Dear Friends;
This year’s Parshat Va’etchanan vort is being sponsored by Benyamin and Tracy Skriloff of Ramat Beit Shemesh dedicated for the safety of the Chayalim, as well as for the good health and security of kol Am Yisrael. To the Skriloff family, many thanks for your sponsorship and for your continued kindnesses.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShavua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShavua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
olehchadash@yahoo.com
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The Haftorah for our Parshat begins:
“Nachamu, Nachamu Ami yomar Elokeichem” — “Comfort, comfort my people — says your G’d.” [Sefer Yishaiya, Perek 40, posuk 1]
This sentiment seems to be silent, but yet a theme of Parshat Va’etchanan.
Rabbi Zev Leff writes on our Parshat Va’etchanan, in his Sefer, “Outlooks & Insights on the Weekly Torah Portion” (page 212) :
The entire foundation of Torah is Chesed — Hashem’s total giving to those who serve Him. The Torah is, in it’s entirety, an expression of Hashem’s desire to do good for us. It is not an imposition on our life, but rather a framework within which to earn eternal reward.
Torah gives us the means to utilize one’s body in Hashem’s service and thereby purify and elevate it. Moshe was the culmination of this process of elevation to be G’d-like. He transformed his physical body into something soo holy that only Hashem could bury it and put it away until the resurrection of the dead. That is the very essence of Torah — to remove the shame of pure physicality by elevating the physical to G’dliness.
When one sins, he actually commits a double crime: the first is a rebellion against Hashem; the second is against himself in his disregard of the benefit of [a given] Mitzvah. Hence the punishment is also double. Not only does Hashem punish him for his rebellion, just as a parent punishes a child to discipline him and guide him back to the right path. He also robs himself of the great benefit Hashem soo much desired to bestow upon him.
Consequently the comfort will be double. The ultimate benefit will finally be realized, and, in addition, we will understand that the punishment itself was for our own good to prevent us from losing our eternal reward.
In Parshat Ha’azinu, The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash summarizes Sefer Devarim, Perek 32, posukim 26 – 43 (page 1107) :
Neither Israel’s sins nor the exiles and suffering they bring about can ever sever the bond between Am Yisrael and Hashem. Eventually, the closeness will be restored and the final redemption will come.
Our Parshat opens with Moshe explaining to Am Yisrael:
“Va’etchanan El Hashem… I implored at that time, saying, ‘My Lord, Hashem/Keilokim, you have begun to show Your servant, Your greatness, and Your strong hand, for what power is there in Shemayim or on the earth that can perform according to Your deeds and according to Your mighty acts? Let me cross and see the good Land that is on the other side of the Yardein [Jordan river], this good mountain and the Lebanon.'”
“But Hashem became angry with me because of you, and He did not listen to me; Hashem said to me, ‘It is too much for you! Do not continue to speak to Me further about this matter.'” [Sefer Devarim, Perek 3, posukim 23 – 26 rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash]
As a side note, Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, in his Sefer, “Kol Dodi,” translates “Va’etchanan” using a synonym: “And I pleaded with Hashem at that time.” [Sefer Devarim, Perek 3, posukim 23] Rabbi Feinstein notes:
In the Heavenly Court…, Hashem is the only Judge. He reveals different aspects of Himself at different times — sometimes His mercy is dominant, other times [it is] His strict justice — and it is in one’s interest to bring one’s judgements to Him at a time when He is most favorably disposed toward [an individual].
Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, z”l, in his Sefer, “Kol Dodi,” cites Rashi in explaining what was meant “when Moshe said that ‘Hashem grew angry because of you'” (Sefer Devarim, Perek 3, poauk 26):
Rashi says that when Moshe said, “because of you,” he meant that… the Am Yisrael, caused my punishment by bickering about the lack of water… Surely, Moshe knew that, however the people may have provoked him, he was responsible for his own actions. If so, why did he blame them?
Moshe admitted that he alone was responsible for his mistake, but he felt, that on his own merits, Hashem would have forgiven him. However, because the people had sinned by complaining about the lack of water and thus showed that they had too little trust in Hashem, they had to be shown the stringency of His judgement — that even as righteous a person as Moshe is punished for a comparatively small sin.
