Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Devarim
By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - “And also against me did the Lord become angry because of you saying that you also will not enter there. (The Land of Israel)” Deut 1:37.

In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses provides a recap of many of the laws which were given earlier as well as of the various historical incidents which the Jewish people experienced during this period of leadership. Obviously, Moses places his own interpretation both on the commandments as well as the events. What seems rather strange, however, about the way in which he retells the sin of the scouts is that he includes his own failure to enter the Promised Land within the context of the collective punishment of the entire desert generation. He insists that G-d prevented his entrance into the land “because of you”, because the rest of the Jews would be barred from entry. What is especially difficult to understand about this is that only a few chapters before, in the Book of Numbers, G-d specifically forbids Moses and Aaron from entering the Promised Land “because you didn’t believe in Me to sanctify Me before the eyes of the children of Israel; therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given to them.” (Numbers 20:12) Because Moses and Aaron became frustrated and angry at the people when they once again complained about the lack of water in the desert, Prophet and Priest berated them (“Listen you rebels”) and Moses even struck the rock instead of speaking to the rock. If Moses and Aaron were punished because of their own wrongdoing, why does Moses blame the Israelites when he recounts his prevention from entering the Land of  Israel?

I believe that when we understand the answer to this question – especially in the manner in which Don Isaac Abarbanel understands it – we will learn volumes about the true difficulty in being a leader and the enormous responsibility which leadership entails.  The Abarbanel, a great Biblical commentator and political statesman of 15th century Spain, maintains that both Moses and Aaron died before entering the Promised Land because of the part which each played respectfully in the sin of the scouts and in the sin of the golden calf.

Let us begin by analyzing Aaron’s role in the sin of the golden calf. The Jews had become panic stricken because Moses did not return to them from Mount Sinai when they expected him to. They felt very much alone without their leader-father in an alien and inimical desert; they gather around Aaron and cried out to him, “Get up and make for us a leader (elohim, which also means judge) who will walk before us because that personage Moses who took us out of the Land of Egypt – we don’t know what happened to him.” (Exodus 32:1). What the Jews are asking for is a “Moses substitute”, and indeed the calf was only considered to be the seat or throne of the Egyptian god and not the god himself. (see Ramban Exodus 32:4) Hence, Aaron calls out to them – and perhaps warns them – “There will be a festival unto the Lord (Y-HVH) tomorrow” (22:5) – as if to say, make certain that you understand that the calf is only a means to G-d and not a god in itself. Tragically, the Jews do not heed the warning, and do not only worship the calf by singing and dancing around it but even involve themselves in all of the immorality surrounding idolatry. (22:6 Rashi adloc) The Abarbanel maintains that Aaron ought to have understood this possible outcome, and never should have allowed them the calf in the first place. At that point he should have shared in the death penalty which was given out to the leaders of the golden calf travesty; however, since his transgression was certainly an unpremeditated one, G-d bides His time before exacting punishment.

Moses played a not dissimilar role to that of Aaron in the incident of the scouts. In this week’s Torah portion he describes how the Jews approached him saying that he send individuals as an “advance team” to scout out the land, the roads which they should take and the cities which they should come upon during the initial stages of the conquest (Deuteronomy 1:22). In this way, Moses is apparently and correctly placing the brunt of responsibility upon the people themselves: it was they who initiated the mission of the scouts and it was the scouts who came back with an evil report. However, argues the Abarbanel, Moses should have been sensitive to the dangers which could have emerged – and did emerge – from just such a reconnaissance mission. He should have either quashed the suggestion, or delayed its implementation until after the conquest, or at the very least insisted upon listening to – and censoring – the report before it came to the nation. Since he did neither, he does bear responsibility and should have been involved in the same punishment as the nation suffered. Just as in the case of Aaron, however, since Moses’ sin was certainly not purposeful and was one of omission rather than commission, G-d delays his punishment as well.

Close to four decades later, when the nation “kvetches” over the lack of water and Moses and Aaron lose patience with the nation and call them rebels, G-d realizes that their period of leadership has ended; after all, the most important characteristic which a leader must have is patience and unqualified love for his people. G-d therefore informs them that they will not enter the Land of Israel and that they too will die in the desert at the moment of their impatience. But Moses understands that the real punishment is for a prior sin, the sin committed by the nation when its leaders acted too permissively by allowing them to do – both with respect to the calf and with respect to the scouts – what they should not have allowed them to do. Such is the difficult and onerous responsibility of a leader: he/she must be sensitive to negatives which may just possibly emerge from certain initiatives, and put a stop to such initiatives before it is too late.


Shabbat Shalom
Shlomo Riskin
Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone
Chief Rabbi - Efrat Israel