In Memory of our beloved David Schwartz, who fell in battle sanctifying God’s name, on 27 Tevet, 5784 (8 January 2024).
“Le’David Barchi Nafshi” is a compilation of essays written on the weekly Torah reading by David Schwartz, of blessed memory. First published on the occasion of his marriage to Meital, David’s unique Torah thoughts that delve into the depths of the Torah are shared now to elevate his memory and sanctify his soul.
“And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying” (Deut. 3:23). Rashi explains that this opening verse of the Torah reading has one of the ten terms by which prayer is described. We see in this verse how Moshe, the father of the prophets and the greatest teacher of our nation, stands and prays before God that he should be allowed to enter Israel, even though it was decreed that he should not do so. The midrash explains that Moshe prayed five hundred and fifteen prayers at that time. “How do we know that Moshe prayed five hundred and fifteen prayers? As it states: ‘I pleaded (ve’etchanan) to God then’; and the word ve’etchanan, ‘and I pleaded,’ (in gematria) is equal to five hundred and fifteen.”
Moshe offered five hundred and fifteen prayers to God so he could enter Israel but his prayer was seemingly in vain. This is the case even though we learn in the Talmud that “Prayer is greater than good acts as there is no one with as many good deeds as Moshe, but he was only answered through prayer” (Berachot, 32b). We also learn in other places that no prayer is ineffectual. On the import of prayer, King David says in the Psalms,“And I am prayer” (ve’ani tefilla), as all his days he would stand in prayer and supplication before God. Indeed, our ancestors in the ensuing generations would use his language of prayer from the Psalms at every time of sorrow as they poured out their entreaties before the Almighty. The Midrash explains that Moshe’s prayer before God was as follows.
“O Lord, Creator of the world,” Moshe pleaded. “It is known how I toiled and pained myself for Israel until they believed in your name. I endured great pain until I established the Torah and its commandments. I said that as I saw their difficult times so I will see their times of blessing, but now that the good times are arriving you say to me that you shall not cross the Jordan … Yet, this is the climax of the forty years of toil so that they would be a faithful and holy nation.”
With such a powerful prayer, Moshe’s question cries out to the heart of heaven. How can it be that his prayer is returned unanswered?
In tractate Berachot (6b) it states: “What is the meaning of the verse, ‘when vileness is exalted among the sons of men’ (Ps.12:9)? The verse, the gemara explains, refers to matters of utmost importance that are exalted in heaven that people treat with contempt (vileness).” Rashi adds that prayer is of the utmost importance in the world, as it rises upward to heaven.
Rabbi Asher Weiss deals with this question and explains: Sometimes a person prays with his heart and requests his needs from God and sometimes he does not merit them being fulfilled. People might give up then, thinking in their hearts that their prayers are not heard. But in truth God heard all prayers that are mouthed, and no act of prayer is futile. Every prayer ascends to heaven and is certainly welcomed there, but we are not always able to see this in a precise way. A person might pray for one thing, but God may answer that person with something else.
Things do not always turn out the way we request they should.
Sometimes we do not know that there is a greater matter at stake behind the scenes. The midrash tells us: God said to Moshe, “I fulfilled my word to you when you said ‘Slach na’; [when Moshe prayed to God to 'Forgive please' the sins of the people]. Now, God said: If you want your prayer now of passing into the land of Israel to be fulfilled, then I must nullify My previous commitment granted to you in the earlier prayer of 'Slach na,' which begged for the people to be forgiven. When Moshe heard this, he said, "May Moshe die a hundred times, but let not a fingernail of theirs be harmed.” (Deut. Rab. 7:10)
Moshe, in other words, agreed to give up his personal wish for the sake of all of Israel. The prayer of Moshe ascended to the heights of heaven, and from there influenced the fate of Israel. The five hundred and fifteen prayers of Moshe were not in vain, God forbid. These prayers ,accepted in heaven, stand up for us for all time, and give us strength as we battle against those who seek to harm us.
Many explanations have been given regarding the meaning of Moshe’s request to enter the land of Israel and its purpose. But I will attempt to explain Moshe’s intention in a different way. The hassidic masters explain that every Jewish person has a mission. Our leader Moshe toiled, time after time, over the course of his whole life for the people of Israel, whether it was during the plagues when he had to fight against Pharoah, or during the exodus from Egypt and freeing the slaves, or in his struggles before God with supplications on behalf of the people during times of need. Over the course of his life, Moshe was a public servant toiling for the success of Israel. To me it seems that the critical nature of Moshe’s mission for the success of Israel did not leave him even at this moment, at the time when they were entering Israel.
Rashi and other commentators explain the beginning of the parsha as follows. “This good mountain and Lebanon” - “The good mountain” is Jersualem and “Lebanon” is the Temple in Jersualem. (Deut. 3:25) Moshe requested to build the Beit Hamikdash but he did not merit this. The Talmud (Sotah 9a) explains that if Moshe had built the Temple, “No nation or foreign power would have ruled over it.”
God hears every prayer. Moshe wanted to lead the people successfully into Israel, but it was God’s will that he guide them successfully outside of the land. His five hundred and fifteen prayers successfully stood on their behalf, but not in the specific way that he wished and prayed for. His prayers guided the people as a merit for them in their victory, but he was not with them.
Sometimes our prayers are heard and even answered, but that can happen in a way which our minds cannot grasp. We do not always merit having our prayer received in the way we wish for. Someone may pray for himself, and God may bless his household. Someone may pray in one place, but God may answer him in a different place. May it be God’s will that these prayers should stand as a merit for us at every moment in time against those who seek to harm us, until the time of the building of the Beit Hamikdash, may it be soon in our day. Amen.