to put their own effort into building their
towns and fighting beside their brethren. They represented how Klal Yisrael as a
whole was ready to begin the last stage of their journey to enter the Promised
Land – ready to fight and to work and, most importantly, to trust in Hashem.
Thousands of years later, we reside here in galus, and we
yearn for redemption. We sigh and we hope and we wonder – and yes, I think it
is a thought that crosses everyone’s mind once in a while – we wonder why we do not have such open miracles as those of our ancestors. We imagine how much
easier it would be to have emunah shelaima – complete faith – if we just
witnessed an open miracle or two. And we are not asking for Yam Suf; we would be
satisfied with Miram’s well or heaven-sent manna. But perhaps Moshe opened his
address this way to Klal Yisrael because he was not speaking only to the people before
him, but to the generations upon generations to come. Open miracles are not the
answer, they do not build a strong core of bitachon. In order to prepare
for the conclusion of our own journey, we need to learn to accept the constant
miracles that surround us with gratitude, put our trust in Hashem, and be ever-ready
to work on moving forward.
A brief note of thanks and a dedication:
Parshas Devarim marks the anniversary of my writing Parsha
posts. I have now completed two years, although I cannot say that I have
managed every week in either year (thank you Corona!)
This Personal Parsha Prose was written on Friday, 3 Av 5780,
the yahrtzeit of my Great-Grandfather Elias Gartel, l’ilyui neshama Eliyahu ben
Yitzchak Halevi.
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