Heartfelt Prayer of Moshe: Parashat Va'Etchanan

0:03So we see in chapter 4 of the Book of Deuteronomy, which is in the middle of the Parasha, Parashat Va'etchanan, that on one hand, in verse 30, the Torah reminds us at the end, from Moshe Rabbeinu, that in the future, talking about us today, we will be in distress. "All these things will befall you in the end of days, and you will return to the fear of Hashem, your God, and accept upon yourselves His word." Here again, it tells us one of the many places about how we are going to return to Hashem with fear of God. It doesn't mention a single word about loving God. This passage highlights the commandment of fearing Hashem and illustrates the nature of our relationship with Him in times of tribulation. Just talks about fearing God. Now, at the same token, in verse number 31, he says that Hashem is a merciful God. So we see this is the one place in the Parasha that it talks about fearing God, but He's a merciful God.

1:07So how does this all work? How does it all work to fear a merciful God? Because your logic, uh, and the typical logic of a human being would make you think that, "If He's merciful, then why do I have to fear?" I can rely on His mercy, and I shouldn't be afraid even if I make some sins, even if I make, you know, if I, uh, do all the things that I feel like doing, even if they're against the Torah. He's merciful, and He loves everybody. What's the problem? Okay, so we go back to the beginning of the Parasha to see what Moshe Rabbeinu has to tell us. In the name of God. So at the beginning of the Parasha, we see Parashat Va'etchanan starts with the word Va'etchanan. Va'etchanan means a prayer, but specifically, this word is used, Rashi says it comes from the word techinah, which signifies a prayer with a broken heart. Moshe Rabbeinu was beseeching Hakadosh Baruch Hu to allow him to enter Eretz Yisrael after he had led Am Yisrael out of Egypt and through the desert for 40 years.

2:20You know, received the Torah, taught them the Torah, rebuked them, did everything that you could possibly ever imagine, and he wants to enter Eretz Yisrael not because he wants to eat, as the Gemara says. You know, he's not looking to go eat the watermelons of Eretz Yisrael, but rather, as the Gemara in Masekhet Sotah says, Moshe Rabbeinu was specifically begging Hashem to allow him to enter Eretz Yisrael so he could fulfill the mitzvot of being in Eretz Yisrael and also see the Levanon. What's the Levanon? The Levanon says Onkelos is referring to the Beit HaMikdash. Moshe Rabbeinu wanted to build the Beit HaMikdash. When Hashem told him no, Moshe Rabbeinu continued praying. He says, "Okay, fine. If I can't build the Beit HaMikdash, then at least let me see it." Hashem said no. Okay, so if I can't build the Beit HaMikdash, then, uh, you know, let me, let me at least be one of the Korbanot. Just, you know, turn me into a cow. Turn me into, uh, one of the Korbanot over there.

3:25"I'll be the sacrifice. Let me at least be part of it." 515 times, Moshe Rabbeinu prayed to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, begging Him to allow him to enter Eretz Yisrael. Moshe Rabbeinu tells us, "Vayit'aber Hashem bi lemah'anchem velo shama eilai vayomer eilai rav lach al tosef daber eilai od badavar hazeh." That is, "There was anger from before Hashem upon me, lemah'anchem, because of you, and He did not accept my prayer." This response from Hashem to Moshe indicates the gravity of the situation and the deep connection between Moshe Rabbeinu and the Jewish people. Hashem said to me, 'What you ask is too much for you. Do not continue to speak before me further about this matter.'" So here we see that Hashem rejected his prayer. Interestingly enough, while the literal translation is "lemah'anchem," meaning "because of you," because Am Yisrael caused Moshe Rabbeinu to sin, where he rebuked them and, as a result of their being very annoying and their lack of faith, he ended up hitting the stone instead of speaking to it.

4:31So he said, "Because of you, I'm not going. It's not because, uh, uh, I'm, uh, such a rasha. It's, um, uh, you know, I did everything that Hashem said." It's, uh, it's just that in this particular case, because of what happened between us, uh, Hashem is, in essence, punishing me. From there, first and foremost, we see that Hashem, as the Gemara says in many places, Hashem is medakdek im hatzadikim k'chut ha'se'arah. Hashem is precise with, uh, His judgment with the righteous, with the tzadikim, to the hair's breadth, meaning every minor detail. The more righteous a person is, the more the judgment is precise to ensure that their judgment in shamayim is crystal clean, meaning they have only Gan Eden, they have only Olam Haba, they have the best of the best. Therefore, Hashem will rebuke the tzadikim in this world rather than in the next world, as He doesn't want them to have any form of suffering whatsoever in the next world. On the other hand, the Chizkuni brings his commentary here on the word lemah'anchem and says, "Technically, lemah'anchem means for your benefit," meaning that Moshe Rabbeinu's punishment of not entering Eretz Yisrael was for the benefit of Am Yisrael. How could it be for their benefit?

