~Thoughts
On The Parsha~
Parshas Ha'azinu
Cheating Death
By: Daniel Listhaus
וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל מֹשֶׁה בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה לֵאמֹר: עֲלֵה אֶל
הַר הָעֲבָרִים הַזֶּה הַר נְבוֹ אֲשֶׁר בְּאֶרֶץ מוֹאָב אֲשֶׁר עַל פְּנֵי
יְרֵחוֹ וּרְאֵה אֶת אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
לַאֲחֻזָּה: וּמֻת בָּהָר אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה עֹלֶה שָׁמָּה
וְהֵאָסֵף אֶל עַמֶּיךָ כַּאֲשֶׁר מֵת אַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ בְּהֹר הָהָר וַיֵּאָסֶף
אֶל עַמָּיו: עַל אֲשֶׁר מְעַלְתֶּם בִּי בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי
יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּמֵי מְרִיבַת קָדֵשׁ מִדְבַּר צִן עַל אֲשֶׁר לֹא קִדַּשְׁתֶּם
אוֹתִי בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל: כִּי מִנֶּגֶד תִּרְאֶה אֶת הָאָרֶץ וְשָׁמָּה
לֹא תָבוֹא אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
“Hashem spoke to
Moshe in the middle of that day, saying, “Ascend to this mount of Avarim, Mount
Nevo, which is in the land of Moav, which is before Yericho, and see the land
of Canaan that I give to the Children of Israel as an inheritance, and die on
the mountain where you will ascend, and be brought in to your people, as Aharon
your brother died on Mount Hor, and was brought in to his people, because you
trespassed against Me among the Children of Israel. For from a distance shall
you see the land, but you shall not enter there, into the land that I give to
the Children of Israel. ”
-Devarim 32:48-52
The
passukim describe that Hashem told Moshe that it was time for him to
die. However, Moshe’s death would not be like most. Rather, as Rashi[1]
comments, Hashem told Moshe that He would merit the same type of death that
Aharon had gotten, on which Moshe declared, “Fortunate is the man who dies by
this death!” After all, the Gemara[2]
describes that there are 903 forms of death which were created in the
world. The best form of death is what is called “neshika” (literally: a
kiss). This neshika from Hashem is so swift and smooth it like pulling a
hair out of milk.[3]
Rashi[4]
points out the seemingly unnecessary detail in the passuk that Hashem
spoke to Moshe in the middle of that day. There are countless times where the
Torah relates Hashem’s speaking to Moshe. However, besides for here, it never
indicates the time of day. Why is it that the Torah here adds this detail?
Rashi
explains that there are three[5]
places in the Torah where this phrase is used in such a circumstance. The first
is by the dor hamabul (generation of the flood). Rashi[6]
there comments that aside from being wicked and unwilling to do teshuva,
the people in Noach’s time had threatened Noach and his family that if they
would try to enter the teivah (ark), that they would break down the ark
and kill them. In response to this, the passuk describes that Noach and
his family went to the teivah “in the middle of that day” in order for
Hashem to demonstrate openly and clearly that His word stands and no matter how
much the people wanted to harm Noach, they were unable to do so.
The second
instance that the Torah notes that an event happened in broad daylight, right
in the middle of the day in front of everyone, was during yetziyas Mitzarayim
(exodus from Egypt) where the passuk[7]
says, “And it was in the brightest part of that day that Hashem took B’nei
Yisroel out from Mitzrayim with their legions.” Rashi[8]
explains that the Egyptians were saying, “We swear that if we see
the B’nei Yisroel trying to leave, we will not allow them; and
not only that but we will take swords and weapons and kill them.” Again, in
response Hashem specifically took us out smack in the middle of the day as if
to declare, “This is my word which stands and whoever thinks they have the
power to object, let him come and try to object.”
Similarly in
our parsha, Rashi[9]
explains that upon hearing that Moshe rabbeinu was on the verge of
dying, the B’nei Yisroel wanted to do whatever they could to keep him
alive. They declared, “If we see that Moshe is about to die, we will not let
him. A man who took us out of Egypt, and parted the Sea for us, and brought
down the manna for us and
made the pheasants fly to us, and brought the well up for us, and gave us the
Torah, we will not let him die.” In response to this too, Hashem said, “Behold
I will take him at midday, and whoever thinks they have the power to object,
let him come and try.”
