Parashat Va'Etchanan (Shabbat Nachamu): The Bigger Picture

 The first few verses in this week's Parasha always strike me as being some of the most poignant in the entire Torah.

Moshe Rabbeinu knows that he will not fulfil his lifelong dream of entering the Land of Israel.

He says:

At that time, I pleaded with the Lord: “O Lord, Gd.  You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand.  What forces in heaven or earth can do deeds and mighty acts like Yours?  Please let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and the Lebanon.”

I don't know of anybody who would not find these words so poignant as to be heart-breaking in many different ways.  Thinking back to everything Moshe had achieved for our nation.  All the 'tzarot' he'd had to endure from our ancestors and then some.

Now, in a plaintive voice, he is begging Gd to change His mind.

Gd's response seems surprisingly harsh:

 

But the Lord was enraged with me because of You, and would not listen to me.  "It is enough!" the Lord said to me.  "Never speak to Me about this again!  Go up to the top of Pisga and gaze around you to the west, to the north, to the south and to the east.  See it with your eyes, for you will not cross the Jordan.  But charge Yehoshua, make him strong and determined, for he will be the one to cross over at the head of this people and who will secure their possession of the land that you may only see."

On the pshat (simple) level, Moshe is blaming the people for his predicament, when he says:

"The Lord was enraged with me because of You."

Moshe was telling the people that they were to blame for his punishment.  Throughout the wanderings in the desert, time and again, the people angered Gd.  Moshe protected them from the wrath of the Almighty.  Two cases in point being in the aftermath of the Golden Calf and following the spies' report.

When he says, "At that time, I pleaded with the Lord." at the start of the Parasha, he was perhaps hoping that, on this occasion, they would stand up for him in a similar vein.  They could have said that they would refuse to enter the land without Moshe.  That protest was not forthcoming.  It seemed like the love he showed towards the people was not reciprocated when he needed them.

When it came to the relationship between Moshe and the people, it appears that it was not an equal partnership.  However, the opposite seems true regarding Moshe's relationship with Gd.

We are told that Gd spoke to Moshe as a man speaks to his neighbour.

 

Why would Gd then appear to be so unwavering when it came to answering Moshe's plea?

The Gemara (Brachot 54b) tells us that if a person prays at length, Gd will grant him a long life.  Had Gd allowed Moshe to keep on praying, instead of restricting his efforts by telling him that his prayers “were enough”, He would have had to lengthen Moshe's life, thus delaying the Bnei Yisrael's entry into the Land of Canaan.  Moshe's sin, for reasons that are not completely understood, merited his not being allowed to progress beyond the Jordan River.  Gd's focus at this point was in moving the Bnei Yisrael to the next phase in their development, which did not involve their current leader.  It could be said that He put their needs ahead of His most trusted servant.

That is a case of true love.  Additionally, because He knew how Moshe felt about the nation he had dedicated his life to, He provided an answer that appears to be unfair but in fact demonstrates the love that Hashem has for our people.  Despite their errors and frequent misdemeanours in the years following Yetziat Mitzrayim, the Exodus, He refused to abandon them. 

There is a story told about the man who prays for fifty years to win the lottery.  Every single week he buys a number of tickets, belongs to a syndicate and ploughs all of his spare cash into this project.  At the same time, he prays fervently that all of his efforts will lead to the kind of life he wishes to aspire to.  All to nought.  After fifty years, he's made very little money back on his investment.

One night, he screams out to Gd in frustration:

"Almighty Gd, I did everything I could to win.  I gave hundreds of thousands of pounds to good causes and I prayed to you with all of my might.  Why have never answered me?"

Later that night, Gd reveals himself in a dream and says:

"Yankele, you don't understand.  I did reply to you many times and the answer was always ‘No’”.

Just because we don't receive the answer we wish for, doesn't mean that Hashem has not responded to our prayers.  'No' is as valid a reply as 'Yes'.

Often, we feel as though we are wasting our time trying to do the right thing because we get very little appreciation for our efforts.  In doing so, we don't realise the impact that our actions can have on others.  No-one has ever complained about receiving a compliment or a 'thank you' for something they have done to help others.  The truth is that our reward is waiting for us when we reach 120 years and ascend to The Garden of Eden.  We may feel that we haven't reached our own ‘promised land’ or achieved the goals that we set for ourselves in our youth.  Just because we don't see these, does not mean that our efforts and hard work have not been successful.

'Man plans and Gd laughs' because only Hashem sees the bigger picture.  We believe that every human being's soul is tasked with their own unique missions and challenges that we need to complete during the span of our lives.  We don't necessarily know what these are, but if we help others, we are, without a doubt, carrying out His holy work. 

May Gd provide us with the strength and resilience to continue to play our part in continuing the work that our Biblical ancestors began so long ago.  If we see the impact of our efforts, that's wonderful and if we don't, it doesn't mean that He loves us any less than another person.  It's just that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, always sees 'The Bigger Picture'.

Shavuah Tov.