This week's commentary was written by Rabbi Marc
Wolf, Vice Chancellor and Director of Community Engagement, JTS.
Every morning when I daven Shaharit—the morning
service—in my home office, I face a picture that my father took from the vantage
point of Har Nabo—the peak on which God took Moshe's life, and where he was
gathered to his ancestors. It looks into Israel and toward Jerusalem or, as
Parashat Ha·azinu describes the scene, "Ascend these heights of Abarim to Mount
Nebo, which is in the land of Moab facing Jericho, and view the land of Canaan,
which I am giving the Israelites as their holding . . . You may view the land
from a distance, but you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the
Israelite people" (32:49, 52).
The scene is simply heartbreaking. After years of
dedicated service, Moses knows he is not to take the final steps into Israel
with his People. He is not to cross the Jordan River and conclude the Exodus
from Egypt with this generation of the Children of Israel. We cannot begin to
fathom the extent of emotion that must have rushed through Moses as he faced the
reality that he was not to enter the Land, but "die on the mountain" that he was
about to ascend. What words were exchanged between Moses and God? What
conversation is not recorded in the Torah? One of the most moving midrashim I
encountered during rabbinical school was taught to me by my rabbi and teacher,
Rabbi Alan Kensky. The commentary known as Midrash Petirat Moshe—the Death of
Moses—adds pages upon pages of dialogue, debate, argument, and reason between
Moses and God. It fills in the gaps in the narrative and, as Rabbi Kensky taught
us, describes a scene that remarkably parallels the five stages of grief that
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has enumerated for those coming face-to-face with the
reality of death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Notwithstanding the intense emotional scene, Moshe is composed, and delivers one
of the most compelling sermons of his career as the leader of the Children of
Israel.
Give ear, O heavens, let me speak;
Let the earth hear the words I utter!
May my discourse come down as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
Like showers on young growth,
Like droplets on the grass.
For the name of the Lord, I proclaim:
Give glory to our God! (Deut. 32:1–3)
Continue reading.
This week's commentary was written by Rabbi Marc Wolf, Vice Chancellor and Director of Community Engagement, JTS.
Every morning when I daven Shaharit—the morning
service—in my home office, I face a picture that my father took from the vantage
point of Har Nabo—the peak on which God took Moshe's life, and where he was
gathered to his ancestors. It looks into Israel and toward Jerusalem or, as
Parashat Ha·azinu describes the scene, "Ascend these heights of Abarim to Mount
Nebo, which is in the land of Moab facing Jericho, and view the land of Canaan,
which I am giving the Israelites as their holding . . . You may view the land
from a distance, but you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the
Israelite people" (32:49, 52).
The scene is simply heartbreaking. After years of
dedicated service, Moses knows he is not to take the final steps into Israel
with his People. He is not to cross the Jordan River and conclude the Exodus
from Egypt with this generation of the Children of Israel. We cannot begin to
fathom the extent of emotion that must have rushed through Moses as he faced the
reality that he was not to enter the Land, but "die on the mountain" that he was
about to ascend. What words were exchanged between Moses and God? What
conversation is not recorded in the Torah? One of the most moving midrashim I
encountered during rabbinical school was taught to me by my rabbi and teacher,
Rabbi Alan Kensky. The commentary known as Midrash Petirat Moshe—the Death of
Moses—adds pages upon pages of dialogue, debate, argument, and reason between
Moses and God. It fills in the gaps in the narrative and, as Rabbi Kensky taught
us, describes a scene that remarkably parallels the five stages of grief that
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has enumerated for those coming face-to-face with the
reality of death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Notwithstanding the intense emotional scene, Moshe is composed, and delivers one
of the most compelling sermons of his career as the leader of the Children of
Israel.
Give ear, O heavens, let me speak;
Let the earth hear the words I utter!
May my discourse come down as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
Like showers on young growth,
Like droplets on the grass.
For the name of the Lord, I proclaim:
Give glory to our God! (Deut. 32:1–3)
Let the earth hear the words I utter!
May my discourse come down as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
Like showers on young growth,
Like droplets on the grass.
For the name of the Lord, I proclaim:
Give glory to our God! (Deut. 32:1–3)
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