On the
surface this Rashi is difficult to understand. It is beautiful that the B’nei
Yisroel joined together and voiced their appreciation for Moshe and all he
did for them as their leader, but what did they think they could do already to
prevent Moshe from dying? If Moshe’s time was up it’s up.
There is a
joke told of a religious Jew on a plane who had a worried look on his face. The
person sitting next to him turns to him and asks, “Why are you so worried?” The
Jew responded, “Flying makes me nervous.” “But I thought you Jews are G-d
fearing and when your time is up in this world, it’s up?” “That’s all true,”
the Jew responds, “But what if the pilot’s time is up?”
Obviously the
joke is just a joke and reality is that the details of hashgacha p’ratis (divine
providence) do not generally allow for unnecessary punishments to befall
someone. However in concept, it is true that when Hashem decides a person’s
time is up, there is not much one could do to stop it. So what exactly did the B’nei
Yisroel have in mind as an effective way of keeping Moshe rabeinu from
dying?
The Be’er
Ba’Sadeh[10]
explains that the B’nei Yisroel’s strategy was to daven
intensely and cry out in tefillos (prayers) to Hashem that Moshe
be kept alive. The Be’er Ba’Sadeh continues and writes that in response
to this Hashem had no choice but to suddenly remove the thought from their
heads.
Imagine the
scene: Moshe announces that Hashem told him it is time for him to die. Then,
millions of people join together for the biggest Jewish asifa (gathering)
and ready themselves for fervent prayer to knock down the doors of Heaven and
change the gezairah (decree) in order to keep Moshe, their leader,
alive. Upon seeing this, Hashem interfered and removed the idea of praying for
Moshe from their minds.
There are two
problems with this Be’er Ba’Sadeh. First, Hashem had already told Moshe
he was going to die. It was set in stone, his fate was determined. How could
the tefillos of B’nei Yisroel change this? Why didn’t Hashem just
ignore their tefillos? Hashem had an agenda and a schedule for Moshe’s
death, how could mere davening be a “threat” to that plan?[11]
Second, how
could we begin to understand why Hashem would interfere and prevent B’nei
Yisroel from davening? He is the last One we would think would try
to get in the way of prayer. We pray to Him! People sometimes try to
interfere, the yetzer harrah (evil inclination) sometimes tries to
interfere, but Hashem? Doesn’t he want us learning His Torah and davening
to Him – our King – Who is in control of the world? Why would Hashem hinder us
from doing what we are essentially here to do?
Perhaps based
on these two questions we could extrapolate two fundamental ideas. First, we
see from here that indeed tefillos are more than a religious ritual or
custom, tefillos create realities. The stronger the power source, the
stronger the tefillah. An individual mumbling words is one level, a
person davening with kavanah (proper intention) is another level,
and a tzibur (public [gathering]) of three million people joining together
with one heart, davening intensely with tears creates a reality so
powerful that it would break straight through a gezairah of death like a
hot knife on butter. No tefillah gets ignored – Hashem created our world
intertwined with physicality and spirituality. Just like there is a teva (nature)
and system of rules put in place with the physical world, there is also a
system in place for the spiritual world. A tefillah cannot be ignored
because Hashem wills our tefillos to form kochos (powers) and
realities which must have a consequence and effect somewhere. The delivery
might not get to the exact address we requested, nor may it be delivered with
overnight shipping, but then again how legibly did we write the address on our tefillah
package? Was it clear and neat or in
scribbles and scrawls? Did we put enough stamps or just slap on a couple hoping
for the best? An individual has the ability to define the power of his tefillah
based on his state of mind, kavanos and middos, However even
that has its limits. The power of davening with a tzibur grows
exponentially. Extremely powerful forces could be emerged from a tzibur davening
together. Tefillos which could wipe out entire nations, change gezairos,
and save from death.
This was the
strategy B’nei Yisroel had in mind. It was a good strategy and would
have succeeded. Hashem had to cause them to forget why they were joining
together, otherwise their tefillos would have produced such a powerful ko’ach
in the world that the calendar date with Moshe’s death written on it would
have been ripped to shreds. The question which remains, however, is why did
Hashem interfere?
