Part One: Obstructed Opportunities
Most Torah narratives reveal just enough to arouse our curiosity, but never enough to satisfy it. The Torah relates that Moshe, the Emancipator and Conduit for delivering Hashem's messages to the millions that he had freed, would himself be prohibited from entering the holy land.
The reason given is the sin of tapping the water-bearing boulder with his staff rather than speaking to it, as Hashem had commanded. When grading levels of Hashem’s miracles, how much more astounding is the removal of rivers of water from a single boulder by speech as compared to tapping it with a staff? Each is fantastic and defies all the laws of physics and geology that we know. So where is the big sin that prevented the greatest Jew from realizing the most exquisite of Hashem’s mitzvot - Aliya?
What is the story behind Moshe’s demise on the 7th of Adar, 33 days before the nation entered the holy land on the 10th of Nissan?
I submit Tehillim 93,1:
Hashem reigns; He is robed in majesty;
Hashem is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
Hashem, Creator and Master of all that is perceived and unperceived, is crowned in TaNaCh as the ultimate King of Kings; present in precincts where no created entity may enter.
Part Two: Unrealized Opportunities
History has shown two phenomenon which are fundamentally one, emanating from Hashem’s absolute Monarchy:
- The more influential the great human figure, the more flawed is his end;
- No mortal will succeed in bringing about more than one revolutionary, radical change during his lifetime; because more than one is in the sole realm of the Creator.
Examples:
Adam and Chava began the unprecedented (to our knowledge) story of mankind. But their sojourn in Gan Eden on erev Shabbat when they were created, lasted about three hours - not even time to prepare a Shabbat meal.
Noach saved humanity but then fell into disgrace and did not merit being the progenitor of the Jewish people.
Avraham established the Jewish spiritual presence (Monotheism) in the world and in particular in Eretz Yisrael; but was unable to eradicate idolatry from the world.
Yitzchak showed us the path to mesirat nefesh (ultimate sacrifice of one’s life for the ideals of Judaism) but did not father the twelve tribes which began the nation of Israel.
Ya’akov established the foundation of the nation through his children but then died in the galut of Egypt.
King Shaul established the monarchy but was not able to destroy our ultimate enemy - Amalek.
King David united the tribes to function as a nation but was unable to build the Beit HaMikdash.
King Solomon built the Beit HaMikdash but laid down the roots of dissent which were to cause the secession of the northern tribes of Yisrael from the southern kingdom of Yehuda.
And in our times, just to mention one: Menachem Begin as the head of the Irgun Tzeva’i Le’Umi (“Etzel") expelled the brutish-British from Eretz Yisrael, but instead of realizing his stated aim of bringing about peace, he created the abominable precedence of Israeli retreats from our holy land, when he presented the Sinai peninsula to Egypt.
To return to the story of the greatest Man who ever lived - Moshe Rabbeinu…
Batya, Paro’s daughter, drew out the anonymous Jewish infant from the threatening waters and named him Moshe, which in ancient Egyptian meant “to draw out from water". Little to her knowledge did she realize that this name would define the ultimate meaning of this child’s life. Moshe’s mission in life would be to only draw out the Jews from Egypt in order to be Hashem’s chosen nation; but he himself would not merit to bring them into Eretz Yisrael.
One revolution led by a human being - but no more! And Moshe’s departure from this world was proclaimed at the waters of the rock.
On the Horizon
Now what is the relevancy of the “One revolution - but no more!" theorem in our contemporary lives?
It’s a fact that for the most part it was Zionist ideology (the return to the land) by both religious and secular Jews that inspired and engineered the establishment of the Medina.
It was a revolution in Jewish history after 2000 years of just dreaming of our return home. However, Zionism alone does not have the forward thrust to bring the Jewish nation into the next era and next revolution in our restoration to what we were at the time of King David and the Bet Hamikdash.
At the present time-seam dividing the tectonic plates of our past and future we do not know the name of the leader, but we do know his title - the Mashiach.
The historic weathervane is turning slowly, but surely, in the direction of a Torah orientated Medina. In 20-30 years, according to the three elements that define demography - fertility, mortality and emigration - our society will be more spiritually orientated, and the way to a revolutionary new - but predicted by our prophets, era will emerge.
The writing is on the horizon.
To be continued.
Rabbi Nachman Kahana is a Torah scholar, author, teacher and lecturer, Founder and Director of the Center for Kohanim, Co-founder of the Temple Institute, Co-founder of Atara Leyoshna - Ateret Kohanim, was rabbi of Chazon Yechezkel Synagogue - Young Israel of the Old City of Jerusalem for 32 years, and is the author of the 15-volume “Mei Menuchot" series on Tosefot, and 3-volume “With All Your Might: The Torah of Eretz Yisrael in the Weekly Parashah" (2009-2011), and “Reflections from Yerushalayim: Thoughts on the Torah, the Land and the Nation of Israel" (2019) as well as weekly parasha commentary available where he blogs at https://NachmanKahana.com