5784/2024
New to Sefer Devarim
Moshe’s rejection is an event we have not heard about previously in the Chumash, but questions abound regarding its appearance in Sefer Devarim. Moshe Rabbeinu (Devarim 3:23-28) recounts that after defeating Sichon and Og, Hashem rejected his passionate plea to enter Eretz Yisrael. Three of the
many questions Abrabanel raises regarding this episode loom large.
Three Questions
First, this rejected Tefillah is a personal matter for Moshe Rabbeinu; why does he share it with the nation? This reminds me of a young teacher sharing his dating trials and tribulations with his high school students. His supervisor gently advised him that using his classroom as a therapy or venting session was inappropriate. Accordingly, why does Moshe Rabbeinu share his frustration with the entire nation? Why does Hashem, Sefer Devarim’s editor, include this section?
Second, why does Moshe Rabbeinu pray so intensely to extend his life? Doesn’t he look forward to his unfathomably great portion in Olam Haba?
Finally, why is Moshe Rabbeinu comforted by looking at Eretz Yisrael? In Abarbanel’s words, “why does Moshe Rabbeinu desire seeing mountains and hills from afar?”
Sharing Rejection
Ibn Ezra (Devarim 3:24) explains that the Torah includes this episode to inculcate a love of Eretz Yisrael. Moshe Rabbeinu is eager to avoid a repeat of the Cheit HaMeraglim. Thus, the generation he addresses needs to hear how much he wished to enter Eretz Yisrael but was denied. He wants his listeners to feel great fortune when entering Eretz Yisrael.
In later generations, Moshe Rabbeinu’s valiant attempts to enter Eretz Yisrael continue to inspire. Countless Israelis urge me to examine how much Moshe Rabbeinu wanted your opportunity to make Aliya. So why do you not take advantage of the extraordinary opportunity we have in our generation (Baruch Hashem!) to do so?
There is at least one other significant need for all of Israel to know about Moshe Rabbeinu’s unaccepted plea. Inevitably, everyone will experience some disappointment with Hashem not granting them that for which they prayed. However, Hashem rejecting Moshe Rabbeinu consoles us. Even Moshe Rabbeinu did not receive everything he wanted. Thus, it does not necessarily reflect poorly on us if we do not receive what we prayed for.
Finally, we add that Moshe Rabbeinu sharing his exclusion from Eretz Yisrael due to his sin is a potent warning to us as we enter Eretz Yisrael. The implicit warning is that we risk expulsion from our beloved land if we sin. Although the Torah repeatedly warns us of exile if we sin, Moshe Rabbeinu’s
personal example adds to the message’s poignancy (similar to the Mashal Rashi presents in his commentary to Vayikra 16:1).
This World Preferable to Olam Haba
To answer question number two, we cite an important teaching from Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (“Ish HaHalacha,” page 37).
“Halakhah is not at all concerned with a transcendent world (i.e., a world beyond our world). The World to Come is a tranquil, quiet world that is wholly good, wholly everlasting, and wholly eternal, wherein a man will receive the reward for the commandments which he performed in this world. However, the receiving of reward is not a religious act; therefore halakhic man prefers the real world to a transcendent existence because here, in this world, man is given the opportunity to create, act, accomplish, while there, in the World to Come, he is powerless to change anything at all”.
The Gemara (Sotah 14a) clarifies Moshe Rabbeinu’s burning desire to enter Eretz Yisrael (translation from the William Davidson edition of the Talmud):
Rabbi Samlai taught: For what reason did Moses our teacher greatly desire to enter Eretz Yisrael? Did he need to eat of its produce, or did he need to satisfy himself from its goodness? Rather, this is what Moses said: Many mitzvot were commanded to the Jewish people, and some of them can be fulfilled only in Eretz Yisrael, so I will enter the land in order that they can all be fulfilled by me.
Given these sources, we are unsurprised that Moshe Rabbeinu prefers to fulfill the MItzvot unique to Eretz Yisrael (Mitzvot HaTeluyot BaAretz) to enter the blissful life of Olam Haba (as Abarbanel notes).
Seeing Eretz Yisrael
Abarbanel explains that Moshe Rabbeinu was comforted by seeing Eretz Yisrael since it enabled him to see the fruit of his forty years of preparing his flock to enter Eretz Yisrael. Abrabanel clarifies that Moshe Rabbeinu did not merely get a causal glimpse of Eretz Yisrael. Rather, Hashem made it as if Moshe Rabbeinu transversed the entire land on foot (as we shall elaborate on in the next chapter).
Abarbanel notes that the rest of Moshe Rabbeinu’s generation could not even see the land (Bemidbar 14:23). Although he could not enter Eretz Yisrael, Moshe Rabbeinu was able to see it and tour it from afar.
We add based on the following incident with my eldest child Bracha (now Baruch Hashem, a happy wife, mother, and nurse). Bracha, as a three-year-old, adored an older child named Ayelet, who lived in the house diagonally across the street from us. One evening at bedtime, Bracha refused to go to sleep until I brought her to Ayelet. I told her (taking my cue from Hashem) that while it was too late to visit Ayelet, I would stand her near the window so she could see Ayelet’s house across the street. Although she could not cross the street, she felt comforted by seeing Ayelet’s house. Bracha then went to sleep content.
Hashem sets an example of managing a situation when denying someone’s fervent request. Hashem shows us that he should give him at least a sliver of what he wants. In that way, he feels respected and comforted by trying to satisfy them even just a bit.
Conclusion
Rav Soloveitchik, in his "Ish HaHalacha," cites the following tradition:
The story is told about the Gaon of Vilna, how just before his death, he clutched the tzitzit of his garment, wept, and exclaimed: "How beautiful is this world – for one penny a person can acquire eternal life." (p. 30)
We hear the same idea from Rav Chayyim of Volozhin. On the night of Selichot in 5572, Rav Chayyim delivered a sermon published many times. He reports that he heard –
Many times from the holy mouth of our master, the Gaon, the pious, Eliyahu of Vilna, what is the importance of the world-to-come; it has no value whatsoever in contrast to one hour in this world of occupation in Torah and commandments, for in the world-to-come it is impossible to serve God...
The story is told about the Vilna Gaon that in a year of a severe Lulav shortage, the only person who had a Lulav said to the Vilna Gaon that he will give him the Lulav only on condition that he receive the Vilna Gaon’s Sechar in Olam HaBa for this Mitzvah. The Gaon was thrilled to comply, explaining that he finally has a Mitzvah for which he is fulfilling purely for the love of Hashem!
These attitudes stem from the folowing Mishna (Avot ״יפה שעה אחת בתשובה ומעשים טובים בעולם הזה, כחיי העולם הבא; .)4:17 .יפה שעה אחת של קורת רוח בעולם הבא, מכל חיי העולם הזה״
Chazal (Devarim Rabba 11:10) teach that Moshe Rabbeinu made 515 (the Gematria of the word VaEtchanan) pleas to enter Eretz Yisrael. No wonder this episode has made an inedible impact on the Jewish People’s love for Eretz Yisrael.
Already from Avraham Avinu’s time (see Rashi to Breishit 12:1 s.v. Asher Areka), Hashem makes Eretz Yisrael beloved to us. From the beginning of the Jewish people at Sefer Breishit’s start to the last Perek of Sefer Devarim, which records Hashem showing Eretz Yisrael to Moshe Rabbeinu before his death, Hashem builds a great legacy of profound Jewish love for Eretz Yisrael. No wonder we continued to pine for Eretz Yisrael even after two thousand years of Exile. It is a love story whose persistence has no parallel in human history, and it all began with our two greatest leaders, Avraham Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu.