“You are standing today." This day is a defining moment in the history of the Jewish people. Rashi explains: “This teaches that Moses gathered them [all of Israel] before the Holy One, blessed be He, on the day of his death, in order to bring them into the covenant." Rashi adds: “Because Israel was passing from one leader to another, from Moses to Joshua, he therefore made them into a ‘standing body,’" meaning that he established them as a stable and enduring unit standing before God.
We stand on the day when the mantle of leadership is passed for the first time in the history of the Jewish people. After forty years of leadership, authority passes from one leader to another, from Moses to Joshua son of Nun, not through democratic elections, but by the choice of the Creator of the world, as Moses had already been told in the Book of Numbers. This great and extraordinary day consists of a series of events planned down to the smallest detail, and they deserve our attention.
First, it is astonishing and fascinating for anyone who reflects upon it to see how Moses remains the leader of Israel until every last moment of his final day, occupied from morning until evening with matters concerning the entire nation. It is doubtful whether Moses had even a single spare moment to take a personal farewell from his family. This day is packed with an extraordinary program. No, there is no emotional farewell from the man who had led Israel from the moment they left Egypt until this very day, and who, to his great sorrow, was prevented from continuing to lead Israel toward its long-awaited destination, the entry into the Land of Israel. Once Moses understood and accepted the decree, he passed the mantle with perfect order and with a firm hand to his student, while gathering the nation, bringing the people into a covenant with God, delivering a speech that, alongside its blessings, warned the people of the punishment awaiting “the root producing poisonous fruit," writing the song of Haazinu, and more.
Moses makes sure to gather all of Israel and bring them into a covenant before God, a covenant between the nation and its Creator, with all that this entails. For this purpose, he gathers not merely the elders of the nation, but everyone, from the greatest to the smallest, from the heads of the tribes to the water carriers, every Israelite, including the converts. Moses emphasizes that this gathering is the greatest our people has ever known and will ever know, because it includes both “those who are standing here with us today" and “those who are not here with us today", all the souls of Israel, in the present and throughout future generations.
In practical terms, Moses tells Israel: Know that the covenant you are entering today encompasses everything that awaits the Jewish people, the good and the bad, the blessing and the curse, the punishment of exile from the land and the return to it, the power of Israel's repentance and God's response: “You shall return to the Lord your God," and “The Lord your God will return your captivity and have mercy upon you."
Moses adds that when the people return to their land, God will not only do good for them and multiply their descendants, but will also remove the obstruction from their hearts and enable them to love God: “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, for the sake of your life." Onkelos translates this as: “And the Lord your God will remove the foolishness of your heart and the foolishness of the heart of your children." Jonathan ben Uzziel adds: "How will this happen? By fighting the evil inclination and creating a good inclination that will counsel you to love God."
In other words, if you do not repent in your hearts as I advised in the portion of Eikev, “Circumcise the foreskin of your hearts", then God Himself will circumcise your hearts. This is what we pray for every day: “Turn their hearts toward You," and, “He is merciful, He forgives iniquity. May He open our hearts to His Torah." This 'circumcision of the heart' will bring with it the spirit of “I have chosen the path of faith." Yet free will remains in the hands of man: “See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil, and you shall choose life." The central message of Moses at the conclusion of his forty-year “journey" is: “Choose life!" And what is the content of this life? “To love the Lord your God, to listen to His voice and to cleave to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days."
And to those who struggle with whether to repent because they have become accustomed to sin, Moses continues the conversation and conveys a reassuring message: “For this commandment that I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away." This is not some heavenly matter requiring messengers to bring it down from the heavens, “It is not in heaven", nor is it something that lies beyond the sea. The commandment of repentance is accessible and very close: “For the matter is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart to be done." Not only are no messengers required, but you are not even asked to undertake some complicated physical act, it is enough to return to God “with your mouth and with your heart." This commitment even carries profound halachic significance: if a man betroths a woman and says, “On the condition that I am righteous," then even if he is completely wicked, she is considered betrothed, because perhaps he contemplated repentance in his heart (Kiddushin 49b).
Moses further tells the people: Throughout the life of the nation, you have experienced and will experience difficult events, events that the human mind cannot comprehend. But you, do not demand to understand what is beyond you, because “The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, to perform all the words of this Torah." Some believe that the hiding of God's presence is necessarily a divine punishment, but this is not necessarily the case. In a fascinating conversation between Israel Prize laureate Professor Mordechai Rotenberg and his student Dr. Baruch Kahana, Professor Rotenberg said: “You think that the hiding of the Creator's presence is a punishment, while I tell you that it is the greatest gift the Holy One, blessed be He, gives human beings."
God says: The revealed things belong to you and your children, while the hidden things are managed by God. You, do not concern yourself with the hidden things. You are free of that burden! Concern yourself with the day-to-day reality and with the circumstances you are required to confront. When God says to Moses, “I will remove My hand, and you will see My back, but My face shall not be seen" (Exodus 33:23), this is a blessing. And above all, remember the central goal: “To love the Lord your God, to listen to His voice and to cleave to Him to dwell upon the land."
