YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
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INTRODUCTION TO PARASHAT HASHAVUA

PARASHAT HA'AZINU

Moshe's Will to Live
By Rav Michael Hattin

INTRODUCTION

As Sefer Devarim and the year as a whole draw to their close, we read Parashat Haazinu.  It has been more than a complete month since Moshe gathered the people of Israel together and began his discourse on the Torah.  Since the "first day of the eleventh month" (Devarim 1:3), the month of Shevat, Moshe has been feverishly occupied in communicating to Israel the word of God.  Sometimes, he has elaborated upon existing mitzvot, occasionally he has introduced new commands, often has he complemented his dire warnings of downfall with gentle words of encouragement, while always he has been fully cognizant that his remaining time was limited.  

It has scarcely been eleven months since Miriam died at Kadesh of Midbar Tzin in the first month of the fortieth year (BeMidbar 20:1), and the people thirsted for water.  There, God had commanded the aged lawgiver and his brother Aharon to speak to the rock so that it might yield liquid refreshment, but they abrogated His command and struck the rock instead.  As a result, God's harsh sentence against the two was sealed: "God said to Moshe and Aharon: Because you did not trust in Me and sanctify Me in the sight of the people of Israel, therefore you will not bring this congregation into the land that I have given to them!" (BeMidbar 20:12).

For almost a year, then, Moshe has lived under the weight of his heavy sentence, the vibrant promise of the new land now hopelessly beyond his reach.  Though he had entreated God to commute the decree, the Deity remained indifferent: "God was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me.  God said to me: It is enough! Do not speak to me anymore concerning this matter.  Rather, ascend to the top of the peak and gaze west, north, south and east and see it with your eyes, for you will not traverse this Yarden…" (Devarim 3:26-27).

COMPLETING LIFE'S TASKS

But now that year had drawn to a close and the time left had suddenly become short.  Aharon, Moshe's brother, had already perished some six months earlier, "in the fortieth year after the exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt, in the fifth month on the first day" (BeMidbar 33:38), and now Moshe was alone.  But mercifully, God granted Moshe the opportunity to accomplish his task, to not only lead the people of Israel to the brink of Canaan and to the dawning fulfillment of their national destiny, but to fully complete his words of instruction and exhortation to them.  All thinking men wish to leave this world having attended to their cares and addressed their concerns while yet living, having prepared their loved ones for their imminent demise and then taken leave of them without haste.  But few are the men who merit to so die.  More often than not, we are plucked from the earthly plane rather unexpectedly, surprised to have left so much unfinished and so many affairs in disarray: "Do not rely upon princes, upon mortal man in whom there is no help.  His spirit expires, he returns to his dust, and on that day his plans perish with him!" (Tehillim 146:3-4).

In this Parasha, Moshe turns to his people Israel and communicates to them his final words.  What is there left to say after he has already thoroughly reviewed the mitzvot of the Torah and more than once impressed upon them their august responsibility and the momentous consequences of their choices?  Not surprisingly, then, Parashat Haazinu contains none of these things, for it neither offers Israel any commands nor even any words of exhortation.  Rather, it is a testimonial document, a song that spells out in concise but charged phrases the history and destiny of the nation.  In it, Moshe describes Israel's election as God's special people, His providential care of them in the wilderness after the Exodus, and in his mind's eye, he foresees their entry and successful settlement of the land.  Moshe goes on to prophesy the people's subsequent downfall, for in Canaan they will fall prey to the allures of the land's material plenty and the Canaanites' pagan cults, a lethal combination that will inexorably lead to their estrangement from God.  Setback will then follow setback, as enemy domination will turn to conquest, then exile to far-off lands and finally, near extermination.  God however, will stand aloof and remain remote, and His once-cherished people will call out to their false gods for salvation, but to no avail.  But in the end, He will intervene for the sake of His great name, crushing Israel's enemies in order to vindicate the ideals for which His people once stood.  Ultimately, the land, for so long desolate and deserted, will achieve 'atonement' as the people of Israel return to it. 

Moshe completes his song, his strong and steady voice still echoing off of the surrounding hills of red Moabite stone.  God then spoke to him, 

…on that very day saying: Ascend this range of Aravim to Mount Nevo that is in the land of Moav opposite Yericho, and see the land of Canaan that I give to the people of Israel as their inheritance.  Die now upon the mountain that you ascend and be gathered unto your people, just as your brother Aharon perished at Mount Hor and was gathered unto his people.  For you trespassed against Me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meriva of Kadesh in the wilderness of Tzin, for you failed to sanctify Me in the midst of the people of Israel.  Thus, you shall see the land from afar but there you will not enter, into the land hat I give to the people of Israel (Devarim 32:48-52).