The Nefesh
Ha’Chayim[12]
writes that even amongst the most righteous, who could even achieve a level of
never sinning in their entire lives, it is still extremely rare that every
single mitzvah and good deed ever done was perfect and absolutely pure
with no other thoughts or motives whatsoever. Even the best people are people
and have biases or natural leanings based on personality – no matter how small
or slight
Sometimes,
the imperfect mitzvos or tefillos could be considered “imperfect”
for reasons even slighter. It could be that one could think he is doing
something good for only the right reasons and he thought it through multiple
times, yet he could be missing information or the clear foresight of all its
ramifications.
This was the
situation that the B’nei Yisroel found themselves in. It is true that
they were joining together with the best intentions of ha’karas ha'tov
and chesed to try to prevent Moshe from dying. However, they were
lacking insight to what the ramifications of such a powerful tefillah keeping
Moshe rabbeinu alive could have on them and the world. Things would have
been extremely different if Moshe would have been alive to be the one to lead
us into Eretz Yisroel. Things might have worked out really well and
looked good in the short-run, but the long term consequences, which is
knowledge and details only Hashem is privy to, were not necessarily good for us
as a nation.
There are so
many levels co-existing in the world simultaneously. The physical domain
itself, the spiritual realms carrying tefillos and learning, the
invisible world of tuma’ah and taharah, the world of constantly
changing causes and effects to perfectly interact with each individual
according to their purpose and tolerance, the world of human choice, and the
world of Hashem’s desired outcomes. All are perfectly balanced by the Master of
the world Himself. Hashem gave the power of free choice to people. However,
free choice does not mean automatic results. A person could decide to go to a
party but that does not mean he will necessarily make it there. A phone call, a
car issue, a wrong turn, an accident – any number of interferences could be
sent his way to prevent him from being at that party. The decision he is
responsible, but whether it plays out according to his will depends on a lot
more.
From the B’nei
Yisroel’s perspective, their davening on behalf of their beloved
leader to keep him alive was pure goodness; and indeed that may be true from
the perspective of their choice, but not necessarily from the perspective of
considering the numerous co-existing worlds which effect so much more. The
decision they made, although praiseworthy, did not fit into Hashem’s plans so
it had to be stopped. Ignoring their tefillah wouldn’t work because at
that point it would be a reality with the power to break the gezairah,
so Hashem had to ensure that the tefillah would not be said and
therefore caused the B’nei Yisroel to forget the purpose of their
gathering.
As we have
already started the new year and still in the midst of a month full of intense davening,
breaking bad decrees, praying for forgiveness and asking for a good upcoming
year, this is something which must remain in our minds. Now more than ever with
the amount of domestic struggles and foreign threats which we as individuals
and the Jewish people as a nation are facing, we must recognize the very real
power of tefillah and try to bring it up a notch – each on his or her
own level. May this be a year of gathering of all B’nei Yisroel with one
heart and as one unit with meaningful tefillos and proper kavanos so
that we experience a year of becoming closer to Hashem without the tzaros (pains).
May Hashem answer our tefillos and shower us this year with blessings,
success, health, and happiness.
[1]
Devarim 32:50
[2]
Berachos 8a
[3]
Aharon received this death as well as Miriam. However by Miriam it is not
referred to explicitly as neshika out of modesty.
[4]
Devarim 32:48
[5]
Really, there is a fourth time where the Torah uses such an expression – by
Avraham aivinu. See Sifsei CHochomim and Be’er Ba’Sadeh as to why
Rashi left this one out.
[6]
Rashi Beraishis 7:13
[7]
Shemos 12:51
[8]
Rashi ibid.
[9]
Rashi Devarim 32:48
[10]Devarim
ibid.
[11]
A third issue with this Be’er Ba’Sadeh is that although it is a nice explanation,
it does not seem to be consistent with the other “b’etzem ha’yom ha’zeh”
examples which Rashi brings. All the other examples were ones where
despite people threatening to try to interfere, Hashem declared “try to stop
Me”! Here though is different. Hashem did not allow B’nei Yisroel even
try to move ahead with their plan and
then declare that He was going to take Moshe regardless. Rather, that Hashem
had to remove the thought from their heads so that they forget what they were
going to do to save Moshe.
[12]
Nefesh Ha’Chayim 1:6 in the second Ha’gah (gloss)
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