Only after his important speech preparing the people for what lay ahead, and only after warning the generation that had received the Torah not to stray from the proper path while detailing the consequences of failure, does Moses turn to the ceremony of passing the mantle to Joshua. First, he tells all Israel that physically, “His eye had not dimmed, nor had his vigor diminished," yet despite this, “I can no longer go out and come in." I am no longer permitted to do so, because authority has been taken from me and given to Joshua, as Rashi explains.
The authority to lead the people had already been designated to Joshua in the Book of Numbers. Even then, at God's command, Moses placed his hands upon Joshua's head in the presence of the entire community: “And the Lord said to Moses, Take for yourself Joshua son of Nun and place your hand upon him." Moses had already placed his hands upon Joshua in the past, but now the time had come for the mantle to be handed over in practice. Joshua now assumes his role as leader, prophet, and supreme commander of the army of Israel as it prepares to conquer the land, divide it, and settle it.
At this point, Moses turns to encourage the people and strengthen their spirits before the war of conquest: “Be strong and courageous; do not fear and do not be terrified of them." From encouraging the nation, he moves to encouraging Joshua and appointing him before everyone: “Be strong and courageous, for you shall come with this people." From now on, Moses tells Joshua, everything depends upon you. You are not to follow only the opinions and counsel of the elders of the generation, as I initially believed, because by God's command you are not subordinate to another authority, you are the sole leader of the people, and according to your word decisions will be made. “There are never two leaders for a generation" (Rashi). In today's language, you are subordinate neither to the General Staff, nor to the ISA, nor to the Mossad. You are the leader of the nation, and according to your word decisions will be made. One leader for a generation.
But the ceremony does not end there. Moses now turns to writing the Torah scroll and gives it to the priests and the elders of Israel. He commands them that just as all Israel has gathered on this day, so too they must gather every seven years at the appointed time of the Hakhel assembly to read from this Torah. The purpose of this gathering is to hear, learn, fear God, and observe the commandments for generations in the Land of Israel, both by the people and by its leaders. It is God's will and serves as a warning.
Before the day comes to an end, the climax of this defining day arrives: “And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, your days are drawing near to die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, and I will command him." Here the transition actually takes place: God speaks for the first time exclusively with Joshua. Moses indeed accompanies Joshua to the Tent of Meeting, as God commanded, and the two stand ready to hear the divine voice. But the Midrash relates that God revealed Himself and spoke only with Joshua, without sharing the conversation with Moses, His trusted servant. This is the passing of the mantle by God Himself. When the pillar of cloud departed, Moses turned to Joshua and asked: “What did the Divine speech say to you?" Joshua answered him: “When the Divine speech was revealed to you, did I know what He was saying to you?" At that moment Moses cried out and said: Better a hundred deaths than a single moment of jealousy! (based on Deuteronomy Rabbah).
Let us try to imagine Moses, the servant of God, the teacher of Israel, accompanying his student Joshua. When they reach the Tent of Meeting, God chooses to speak privately with the student. At this moment, the defining ceremony of the transfer of leadership takes place. In an instant, Joshua is transformed from Moses' attendant into one with whom God communicates directly, him, and not his teacher and master standing beside him. Joshua receives the divine command: “Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the Children of Israel." At the same time, the divine word is directed toward Moses, but with an entirely different message: “Behold, you are about to lie with your fathers, and this people will rise and stray after the foreign gods of the land into which it is coming, and will forsake Me and violate My covenant that I have made with it." [ibid., verses 16-22]. Not only does God refrain from sharing with Moses what He has told Joshua, but He also delivers to him the bitter news that the people will sin after his departure.
Despite the painful moment, despite being excluded from God's communication with Joshua, and despite the harsh news of the sins that the people would commit, Moses humbly accepts the urgent command to immediately write “the song" - the portion of Haazinu - as a warning: “Now therefore, write this song for yourselves and teach it to the Children of Israel; put it in their mouths, so that this song may be a witness for Me among the Children of Israel." And indeed, for the remainder of this complex day, Moses wastes no time and immediately writes the song: “And Moses wrote this song." And what is this song? “Listen, O heavens," through “and He will atone for His land and His people (Rashi)."
There is a song that is entirely praise and thanksgiving, such as the Song at the Sea, but the Song of Ha'azinu is a somber song. Precisely because it was written as a song, the Malbim explains, it is easy even for young children to learn, “put it in their mouths", so that it would remain in the mouths of everyone, like a national anthem and a warning to preserve the covenant. No one was more aware of this than Moses himself, who said of his speech, “I am heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue," since it is well known that even someone who stammers does not stammer when he sings. The song becomes the possession of the entire nation, but it also contains a grave warning: “Then My anger will be kindled against them on that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them." Moses completes his mission and speaks “in the ears of the entire congregation of Israel the words of this song until they are finished."
This was the full, astonishing and final day of Moses our teacher, he who received the Torah at Sinai, and who in turn passed on the Torah and the mantle of leadership to Joshua son of Nun.