MOSHE'S REMARKABLE CAREER

The Torah thus presents us with the last chapter of a most remarkable biography.  Here is a man who, for all intents and purposes, succeeded in completely realizing his life's potential.  From the moment of his birth, Moshe was destined for greatness.  With the passage of time, he came to embody the spirit of justice (see Shemot 2:11-17) and compassion (see Shemot 5:22) with which all great leaders are endowed.  Donning the plain garb of a shepherd but then chosen by God to free His people from bondage, Moshe reluctantly acceded and then liberated Israel and brought them to Mount Sinai.  There, they received the Torah, and there Moshe instructed them in God's laws.  Under his careful supervision, Israel proceeded to construct the Mishkan and God's presence rested among them.  

Setting their sights for the Promised Land, the people journeyed from Sinai and soon entered the foreboding wilderness of Paran.  From the oasis of Kadesh Barnea they sent forth spies but then fell prey to their defeatist reports.  Thus, what should have been no more than an eleven-day journey (see Devarim 1:2) was unexpectedly extended to become a terminal trek lasting almost forty years.  But during those forty years of want, deprivation and longing, Moshe led the people faithfully and was never indifferent to their distress.  Even when he himself was in the end denied entry to Canaan, just as they were nearing its borders, he was neither embittered nor resentful.  Unable to annul the decree, he accepted God's justice.  His paramount concern was only that God should appoint a new leader over the people "who would go out before them (in battle) and bring them back, so that God's congregation not be like sheep that have no shepherd!" (BeMidbar 27:16).

MOSHE REFUSES TO DIE

If ever there was a man who should have embraced his death, it was Moshe.  Blessed with youthful vigor and mental clarity until the very end of his extraordinarily long life (see Devarim 34:7), Moshe left no goal unaccomplished and no aspiration unrealized.  Of all human kind, he alone had spoken to God "face to face" (Devarim 34:10).  His life's work was truly complete, his exalted place in Israel's collective memory assured forever.  What remained, except to be gently and lovingly gathered from this earthly plane by God's tender kiss? How remarkable then, that according to Rabbinic traditions preserved in the Midrash of Devarim Rabba, never was there a man more reluctant to die and more unwilling to yield to his mortality!

[When the hour of Moshe's death approached], Moshe said to the Holy One Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, if You will not let me enter the land of Israel, then at least let me be as the beasts of the field, for though they eat grass and drink water, they live and see the world!  But God said: enough.  Moshe then said before Him: then let me be like the birds who daily fly to the four winds in search of food, but return to their nests at evening!  But God said: enough…when the angel of death approached, Moshe said to him: what are you doing here?  He replied: I have come to fetch your soul.  But Moshe said: you will not take it…be gone, evil one, out, out, for I will not yield my soul!  The angel of death returned to the Almighty and explained what had happened.  But He said: go and bring Moshe's soul.  The angel drew his sword from its sheath and stood against him, but Moshe took his staff in hand, upon which was engraved the Ineffable Name, and repelled him once again…

Thus far was Moshe successful, but then a heavenly voice proclaimed: the time of your death has arrived.  But Moshe said before the Holy One Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, remember how You revealed yourself to me at Sinai…remember how I stood before You there for forty days and forty nights.  Please do not deliver me to the clutches of the angel of death!  A heavenly voice then proclaimed: fear not, for I Myself will take care of you and your burial…(Midrash Devarim Rabba 11:1).

There are two separate questions that are raised by the above passage, one that is external and another that is internal.  The external question concerns the broader context of the Torah, for where does it provide even the remotest inspiration for the reading of the Midrash?  Where in the text is there any indication whatsoever that Moshe was anything but prepared to die?  Had he not rehearsed this day in his mind over and over again as his leadership ebbed and his exhortations reached their end?  The second question relates to the interpretation of the Midrash itself.  If we do accept the thesis of Moshe's great reluctance, then we must ask ourselves why he was so very unwilling to yield his soul.  Had he not accomplished his earthly task to absolutely everyone's utter satisfaction, including his own?  Why would such a man refuse then to embrace his next dimension of existence, for his disembodied soul to blissfully bask in the radiance of God's goodness forever?

THE THEME OF LIFE

It is crucial to bear in mind that the Rabbis of the Midrash were keen students of the text.  They scrutinized every phrase and no nuance escaped their notice.  Because they regarded the Torah as the revealed word of God, they studied it intently, never tiring of its perennial messages and always finding in it new inspiration.  For them, as it must be for us, the text of the Torah was the most precious and profound in all of literature.  Now a careful reader of the book of Devarim will notice that there is a recurring word that Moshe employs in his words to Israel in the book's first half, and that word is "Life" (chayim) and its variations:

Now hear Israel, hearken to the statutes and to the laws that I instruct you to perform, so that you might LIVE and come to possess the land…for all of you that cleave unto God your Lord are ALIVE today (4:1,4).

