The articles in this column are transcriptions and adaptations of shiurim by Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, zt”l. The Rav’s unique perspective on Chumash permeated many of the shiurim and lectures he presented at various venues over a 40-plus-year period. His words add an important perspective that makes the Chumash in particular, and our tradition in general, vibrant and relevant to our generation.
Mazal tov To Ira and Juliette Krumholtz on the marriage of their son Shimmy to Shaina Brander, and to Shlomo and Miriam Ziegler on the marriage of Miera to Shaya Winiarz.
Between the end of Parshat Korach and Bnei Yisrael’s entering Midbar Tzin coupled with the death of Miriam, is a gap of 38 years. Korach’s rebellion happened the second year in the desert. While the Torah provides ample discussion of the first two years in the desert, we don’t know what happened during those enigmatic and frightening 38 years. What did Moshe do during that long and dreary period?
The bridge between the end of Parshat Korach to the beginning of Parshat Chukat provides a clue as to what happened during those 38 years. In Parshat Devarim, after Moshe recounts the meraglim incident, he tells us that Bnei Yisrael spent 38 years circling Mount Seir (Devarim 2:1). He adds that Hashem confused them over those years. The 38 years were a period of hiding, hester panim. After the meraglim, the people returned to Hashem – “Vatashuvu vativku lifnei hashem” (Devarim 1:45) – yet Hashem turned away from them. In a time of hester panim even the tefillah of the people is rejected.
Rambam explains circular movement as movement without gain or achievement. Rambam explains the circular movement of the heavenly bodies as their attempt to come close to Hashem yet they always fail and start over. The same futile attempt explains the Jewish people’s wandering in the desert those many years. Bnei Yisrael tried to approach the mountain of Seir but failed. Moshe added that the divine hand confused and eliminated the previous generation. It was a time of hester panim when no prayer was accepted and no heavenly communication with man, even Moshe. It was a long, dark and dreary 38-year long night.
The Gemara says each year that the entire congregation would dig graves on Tisha B’Av and lie down in them. In the morning, a call went out for those still alive to arise and separate from the dead. Each Tisha B’Av, the entire congregation died. Some regained life the next day. They died 38 times in the desert. Life in the desert was no different from death, it lacked hope and anticipation. Each one knew that eventually he would end up in one of those graves. The people were confused during this period, unable to understand the will of Hashem under hester panim. It did not matter if they survived this year. Eventually they would die. They spent 38 years in a state dedicated to death, separated from Hashem.
The greatest of men, Moshe, had to wait for Hashem to sprinkle purifying waters on Bnei Yisrael to mark the conclusion of the period of death. That is why the Torah tells us about the parah adumah after the Korach rebellion and prior to the story of the group entering Midbar Tzin, the survivors of the long night of death, finally ready to enter the land. The Torah mentions the topics of challah, terumos and maasros in Shelach and Korach, after they had been sentenced to meander in the desert, to reassure the people that eventually they will enter Eretz Yisrael. Eventually Hashem will sprinkle water on them, indicating the conclusion of hester panim. However, the dialogue between Hashem and Moshe must be suspended for 38 years until the termination of the meraglim generation. We now understand the sequence of events that the Torah records, culminating with the nation’s arrival at Midbar Tzin. Those that were still alive made it; the period of darkness without hope had ended. The episode at Midbar Tzin happened 38 years after parshat Parah was presented to Moshe.
The arrival in Midbar Tzin also meant the impending end of Moshe and Aaron. The story of Moshe’s death is most tragic. He was chosen to redeem the people and sacrificed personally so much from them. He received the corpus of Torah laws, many that could only be performed in Eretz Yisrael. He yearned to travel the land on his own and fulfill them all. Yet Hashem uniquely forbade him to even pray for permission to enter Eretz Yisrael. Death in general is an enigma; however the death of Moshe is most perplexing. There are various explanations as to why Moshe was denied entry to the land; ultimately he died because of the people’ sin. If we assume he was denied entry because of either the meraglim or mei meriva incidents where Hashem became angry with Moshe biglalchem, “because of you,” we may ask why were the people responsible for Moshe’s pre-mature death? Moshe was the one who ultimately sent the spies and hit the rock. On the other hand, if Moshe’s sin was hitting the rock instead of talking to it, why wasn’t he pardoned?
At the time of the golden calf incident, Moshe defended the people arguing that they needed time to outgrow their slave mentality. The people that left Egypt in the Exodus were not Moshe’s disciples. They were recently freed slaves who did not have time to be trained by Moshe prior to the Exodus. He could not claim to be their teacher or parent yet. He asked Hashem to give him the time and opportunity to train them. Hashem accepted Moshe’s cogent argument.
However the generation that arrived at mei meriva and Shitim were Moshe’s disciples. When they complained at mei meriva about leaving Egypt, Moshe was stunned. The generation that he trained over those long years in the desert voiced the same argument as the previous generation that lacked the benefit of Moshe’s tutelage. Moshe realized that if he could not implant faith in this generation, if they were no different than their parents who argued with him 40 years ago in Refidim, he failed. Moshe cries after the episodes of Shitim and the prostitutes of Moab, something he did not do at previous transgressions like the golden calf, or even the meraglim. Now he realized that he failed. After all, Moshe was the teacher of the generation that left Egypt and grew up in the desert. Why did only a few individuals, like Joshua and Eliezer, assimilate his teachings? Why wasn’t the entire congregation acting as Moshe’s disciples? With a teacher like Moshe, why didn’t they resist the temptations of the prostitutes of Moab?
However Moshe did not fail. The tragic story underpinning Moshe’s not entering the land was that of the great teacher misunderstood by the people of his generation and his contemporaries. That is why Moshe said that he was punished because of the people. Had they understood and appreciated his teachings over the 40 years in the desert he would have been admitted to Eretz Yisrael. A rebellious act on the part of a recently freed slave can be rationalized. A generation of unwilling disciples, refusing to follow Moshe’s teachings and instead retained the same rebellious attitude as their parents, could not be defended. Even though Moshe did not sin personally, he was punished for the deficiency of the people he was charged with molding. Just like the teacher must accompany his student into exile because ultimately the transgression is attributable to him, so too Moshe was punished in place of the generation. Hence he blames them that he was denied entry, as their actions were the cause.
Moshe’s entering the land as leader would have meant no exile. He would have been crowned Messiah. Jewish destiny would have found its fulfillment and realization immediately. The sanctity of the land would have been permanent. Moshe will always be the greatest man, greater than Melech HaMashiach, with regards to prophecy. If he was so qualified, why was he not ordained by Hashem as the Mashiach?
The Messianic era requires readiness of the leader and the people. Had Moshe’s message impacted the people, had they respected him properly as their rebbe, he would have been crowned Mashiach and they the generation of Mashiach, a great merit in its own right. Instead his students behaved like the freed slaves of the previous generation. The messianic era was postponed for a long time.
The redemption will arrive when the entire nation fully commits to Moshe’s teachings, accepts Moshe as teacher and acts as his disciples. After mei meriva, Joshua replaced Moshe and we lost the opportunity of Mashiach, in the person of Moshe, for a long time. Jewish Destiny became more complex and tragic. Adam ki yamut b’ohel refers to the tragedy of the death of the greatest of men, Moshe.