Nitzavim-VaYelech: A new covenant with the land

Rav Johnny's original thoughts on the weekly parsha

The phrase Chazak Ve’Ematz – ‘be strong and be determined’ is found twice in Parshat VaYelech. The first is when Moshe summons Yehoshua in front of the entire Jewish people and tells him, ‘Be strong and be determined (Chazak Ve’Ematz) for it is you who will come with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their forefathers to give them’ (Devarim 31:7), while the second is when Moshe or God speaks with Yehoshua privately, telling him, ‘Be strong and be determined (Chazak Ve’Ematz) because you shall bring the Israelites into the land that I promised them’ (ibid. 31:23).

You will note that I used the words ‘Moshe or God’, and this is because the speaker in Devarim 31:23 is a matter of debate. According to the Ibn Ezra (on Devarim 31:15), since Devarim 31:22 involves Moshe, it seems that Devarim 31:23 was said by Moshe. Contrasting this view is that of Rashi (on Devarim 31:23) who understands that these words were said by God and were a continuation of God’s speech starting at Devarim 31:16 (nb. see Ramban on Devarim 31:23 who quotes both views while then endorsing Rashi’s interpretation).

If we adopt Rashi’s approach, what this means is that Yehoshua is twice blessed and given chizuk – once by his mentor Moshe, and once by God directly. However, as Rabbi Menachem Klein notes in his Sha’arei Shlomo commentary on the Torah, this then raises a different question.

When Moshe speaks to Yehoshua in Devarim 31:7 and tells him to be strong and determined, he states that Israel is, ‘the land that the Lord has sworn to their forefathers to give them’. But then, when God (according to Rashi) speaks to Yehoshua, He tells him that, ‘you shall bring the Israelites into the land that I promised them’ (ibid. 31:23). As Rabbi Klein explains, this second verse implies that a separate promise was made by God to the people about the possession of the land above and beyond the promise God made to our forefathers. But as Rabbi Klein then adds, ‘we don’t find any place (in the Tanach) where God promises the land directly to the people’. Instead, whenever the promise of the land is mentioned in the Torah, it is always with reference to the patriarchs.

Rabbi Klein’s answer to his question is based on the idea that even though God promised the land to the patriarchs He knew from the very beginning that this particular generation would be the one who enters and conquers the land and that this knowledge, as the Rambam teaches us in Hilchot Teshuvah 5:5, is part of the mystery of God’s foreknowledge. Accordingly, incorporated within the promise of the land to the patriarchs was a promise to this generation of Am Yisrael.

I would humbly like to suggest a slightly different answer to this question while reflecting on the command Chazak Ve’Ematz (be strong and be determined) and the two ways in which a people can acquire a land: through being given the land, and through acquiring the land.

Yes, our patriarchs were promised the land of Israel as a gift, and until this point when Moshe brought the people to the border of the land of Israel it was this promise which bound the people to the land. However, Yehoshua was about to lead the people into the land and the people were about to conquer the land. They would conquer it because it was theirs on the basis of the covenant forged between God and our forefathers, but by conquering it, the land would become theirs as well. And so, God’s words to Yehoshua of ‘be strong and be determined (Chazak Ve’Ematz) because you shall bring the Israelites into the land that I promised them’ capture this major shift of relationship towards the land of Israel as a result of the efforts soon to be made by the people to conquer the land of Israel.

It has been said that we value what we fight for. Yes, the people valued the land which they’d been given by God. But they valued it more when they knew that they’d need to fight for it.

As we all know this year has been filled with pain, loss and struggle. At the same time, this year has shown us how much we value the land of Israel, what we are prepared to do in order to protect our people and our land, and how each time we are called upon to defend our land, we forge a new covenant with the land.

As we end this year and begin another, I thank you for your ongoing encouragement and support and may we be blessed to hear good news with the return of our hostages and peace and security in the land.

Shabbat Shalom & Shana Tova!