This point is made… in Parshat Chukat [Rabbi Feinstein citing Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 20, posuk 13] where the Torah says that Hashem was sanctified by the incident of the water. Rashi comments on this, “When Hashem judges those who are holy to Him, He becomes more fearful and holy in the eyes of His creatures.”
This… was Moshe’s real complaint to the people: “Because you needed to be taught a lesson, Hashem made an example of me and punished me by not allowing me to enter the Land.”
Having acquired early in 5786 Rabbi Hershel Reichman’s two volume Sefer, “Living the Chassic Legacy: Lessons Based on Shem Mishmuel,” this author has since cited from this Sefer in compiling numerous Parsha Vorts. Therefore, these opening posukim of Parshat Va’etchanan where Moshe’s prayers to cross the Jordan into Eretz Yisrael are refused by Hashem seem to this author to correlate with Rabbi Reichman’s vort on Parshat Va’eira which this author cited in mid-January:
Shem Mishmuel focuses on a Midrash in Parshat Vayeishev. Torah says that Yaakov sent Yosef “from the valley of Chevron [emek Chevron — citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 37, posuk 14 ]” to find his brothers.” The city of Chevron is on a hill, not a valley. Why does Torah say that Yaakov sent Yosef from a valley? Shem Mishmuel interprets the word “emek” as to imply “eitza amuka” — the deepest idea of Avraham Avinu, who is buried in Chevron.
The Midrash explains the geographically inaccurate statement of the Torah. Yaakov sent Yosef based on the deep idea (eitza amuka) of Avraham Avinu… Hashem had made a covenant with Avraham many years earlier — the bris bein habesarim — wherein Hashem foretold the exile, slavery and suffering of the Jews. This was a deep idea that Avraham Avinu suggested to Hashem…
The question that Avraham and Hashem were considering was that of continuity. This is the fundamental problem of Am Yisrael. Avraham was a great man, as was Yitzchak and Yaakov. How do we continue and perpetrate greatness from one generation to the next and to the nation in future generations?
Hashem was going to give B’nei Yisrael tremendous blessings: Eretz Yisrael, Torah and Olam HaBa. They are great and unique gifts that the Jews are privileged to have received from Hashem. Eretz Yisrael: So many nations continually want to take the land, but no nation has ever successfully done so. It always remains the exclusive gift of Am Yisrael. No other nation ever has been exiled from a land and returned.
We have the gift of Torah, the ultimate gift to the human race. We can know Hashem’s plans for the world and what he expects of human beings. It takes us from the lowest levels of this world to the highest level of Heaven. The gift of Olam HaBa is when the world will change completely and there will be only good, not evil.
But these gifts must be deserved. Otherwise, the whole world would have them; and these three gifts are unique to the Jews. They come with serious requirements…, Yisurim, suffering, is part of the price to earn these gifts.
How can the Avos guarantee that their children will live up to their [the Avos’] level? Avraham was having a serious discussion about this and Hashem asked him, “What do you prefer? You can pick gehinom with severe and terrible punishments so your offspring will be afraid to stray from the tradition. Or you can choose galut, exile, a sort of suffering in this world instead of suffering in the next world.”
…Avraham chose galut — subjugation and slavery to other nations — as the basic way to guarantee our continuity as a nation…. This is the eitza amuka. Galut and ge’ula, exile and redemption, are the fundamental cycle of our history.
Avraham realized a deep idea. If the Jews would have a guarantee of the suffering in gehinom, they would inevitably stray from the Torah throughout the generations…. Sometimes, people feel the desire to taste foreign waters. It is almost inevitable that a generation will drift away from the Torah. If they are brought back because of the punishments of gehinom, then their failings remain and are not redeemed. If, on the other hand, the people feel the physical punishment of exile in this world, and we are distant from our land, our G’d, and His blessings, we can be moved to return…. The silver lining in the galut is that it must result in a ge’ula, redemption in this world. When the ge’ula comes, it is a redemption of the galut itself. As bad as the galut is, that is how sweet the redemption will be.