5:53As we've said in previous years, when Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu at the burning bush that once he leads Am Yisrael out of Egypt, he is eventually going to give him the Torah. Moshe Rabbeinu is going to become the messenger of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, where everything that Moshe Rabbeinu says is literally the word of God. The voice of Hashem came out of the throat of Moshe Rabbeinu, and therefore everything he said had to happen as if Hashem said it. So he said that since I've already made this decree, if you enter Eretz Yisrael and build a Beit HaMikdash, that Beit HaMikdash has to become permanent, just like the Torah is always going to be permanent. No matter how many heretics and naysayers are going to come in the way, and how many enemies are going to come in the way, the Torah will never change. The Torah is something that HaKadosh Baruch Hu specifically said will never change. Am Yisrael will never be destroyed.

6:59The land of Israel will always be ours, even if it's, you know, full of enemies. The reality is that these things were promises that HaKadosh Baruch Hu made. And what's so bad about the Beit HaMikdash, uh, being permanent? That's because HaKadosh Baruch Hu already foresaw the future, where once Am Yisrael had the first Beit HaMikdash for a few hundred years, they began sinning. They started sinning to the point where they were filling up their cup of sins. Hashem sent them prophets to warn them, to caution them against continuing in their sinful ways. Because if you continue to sin, as we discussed yesterday on Tisha B'Av, Hashem must destroy the Beit HaMikdash. They didn't listen, and Hashem destroyed the Beit HaMikdash after 410 years. Seventy years later, Am Yisrael merited to build a second Beit HaMikdash. They had permission from Hashem to build the second Beit HaMikdash, but unfortunately, after just a couple of hundred years, they went back to their previous ways.

8:02They started sinning again. The heretics, as the Beit Levi told us in Parashat Bo, the, the heretics, the Sadducees came to Eretz Yisrael and started influencing people to think that God needs the Beit HaMikdash, that God, uh, is, uh, not gonna punish them no matter what they do because God needs them. This is the same type of heresy that we hear today. Or perhaps it's, uh, you know, Nebuchadnezzar, uh, who is the only one that can, uh, destroy them, but he's not gonna come destroy them. Why? Because he already has enough money. And all types of convoluted, heretical teachings that the heretics scheme, and that was the real Sinat Chinam. The Sinat Chinam, or baseless hatred, came against the truthful rabbis, the prophets, the Tzadikim, and ended up creating a stage for the heretics. After 420 years of being in this world, the Second Beit HaMikdash was destroyed. So since HaKadosh Baruch Hu already saw that Am Yisrael is going to sin in the future, He said, "Well, I have to fulfill my promise to Am Yisrael to never destroy them. And since they're going to make so many sins that I'll have to punish them severely, if the Beit HaMikdash is something that I can't destroy, chas v'shalom, I'll have to destroy Am Yisrael." It has a similar value here.

9:25That's how much, that's how valuable the Beit HaMikdash was. So, because I don't want to destroy Am Yisrael, I'll have to destroy the Beit HaMikdash, the first one and the second one. But the only way that I can do that is if you, Moshe Rabbeinu, do not enter Eretz Yisrael. So don't talk to me about this thing anymore. There's no way that I'm going to destroy Am Yisrael just for your benefit of entering Eretz Yisrael. So here we see that, Rabotai, there is, as Moshe Rabbeinu tells HaKadosh Baruch Hu when he calls Him by His name twice, "Hashem Elokim, my master, my God." Why is this? Because he's telling Hashem, "You are the, uh, uh, uh, you know, the merciful God." What does it mean, the merciful God? That even in your judgment that is harsh, there is endless mercy within it. Because although Moshe Rabbeinu dreamed about going to Eretz Yisrael, his whole life he dreamed about going to Eretz Yisrael; he did everything you can possibly ever imagine just to enter Eretz Yisrael. Yet, he was forbidden from going to Eretz Yisrael, which is certainly a harsh judgment when you consider that fact alone. But when you take into account the entire equation, at least the one that we're aware of regarding the rest of Am Yisrael, you realize how much mercy HaKadosh Baruch Hu has. And that's why it says "lema'ankhem," for your benefit, for Am Yisrael's benefit.

10:54So we see here that, yes, there is certainly harsh judgment to fear, but there is mercy in the judgment. But there's much more. We are meant to be a light unto the nations, not to follow their misguided practices. Remember, every Jew has to remember that he is a Jew and she is a Jew. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays, even if they seem harmless. It's a zilzul, disrespect to the Torah, and could lead to chillul Hashem, desecration of God's name. We must uphold the sanctity of the Torah and maintain our distinct and holy identity. Remember, every Jew has to remember that he's a Jew and she's a Jew. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays, even if they seem harmless. It's a zilzul, a disrespect to the Torah, and could lead to a chillul Hashem, desecration of God's name. Stick to our holy Torah and our own holidays. That's the path of a true Jew. Stick to our holy Torah and our own holidays. That's the path of a true Jew.