Mission Through Vision

The following Devar Torah written by our Year 11 student, Eitan Meshel, was delivered during our Monday tefillot.- Rabbi Siegel

This week’s parashah, Va’atchenan, displays the accumulation of a person’s flaws finally toppling his every triumph. Moses is a person who thus far we have learnt to respect for his bravery, compassion, and humble disposition, who, despite being the only person allowed to speak “face to face” with g-d, still held himself as of the same position as everyone else.

However, as we see time and time again, along with this, were his high expectations of others, influenced by his self-discipline. Due to this, he frequently sets himself up for disappointment, as the Israelites prove impatient and difficult to stay completely true to g-d’s intent. At this point, Moses, from frustration and disappointment, does something wrong, as an expression of his anger, knowing that he, in their situation, would not have been so impatient. From destroying the Tablets to striking the rock that gave water to the people, Moses has now reached the point that he is so close to the land of Israel but g-d will not allow him to enter. Moses pleads, but g-d says that this is not even a point of discussion, he is allowed to see the land, but he is never to enter.

This may be seen as harsh, and there are many ways to look at it. Moses consistently blames the Israelites for his punishment, and for the much of the parashah tells the people to be good, to follow the Torah’s guidance, and, interestingly to me, that god is a merciful one, and will forgive if you seek it, given after disobeying the rules.

This leaves me with two main questions. Firstly, if g-d is so merciful, what about his response to Moses? Why was this the last straw, shouldn’t he eventually be allowed to go to Israel, for everything he had done to get there? The answer, unfortunately, is no. I believe this was due to Moses’s position, as the leader of all the Israelites, he is their role model, if the Israelites are disloyal, it has to be assumed that the leader has done a poor job. His ease to anger is a bad influence, and as a leader, empathy is necessary. To have such high expectations of others is unwise, and inconsiderate on how others feel.

Of course Moses would never distrust g-d, he talks to him frequently! With the exception of one event, the Israelites have had no direct contact with g-d, so of course they can lose their way. As a leader, this was Moses’s responsibility to understand, and after making the mistake so many times, there was no way that he could continue in this role.

On the other hand, I had to ask myself, why depict Moses in such a flawed manner? In one sense, he should be looked up to, for his determination and sense of compassion. On the other, he’s quick to anger, and at times has little self-control, due to his passion. He is so perfect, it makes him imperfect, incapable of understanding the doubts of the Israelites. Like a Shakespearian tragedy, or more suitably, the other way around, Moses has a fatal flaw, and now must face the consequences of letting this flaw consume him.

Moses release from his anger is that he now speaks to the Israelites. Do not make the mistakes you had made, on your way here, remember what it was like, in bondage in Egypt, and remember that you were freed. He pleads that they do not make the same mistakes, but that if they do, with enough time, they will be forgiven, and that g-d will not forget them, or the covenant made between them. And from here, the role of leadership will be passed to Joshua, for the final journey into Israel, the promised land.

Rabbi Daniel Siegel