Galut and ge’ula on a national level have a tremendous impact on us. The nature and essence of galut is chilul Hashem. We are the people of Hashem. If we are suffering in exile, then Hashem is suffering in exile, too…. Hashem made His choice of His people forever, and He does not change. …The saving grace of galut is that it must conclude with ge’ula. This was Avraham’s suggestion that Hashem accepted.
Every galut leads towards a ge’ula. Being slaves in Egypt brought us to the Torah at Har Sinai. The knowledge of this secret makes it easier for us living in galut. The Shem Mishmuel [5616 (1855) – 5686 (1926)] lived… before the State of Israel, during the bitter years of the European exile. He said that the suffering of his galut would lead to a greater redemption. The sanctification would would be so much greater based on the problems of the difficult galut. This idea should give us hope while enduring our own troubles today.
In this author’s vort on Parshat Shemini, we learn that Moshe thought that he would be appointed to serve as Kohen Gadol along with Aaron. But Hashem appointed Aaron as the singular Kohen Gadol, having removed Moshe from that role as punishment for Moshe’s seven days of arguing with Hashem that he felt unqualified to be the Redeemer of the Jews from Mitzrayim.
However, Rabbi Reichman, in his Sefer, “Living the Chassic Legacy: Lessons Based on Shem Mishmuel,” cites Midrash that Moshe was punished in a second way for his prolonged arguing with Hashem regarding his assumption of the leadership of Am Yisrael (page 384) :
…Forty years later, Moshe experienced a second great disappointment. Starting on Rosh Chodesh Adar, he prayed for a whole week to gain entry into Eretz Yisrael. On the seventh day Adar, Hashem told Moshe, “You will not be able to go into the Land of Israel. You will die outside of the Land.” This says the Midrash, was also a punishment for Moshe not accepting the mission to redeem the Jews forty years earlier. Here, Moshe davened for seven days and Hashem refused his request, just as Moshe had refused Hashem’s request for seven days.
However, it would seem that, although Moshe suffered a second more agonizing disappointment in not being able to experience the redemption, with the rest of Am Yisrael, of entering Eretz Yisrael, he could be consoled with the knowledge that whatever Israel’s sins, the exiles and the suffering, there exists an eternal bond between Am Yisrael and Hashem and that there will be an ultimate Ge’ula Shleima.
May it be that our leadership — governing, judicial and IDF high command echelons, as well as kol Am Yisrael come to achieve a faithfulness, consistency and unity — both collectively as One, and individually in our avodah — both V’Ahavtah L’Arecha Kamocha, and in our Service of Hashem, B’Ezrat Hashem
May our government and military bring about the total and complete, Final and Decisive victory over Hamas, their 7 October so-called “civilians(sic)” collaborators, Iran and the entire terror cabal, B’Yad Hashem, and become Totally self-sufficient as to manufacture of military equipment and aircraft, weaponry, munitions — heavy munitions, as well as showing independence of actions responding to any threat, regardless of so-called “super powers.”
May we see, from here on, that border guard personnel at all points of possible danger are listened to and treated with respect and dignity. May we see Operation Roaring Lions — a speedy resumption of the joint action by our Chayalim and the United States against the Mullahs of what has been the Islamic Caliphate dictatorship controlling Iran, that Islam and its barbarous terrorist tentacles of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, as well as Qatar, Turkey, the Houthies of Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq, Afganistan, possibly Egypt, and all who seek war against the Jews be totally eradicated, both in Israel’s neighborhood, as well as internationally, B’Ezrat Hashem. May we see a government of Israel secure in it’s foremost service of, and emunah in HaKadosh Borchu, B’Ezrat Hashem! And may we see the restoration of true unity within Am Yisrael. May these words come to fruition B’Ezrat Hashem.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his sixth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and continues in a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, the recent recovery of the remains of Tzvi Feldman as well as the recoveries of the remains of Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin from the Gaza War of ten years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
Moshe is available for editing of English language documents, articles, manuscripts and more. Please be in contact with him at olehchadash@yahoo.com for your English language needs.
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