The Death of Moses

 Ha’azinu

Deut. 32:1-52

 

Précis: The parasha, the shortest in the Five Books, containing only 52 verses, begins with the “Song of Moses,” a hymn sung by Moses within sight of the Promised Land. The song contrasts God’s fidelity with the faithlessness of the People, and the need of the People to learn from their history under God’s care. Moses predicts that Israel’s enemies will be overcome. He is told to climb a mountain to see the Promised Land he will not enter, as he prepares for his death. This is the last parasha read on Shabbat in the annual cycle: the final parasha (V’zot Habracha) is read traditionally on Simchat Torah.

Deut. 32:48-52, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. And die on the mountain which you go up and be gathered to your people …For you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”

            Rabbi Sacks reminds us that Moses is not a Jewish object of worship but rather the ultimate role-model. His greatness lies in his effort, and not in his achievement, since he is denied in this parasha the chance to complete his 40-year effort.  

Moses’ death affirms human mortality. There are many explanations of why Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Sacks had previously argued that “each generation has its leaders” (Avodah Zarah 5a). One who has the skills to lead a people out of slavery is not necessarily one with the skills to forge a new nation in its own land.  

Most of all, Moses’ life teaches us that it is right to fight against evil regimes which seem impossible to defeat. 

Tell the story

Ki Tavo

Deut. 26:1-29:8

 

Précis: The parasha contains numerous religious mandates regarding the formation of a civil and moral community (including tithes of first fruits and tithes to support the Levites). The People are promised that if they follow God’s instructions, they will be transformed into a “holy people.” They are further instructed that they have a choice in their own destiny: there are blessings and curses (the “Admonition”), and they must choose between the two, and take the consequences. The parasha ends with Moses reminding the People about all that God had done for them in bringing them from Egypt, providing sustenance, defeating their foes, and giving them the Land.

 

Deut. 26:4-10 “The Priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: ‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous . . . So, the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the first fruits of the soil that You, Lord, have given me.’”

 

A central focus of this week’s reading is the renewal of the covenant. Rabbi Sacks has written about the distinction between a “covenant-based” society and a “tradition-based” society, remarking that American memorials are infused with famous quotations of the people being honored, while English memorials lack quotations, relying only on images of honorees (Rabbi Sacks Legacy, 9/19/24)

The United States of America tells its story on its monuments, a story woven out of the speeches of its greatest leaders. England builds memorials but it doesn't tell a story.  In a tradition-based society, things are as they are because of how they were. A covenant-based society does not value the past merely because it is old. Rather, a covenant-based society exists to honor the moral bond of what was an essential ethical undertaking.

The passage quoted above, regarding the presentation of first fruits, reminds us that a covenant is more than a myth, because a covenant always contains specific undertakings that bind its citizens to the present and future.  

Regarding the Jewish People, the original covenant-based society, Sacks notes, “The mere act of telling the story, regularly, as a religious duty, sustained Jewish identity across the centuries, even in the absence of all the normal accompaniments of nationhood – land, geographical proximity, independence, self-determination ­– and never allowed the people to forget its ideals, its aspirations, its collective project of building a society that would be the opposite of Egypt, a place of freedom and justice and human dignity…”

What do we learn from the first fruits declaration? If you want to sustain freedom, never stop telling the story.