Has any nation heard the voice of the Lord speak out of the midst of the fire as you have, and LIVED? (4:32).

All of the commandments that I command you today you shall observe, in order that you might LIVE and multiply, and come to possess the land…for man LIVES by the word of God (8:1, 3).

These are the statutes and laws that you shall observe in the land that God the Lord of your ancestors gives to you, all of the days that you shall LIVE upon the land (12:1).

Justice, justice you shall pursue, in order that you might LIVE and possess the land… (16:20).

But even more strikingly, there is an unusual concentration of the term once again towards the very end of Moshe's address:

See that I place before you this day the LIFE and the good, the death and the bad.  That is what I command you this day to love God your Lord and to walk in his ways, to observe His commands, statutes and laws, so that you might LIVE and multiply and God will bless you in the land that you come to possess.  For if your heart strays and you hearken not, so that you bow down to other gods and serve them, then I proclaim before you this day that you will surely be lost.  You will not have length of days upon the earth for which you traverse the Yarden in order possess.  I call against you as witness this day the heaven and the earth that I have placed LIFE and death before you, the blessing and the curse, and you shall choose LIFE so that you and your children may LIVE.  To love God your Lord, to hearken to His voice and to cleave unto Him, for He is your LIFE and the length of your days so that you may dwell upon the land that God your Lord swore to your ancestors Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya'acov, to give to them! (30:15-20).

In other words, if there is a thought that seems to preoccupy the lawgiver as he addresses Israel and instructs them, if there is a single idea that animates his agile mind as the fulfillment of God's decree draws inexorably closer, it is LIFE.  Seek life, he exhorts the people, choose life, desire life and crave it.  Never let go of it, for life is good and death is evil.  

The Midrash, then, is sensitive to Moshe's vocabulary and especially to his exaggerated employment of the term in his final words.  It therefore seizes on the theme of life and maintains that not only does it encapsulate the essence of Moshe's cautious instruction to the people but is also indicative of his own unquenchable will to remain alive.  Choose life as I did, Moshe seems to say, long for life as I have, seize the life that I can no longer take hold of for myself.

DESIRING SPIRITUAL LIFE

But that is not all, for as we pondered earlier, Moshe's craving for life seems so very misplaced.  Of what need is life for a man who has already accomplished its every goal?  Here, we must be more precise in our understanding of Moshe's use of the term, for he never employs the term "life" to mean simple, biological function.  Consumption, digestion, metabolism and reproduction may all be markers of biological life but they are most assuredly not what Moshe intends.  He does not ask Israel to desire life just as a beast or a bird seeks to survive another day, another day to ingest, respirate and excrete.  Rather, in his words, life means only one thing, and that is God.  And since we seek God and find Him through the study and observance of His will, then life is His Torah as well.  Moshe may have initially asked God to see another sunrise even in the guise of a lower creature, but he himself soon realizes the existential impossibility of the request.  When the heavenly voice proclaims that his death is imminent, it is the memory of Sinai and of God's teaching during the course of his forty-day stay that underscore his wish not to perish. 

The Midrash is thus conveying a most profound idea.  In the realm of SPIRITUAL life and accomplishment, in the realm of performance of mitzvot, study of Torah and apprehension of God, there is no such thing as insurmountable achievement.  Whatever I have accomplished, I can yet do more.  As long as the breath of life still resides in his breast, Moshe will not yield, for in the portrayal of the Midrash, his will to live is the will to continue to grow and to attain further.  Corporeal death may open the portal to eternal reward but it simultaneously closes the portal for additional spiritual development.  "Whatsoever you can accomplish while yet strong, do so, for there is no deed nor accounting nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave towards which you go" (Kohelet 9:10).

In the words of Yechezkel, the prophet who foretold the destruction of the First Temple while in exile with his compatriots, life took on an additional (if related) meaning, one that is particularly timely as Yom Kippur fast approaches.  Addressing the people of Israel by the rivers of Babylon, demoralized over the demise of their state and distant from God, Yechezkel held out to them the possibility of teshuva.  Though they had cut themselves off from God by their deeds and choices, there was yet the hope of rapprochement.  And that rapprochement meant life:

As for you, son of man, tell the House of Israel who say: "our iniquities and transgressions weigh us down, they cause our decay, how shall we live?"  Say to them: "as I live, says Almighty God, I do not desire the death of the wicked but rather that the wicked should turn from his way and live.  Return, return from your evil ways!  Why should you perish, House of Israel?…an evil man who turns from his wickedness to perform justice and righteousness, shall live by them… (Yechezkel 33:10-20).

Shabbat Shalom and Ketiva veChatima Tova