Av 13, 5771 ~ August 13, 2011
by Shoshanna Chana Somerville
Writing this D’Var Torah today, I am particularly focused on the brachot that I can bestow upon my friends and family. Are you wondering why? Well, it’s something that any of us can do on our birthdays as a part of celebrating the G-d given gift of life. So, this being the 11th of August, I have the privilege of giving brachot; and in fact, I started last night. Giving my friends a bracha, I was acutely aware of how much and how deeply they’ve prayed that HaShem would grant them their deepest yearnings. Almost simultaneously, I became amazingly attuned to my own supplications to HaShem, repeatedly beseeching Him to fulfill what I want most of all.
This introduction now brings us to the week’s Parasha, V’Etchanan. Moshe is painfully aware that he will not have the opportunity to lead the Bnai Yisrael into the Promised Land. He knows that Yehoshuah Ben Nun has been chosen in the capacity to lead, and that Yehoshuah will reflect all the light that Moshe has ever exuded. And…
The letter, Vav, (and) in V’Etchanan – Chapter III, Verse 23 - is the link to the previous parashah, which begins Sefer Devarim. This book strongly reteaches – via Moshe’s initiative rather than G-d’s dictating to him - all of the mitzvot to the second generation in the Midbar. So, we understand the Vav to be a joiner link, in this case. We can also know it as a prefix of conjunction. It says that the story continues.
“Vav” means “hook” and it looks like a hook. We can be standing here on earth and be hooked on Sh’mayim. Sh’mayim also, comes to earth. There is a flow back and forth, something for which we are striving daily in our prayers and by carrying out the mitzvot. We truly speak to G-d if we attain kavanah, and we surely try to perform the mitzvot as G-d expects of us; and, consequently, He causes His countenance to shine down upon us.
V’Etchanan has a gematrical value of 515. Midrashically speaking, we learn that Moshe implored HaShem 515 times with prayer. He requested that he be allowed to cross the Yarden into Aretz Israel. Actually, since he had labored to lead the Bnai Yisrael out of Mitzraiim and had to contend with their grumbling and other mishugas for forty years in the Midbar, it was only natural for him to think that he should take this nation into the land of milk and honey.
At the same time, Moshe knows that G-d decreed that he would not be able to do so; but, G-d has taught Moshe well. Moshe exercises his own will and persists in petitioning Him. Moshe does not want to let up.
How paradoxical a situation Moshe has created! On the one hand, he is repetitiously requesting that HaShem change His plan; and on the other hand, he is appealing to the Bnai Yisrael to obey HaShem’s will – all of the chukim and mishpatim that he, Moshe, is transmitting to them. While lecturing these people, Moshe is showing his most tender and vulnerable self. “I pray Thee, let me cross over and see the good land on the far side of the Yarden, that good mountain [Har HaBeit] and the Lebanon.” (Chapter III, v.25.)
515 times Moshe has petitioned G-d. Then Moshe moves on. “And now, O’Yisrael, hearken to the statutes and to ordinances that I am teaching you to carry out…” (Chapter IV, v. 1)
With regards to our own beseeching of HaShem, I am sure that He knows what we dearly want. He hears our prayers. He accepts them. He is so conscious of the brachot that we give and receive. Fullfilling our prayers and all that we seek is another matter. It is dependent on His Divine Plan. We have every opportunity to keep on bugging Him, even beyond 515 prayers; and we can do so based on our learning determination from this parashah. We are also cognizant of an inner meaning in V’Etchanan: It is the “chen” within the word, the “chet” and “nun.” Moshe knew of G-d’s infinite grace, and we should also know of it. Yes, we have to go forward – move on if everything does not turn out as we’ve desired. But like Moshe, our Emunah stays in tack. And then, just maybe…
No comments:
Post a Comment