Parshat VaEtchanan

Rav Johnny's original thoughts on the weekly parsha

There is a teaching, based on a deduction by our Sages (see Yevamot 109b/Yalkut Shimoni VaEtchanan 829) from a phrase in our parsha, which is so fundamental in understanding the mindset of Moshe Rabbeinu in our parsha that, without knowing this teaching, I sincerely believe that we cannot understand Parshat VaEtchanan.

The parsha begins with Moshe begging God to enter the Land of Israel: “Please let me cross over and see the good land” (Devarim 3:25). However, God refuses Moshe’s repeated pleas and instead, tells him that, “Yehoshua… will be the one to cross over.. and…secure their possession of the land’ (ibid. 3:28). 

However, notwithstanding this clear declaration regarding Yehoshua’s role in taking the people into Israel, Moshe insists on teaching the people about what they will need to do once they come into the Land: “And now, Israel, listen to the decrees and law that I am teaching you to keep, so that you may live to enter and take possession of the land” (Devarim 4:1).

From then on, Moshe continues to delineate a range of laws including the need to destroy the idols that they will encounter in the land. At this point, we are told that Moshe, “designated three [refuge] cities to the east side of the Jordan” (ibid. 4:41). The question is - why does he do this? Specifically, given that these cities (which provided a place of refuge for those who mistakenly killed) would not be operational until Bnei Yisrael conquered the land and designated three further cities, why was it so important for Moshe to do this now?

Rashi (in his commentary to Devarim 4:41 while quoting Gemara Makkot 10a) answers this question by explaining that it was as if, through designating these cities, Moshe was communicating that: “a commandment which is possible to fulfil, I shall fulfil!” But while this sounds lovely, and while it teaches us that each of us should look to fulfil mitzvah opportunities wherever we may be, the question still stands: why is Moshe, who is nearly 120 years old, so insistent on doing this?

To answer this question I would like to fast forward a few verses where we hear Moshe telling the people: “Listen, Israel to the decrees and laws that I shall declare in your ears today; learn them (U’lemadetem Otam) and carefully observe them (U’Sh’martem La’asotam)” (Devarim 5:1). On the basis of these final four words, Rabbi Yossi explains in Gemara Yevamot 109b that: ‘anyone who says he has nothing other than Torah, has nothing other than Torah’. On this the Gemara then asks: ‘But isn’t this also obvious?...Rather, it means that he does not even have Torah!’ Then, explaining this idea a little further, Rav Pappa teaches: ‘anyone who is engaged in performing [mitzvot] is engaged in [Torah] study, while anyone not engaged in performing [mitzvot] is not engaged in [Torah] study’.

Bringing these ideas together, it seems that once Moshe was told that he was not going to enter the land of Israel - where many of the mitzvot of the Torah could only be fulfilled - he was greatly disheartened not only for this lack of opportunity, but also because by being unable to fulfil the mitzvot of the Torah, Moshe felt that he could not truly possess the Torah. This is why Moshe insistently initiated fulfilling one of the mitzvot relating to entering the land of Israel (i.e. the establishment of the cities of refuge) because, by being involved in this mitzvah of the Torah, he would be able possess the Torah. What this means is that alongside Moshe’s heartache of not entering and playing a role in the possessing of the land, Parshat VaEtchanan describes Moshe’s fear of not fulfilling and thereby not possessing the Torah.

Understood this way, this is – in my humble opinion – why immediately after telling us about Moshe’s activities to establish three cities of refuge, we are told: ‘This is the Torah that Moshe set before the people of Israel’ (Devarim 4:44) – as if to tell us that through actively participating in this mitzvah, Moshe felt that the Torah was not just the Torah of the people, but it was his as well.

To book an online spiritual coaching, halachic consultation or Torah study session with me: