Parashat D’varim/Shabbat Hazon
Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22
“These are the words (d’varim) that Moses spoke to all of Israel on the other side of the Jordan…” (Deut. 1:1) The Torah locates the place of Moses’ farewell speech to his people, a speech that constitutes the Book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Torah, as taking place on the banks of the Jordan River. After outlining the route that the Israelites had taken to go from Egypt and to reach this point, the Torah again states; “On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moav, Moses began to explain this Torah…” (v. 5) It is important for the Torah that we understand that Moses’ words were spoken at the threshold of the Promised Land, a threshold marked by the flowing waters of the Jordan. This threshold would have to be crossed in order to enter the land and Moses sought to prepare the people for this crossing.
As we know, this moment of entering the land was supposed to happen a generation earlier. But the people were not ready and their fulfillment of God’s promise had to be postponed until the next generation could undertake it.
Thus we experienced a first attempt at entering the land, an attempt that failed, and now we are poised for what Moses devoutly hopes will be a second, successful attempt. We may be reminded of the two attempts that had to be undertaken with regard to the giving of the Torah. The first Tablets that God offered us were rejected and were smashed, and it was only with the second attempt that we succeeded in accepting the Torah.
In each of these cases we had to have a “do-over” in order to get it right. But the do-overs were not quite identical to the first failed attempts that they rectified. In the case of the second set of Tablets human effort was required in a way that was not demanded the first time around. The initial idea was for God to create the Tablets and incise them with the Ten Commands, all alone. In the second set God tells Moses that, if Israel really wants these Tablets, he/they will have to contribute some effort to make it happen. Moses has to carve out the Tablets on his own.
Similarly, with the postponement of the entry to the land to this second attempt comes a basic change in the method of the entry. The original plan was for the people to enter from the western side of the land. That side has no discernable geographical feature that can demarcate the border. The move from outside the land to inside the land would have been seamless. Not so on the second try. This time there is a clear break between outside and inside. The river must be crossed.
Just as the crossing of the Red Sea marked the definitive exodus of the Israelites from their House of Bondage to the open wilderness of freedom’s potential, this crossing, not originally included in the Divine Plan, but made necessary by our own history, will concretely mark the great transition of the people from life in the open, undefined wilderness to life in their homeland, a life of borders, limits and responsibility.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David Greenstein
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