For a variety of personal reasons, I haven’t been able to post commentaries on the last few Torah Portions. Torah Study demands mental focus and dedicated time. Torah Portions aren’t for skimming or speed reading. They don’t include bullet-point summaries. Key words aren’t hi-lited. Torah Portions aren’t compatible with multi-tasking! All the while that I was caught up in an anxious tangle of “Urgent Things To Do,” I was haunted by Hillel’s teaching in Pirkei Avot. “Neither say, when I have leisure I will study; perchance you will have no leisure.”
Recognizing that leisure isn’t a given for me, I made a Yom Kippur vow to make time, to quite literally push aside obligations, to forcefully clear a sacred space where I could engage in Torah Study. And just in time!
We have come to the final Portion of the Book of Deuteronomy (Sefer D’varim), and Deuteronomy is the final Book in the Torah. In this final Portion, V’zot Hab’rachah, Moses blesses the children of Israel, Tribe by Tribe. God shows Moses the land which the Tribes of Israel will claim and, as God has decreed, Moses dies.
“And Moses was a hundred twenty years old at his death. His eye was not dim and his vitality had not fled.”* (Deuteronomy 34:7)*
God buries Moses in an unknown site. Though we’re told that, “…a prophet did not rise again in Israel like Moses…” (Deuteronomy 34:10)*, Joshua takes command “…full of the spirit of wisdom; because Moses had laid his hands on him…” (Deuteronomy 34:9)*
Nu…what happens next to the children of Israel? Do they conquer their enemies? Do they thrive in Canaan? Do they follow God’s commandments according to Moses’ instructions? We answer these questions by our actions everyday. Our lives as Jews are what happens next. We are responsible for upholding our part of the Covenant which God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As we begin again to study the cycle of Torah Portions, as we begin again to interpret, internalize, and apply God’s teachings, we enter a timeless Canaan and continue the story. Am Yisrael Chai!
Moses is gone, but today I came as close as I imagine is possible to hearing Moses’ voice. As part of the coverage of the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, CNN broadcast King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in its entirety. The wisdom, passion, and eloquence of Martin Luther King Jr.’s words; the timeless, inspiring images; the message of strength, courage, hope, and opportunity overcoming hostility and bigotry – all echo the spirit of Moses conveying God’s message in Deuteronomy.
In the final verses of V’zot Hab’rachah, we and the children of Israel are reminded of the “wonders” that God sent Moses to do in order to free us from slavery in Egypt. (Deuteronomy 34:10-12)
In his 1963 speech to the multitude gathered to march for civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr. irrevocably affirmed for the children of slaves that they had the power to be, “free at last!”
Chazak! Chazak! V’Nitchazeik!
*From: Commentary on the Torah by Richard Elliott Friedman
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