The bulk of Book of Deuteronomy is the transcripts of Moshe’s discourses and orations to the Children of Israel - the people whom he had loved, led, and nurtured for most of his life.
His first discourse is recorded in Deuteronomy 1:6-4:40, his second in 4:44-26:19, his third in 27:1-28:69, his fourth in 29:1-30:20, and his fifth in 31:1-13; then his magnificent Song in 32:1-43; and finally his Blessings which he conferred on his people in 33:1-29.
Parashat Va-et’chanan continues with Moshe’s first discourse, which had begun in Deuteronomy 1:6, in Parashat Devarim.
“וָאֶתְחַנַּן - I pleaded to Hashem at that time saying: O Hashem G-d, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness, and Your mighty hand; for what power is there in Heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mightiness? Let me please cross over and see the good Land which is over the Jordan, the goodly mountain, and the Lebanon” (3:23-25).
When did Moshe refer to? When was “at that time”?
- This is of course a direct continuation from last week’s Parashah, Devarim, which concluded with Moshe’s reminiscing about the battles which he had led Israel in during the final months of their desert wanderings: Moab, the Amorites, Bashan, Gilead, and Argov.
This is puzzling: Moshe’s plea to G-d is that at this time, after these events, “You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness, and Your mighty hand”. But had G-d not begun to show His greatness and His mighty hand decades earlier? Were the Ten Plagues, the Splitting of the Red Sea, the Giving of the Torah, forty years of Manna, and countless other miracles worthless? Were these not unmistakeable demonstrations of G-d’s greatness and mighty hand?!
Yes, of course they were.
But G-d only began to truly show His servant Moshe His greatness and His mighty hand when he began to conquer the Land of Israel and lead the Children of Israel to their national sovereign independence in their Land.
Rashi, in his telegraphically brief style, comments: “‘At that time’ - after I conquered the land of Sichon and Og, I imagined that the vow might have been rescinded” (commentary to Deuteronomy 3:23).
Rashi here is following Midrash Sifrei (Pinchas 134):
After the events at Mei Merivah (The Waters of Strife), G-d had told Moshe and Aaron that they would not enter the Land of Israel (Numbers 20-1-13). Moshe accepted this decree, devastated though he was at being barred from ever entering the Holy Land.
But then he led the nation in conquering areas in Trans-Jordan, the lands he granted to the Tribes of Reuven, Gad, and half the Tribe of Menashe, and annexed those territories to Israel.
So Moshe reasoned: G-d has rescinded His vow that I would never enter the Land of Israel. Since I have expanded the borders of the Land to include these territories east of the River Jordan, and since I am here in these territories of the expanded Land of Israel, G-d has allowed me into Israel. Maybe He will therefore allow me to cross the River Jordan into Israel “proper”.
This was Moshe’s great hope and prayer, his pleading to be allowed to enter cis-Jordanian Israel, with which our Parashah opens.
Ever since the yearly cycle of Torah readings was standardised towards the end of the Second Temple era, and the fixed calendar as calculated by Hillel II (Hillel ben Yehudah, Nasi or head of the Sanhedrin) was adopted in 4119 (359 C.E.), we have invariably read Parashat Va-et’chanan on the Shabbat immediately following the 9th of Av.
For three weeks we mourned the destruction of Israel, the loss of our national sovereign independence in our Land.
That period of mourning concluded last Monday on the 10th of Av.
And now comes the period of consolation, yearning for a better future - our national future in a sovereign and independent Israel.
Moshe’s prayer to be allowed to enter Israel was not to be granted. He had pleaded to lead his people across the Jordan into Israel - and G-d refused.
He had hoped that in the merit of fighting for the Land and expanding its borders, G-d would rescind that decree - but G-d refused.
He pleaded that, after handing over leadership to his disciple Joshua, he would be allowed to enter the Land as one of the people - and G-d refused.
G-d would allow him to look at the Land of Israel from across the River Jordan - but that was all.
Our most blessed generations have merited to cross the Jordan, to enter the Land of Israel, even to see restored Jewish national sovereign independence to the Land for the first time since Queen Shlom-Tziyyon (Salome Alexander) died in 67 B.C.E.
G-d has indeed begun to show His greatness and His mighty Hand. We have begun - just begun - to reconquer our Land and re-establish our sovereignty on part of it. By fighting for our Land, by taking up weapons and defending our Land, our lives, and our property, we demonstrate that we are worthy successors of Joshua.
This is supremely relevant as a riposte to the 9th of Av.
This past Shabbat, the first Shabbat after the 9th of Av, is called שַׁבַּת נַחֲמוּ, the Shabbat of Consolation. The name derives from the first word of the Haftarah, נַחֲמוּ, “console”:
“Console, console My nation, says your G-d; speak to the heart of Jerusalem, calling to her that her time of exile has been completed, that her sin has been forgiven…” (Isaiah 40:1-2).
The Prophet’s language here is beautifully poetic, and allows for different interpretations. Targum Yonatan homiletically renders: “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, that she will in the future be filled with the exiled nation…”.
We, the Jewish nation as a whole, are currently going through an exceptionally difficult period. Just about every Jew in Israel personally knows at least one person who has been killed or injured in the conflict, or who is confronting the Hamas in Gaza or the Hezbollah in Lebanon, or who has been displaced from his or her home for months.
And outside of Israel, throughout the countries of our exile, more Jews than any time since the defeat of the Nazis y”sh are feeling the threat of Jew-hatred.
This is the time to study - not just read, but to study in depth - the messages of the 9th of Av, of Parashat Va-et’chanan, and of Haftarat Nachamu.
Though we were exiled, scattered to the four winds, beaten, persecuted, slaughtered in our millions - we are still here to tell of our history. We came back home, as all our Prophets promised we would. Kibbutz Galuyot (the Ingathering of the Exiles) and Shivat Tziyyon (the Return to Zion) have leaped out of the pages of the Tanach and into today’s newspaper headlines.
We still mourn on the 9th of Av. We will continue to mourn our dead, our murdered. We will continue to fight to bring our kidnapped back home.
And in spite of the worst that our enemies can do, we are well on the way to the complete redemption which saturates the Haftarah of this Shabbat and all the Shabbatot for the rest of this year.
And even though those who fight against G-d’s planned direction for His world - whether the Romans, or the Nazis y”sh, or the Hamas, or anyone else - can inflict horrific damage on us, they cannot prevent our ultimate destiny which G-d Himself has decreed and promised.