Parashat Devarim

Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22

Forty years is a long time. It is a very long time indeed to nurture a dream, to work day-to-day to make it come true and then, just when everything seems to be coming together, when you can see the goal just on the horizon, to realize that your dream will remain – forever – just beyond your grasp. That is how Moses must have felt when he stood upon the mountain with the Promised Land spread before him in a vast and spectacular vista as he began his last speech to the Israelite people – his final legacy, his swan song, the words of Deuteronomy.

Can you imagine what it must have felt like for the great man? What went through his mind as he stood there with the people arrayed there before him? Was he bitter? Did he feel cheated because he was denied the final triumph – leading the people across the Jordan into the Promised Land?  The words he now addressed he spoke “on the other side of the Jordan, in the Aravah,” they were, in effect, his last will testament.  He began with a recollection of their journey together from Horeb’s slopes where the revelation of Torah on that mount called Sinai took place through the wilderness. On the way they encountered foes from without and within; long and arduous was their journey through the desert and the years, rugged and ragged and torn by dissention and lack of faith.  But through all they triumphed – even defeating King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan as would be recounted through the ages – and despite setbacks they persevered and now they were at the very threshold, the goal was in sight.

It was here that Moses prepared to turn the mantle of leadership over to Joshua his appointed successor. “These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel…” (Deut. 1:1). Moses was speaking to all Israel. This was not the same generation that took the first tenuous steps from slavery to freedom forty years before. Except for Moses, Joshua and Caleb, that rebellious generation died out along the way from Egypt to the Promised Land. And now Moses, too, was about to die. Here, Moses speaks to all Israel; he is speaking to the generations yet to come as well as those gathered to hear him on the heights above the Jordan’s banks.

In Deuteronomy Moses speaks to us and to every generation of Israel and his words resonate through the generations, reminding us to hold fast to the faith and traditions forged in the fires the Israelites witnessed on Mount Sinai. It is in this book of Deuteronomy, in next week’s Torah portion, that we read the essence of this Torah, its foundation, the Shema: “Hear, O Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is One!” Followed by our pledge to love Adonai with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our might. 

Our response to that charge has shaped us and shaped Judaism over the last three millennia as we continue the journey that we began with Moses so very long ago. Being a Jew means acknowledging that you are on that journey. Being part of the Jewish people means that you see yourself there, with all the rest of the Israelites, as we listened to Moses’ words before we entered the Promised Land. Being part of Judaism is to live your life as an active affirmation that the tradition is worth passing on to yet another generation. 

No, I truly believe that Moses was not bitter nor was he disappointed as he stood looking out at the Promised Land. That is because he gazed on more than just territory, he envisioned the future of his people, our people. Our response to the challenges that Moses set forth in Deuteronomy and in our Torah tradition was Moses’ hope, and his real Promised Land.