From:          "Yeshivat Har Etzion's Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash"
To:            yhe-intparsha@vbm-torah.org
Subject:       INTPARSHA -52: Parashat VeZot HaBerakha


                     Yeshivat Har Etzion
           Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash
                             
              Introduction to Parashat HaShavua
                             
                  Parashat VeZot HaBerakha

                  Following in God's Paths
                   By Rabbi Michael Hattin
                             

Introduction

With  Moshe's  farewell blessing to  the  People  of  Israel
completed,  he  reluctantly takes his leave  from  them  and
ascends Mount Nevo.  Standing at its craggy summit, he looks
with   longing   eastwards,  towards  the   Promised   Land.
Surveying   the   land  from  afar,  he   breathes   deeply,
contemplating his long life of devotion and loyalty  to  his
people's  needs  and  to  his God's  expectations.   Moshe's
intense  contentment of having lived his life well  is  also
tinged  with sadness, for the objective of the journey,  the
entry  and  settlement of the New Land, is to remain  beyond
his grasp forever.

     "God showed him the whole land, from the Gilead to Dan.
     He showed him the land of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim
     and  Menasheh, and the whole land of Yehuda, until  the
     Western  Sea.   He  showed him also the  dry,  southern
     land, the Plain of the Valley of Yericho, from the City
     of Palms until Tsoar.
    
     God  said  to him: "this is the land that I swore  unto
     Avraham,   Yitzchak,  and  Yaacov   saying   'to   your
     descendents shall I give it.'  I have shown it  to  you
     with your own eyes, but over to there you shall not go"
     (Devarim 34:1-4).


Moshe's Death

Having  scanned  the  regions where  the  tribes  will  soon
settle, from the fertile northern boundaries of Naphtali  to
the  parched southern reaches of Yehuda, and from the  sandy
shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the plains of
the winding Jordan River in the east, Moshe is now ready  to
die.

     "Moshe  the  servant of God died there in the  Land  of
     Moav,  by God's mouth.  He buried him in the valley  in
     the  Land of Moav opposite Beit Pe'or, but no man knows
     the  place of his grave until this very day.  Moshe was
     one  hundred  and twenty years old at the time  of  his
     death,  but his eye was not dimmed nor was his  natural
     vigor abated.(Devarim 34:5-6).

Moshe,  God's loyal servant, secures that most sought  after
of  deaths, a death unprecipitated by debilitating  illness,
unaccompanied by discomfort and suffering, and unburdened by
regret or misgivings.  He dies by experiencing the so-called
'Divine  Kiss,' by which the soul is gently and effortlessly
drawn  out of the body as 'a hair is drawn out of a bowl  of
milk' (Talmud Bavli Berakhot 7b).  Then, God buries him in a
secret  place,  for no prying eyes are to  intrude  on  that
breathless  moment and no trespassers are to  later  cheapen
it, by turning his grave into a garish shrine.


Burial as a Moral Act

Thus, the final events of the Torah describe the end of  all
mortals, for no man can escape the eventuality of death.  No
other experience among all of life's other myriad events  is
as   fearfully   assured   or  as  frustratingly   obscured.
Significantly but not surprisingly, however, this account of
Moshe's  mysterious  demise and  cryptic  burial  serve  the
Rabbis of the Talmud not as a source of mystical meditations
on the enigmatic aspects of dying and internment, but rather
as a rational and life-affirming lesson in ethical and moral
behavior.

     "Said  Rabbi  Chama ben Chanina: What is meant  by  the
     verse  commanding  us  to 'walk after  God  your  Lord'
     (Devarim  13:5)?   Is it then possible  to  walk  after
     God's  presence?  Behold, the verse states that God  is
     'a consuming fire' (Devarim 4:24)!  Rather, it means to
     follow  the attributes of the Holy One Blessed  Be  He.
     Just as He clothes the naked, as the verse states: 'God
     the  Lord made garments of hides for the Adam  and  for
     his  wife and He clothed them' (Bereishit 3:21), so you
     too  must therefore clothe the naked.  God visited  the
     sick, as the verse states: 'God appeared to Avraham  in
     Elonei  Mamre, as he was sitting at the opening of  the
     tent  in the heat of the day' (Bereishit 18:1), so  you
     too  must  therefore  visit the  sick.   God  comforted
     mourners  as the verse states: 'After Avraham's  death,
     God blessed his son Yitzchak' (Bereishit 25:11), so you
     too  must  therefore comfort mourners.   The  Holy  One
     Blessed Be He buried the dead, as the verse states: 'He
     buried  him in the valley in the Land of Moav  opposite
     Beit  Pe'or' (Devarim 34:5), so you too must  therefore
     bury the dead" (Talmud Bavli Sota 14a).


Imitatio Dei

This  celebrated  Talmudic passage  serves  as  the  central
source  for one of Jewish tradition's most important  ideas.
The  account begins with a question.  The Torah in a  number
of  places  asks of us to walk after God and to follow  Him,
"follow  after  God your Lord and revere  Him;  observe  His
commandments, hearken to His voice, serve Him and hold  fast
to  Him"  (Devarim 13:5).  But how is one to follow  in  the
ways  of  an Absolute Being, the fashioner of the  vast  and
impenetrable  cosmos, a superlative and supreme  entity  too
transcendent to be comprehended by our mortal minds or to be
described  by  using our finite and inadequate  terms?   How
indeed does one follow in the path of 'a Consuming Fire'?

The   Talmud   overcomes  this  unsettling  conceptual   and
theological  chasm  that seemingly  separates  us  from  the
Creator,  by  reformulating the matter into a  concrete  and
comprehensible  guiding principle: it is  only  possible  to
'follow'  God by following the example that He  Himself  has
set.   Just  as  God  clothed the naked, visited  the  sick,
comforted  the mourner, and buried the dead, so must  we  do
likewise.    By  expressing  the  idea  of  'Imitatio   Dei'
(imitating  God),  the  Torah indicates  to  us  that  God's
remoteness and otherworldliness need not be a barrier to our
experience of His presence.  Nor are we in need of  esoteric
and  abstruse specialized knowledge in order to fulfill  His
word.  God's essence may remain forever beyond our ken,  but
He  can  still  be  found and apprehended  through  acts  of
kindness.


The Four Examples

Examining the matter further, we in fact ascertain that  the
Talmudic  passage  is quite selective in its  examples,  for
only four episodes are singled out for special mention.  The
first concerns Adam and Eve, who abrogated God's command and
ate  from  the Tree of Knowledge.  Having thus  secured  the
self-awareness   of   physical   nakedness   and   belatedly
understood the implications of being distinct from all other
creatures, they attempt to conceal their vulnerability  with
fig   leaves,  but  God  instead  fashions  for  them   more
substantial garments to protect them.

The  second example concerns the Patriarch Avraham, who  had
just  fulfilled the commandment to be circumcised as a  sign
of  the  covenant  between  his descendents  and  God.   God
appears  to  the  aged  patient  as  he  uncomfortably  sits
noontime  at the entrance to his tent, attempting to  escape
the  heat  and  lethargy  of the  midday  sun.   Avraham  is
invigorated  by  the visit and gladdened by the  tidings  of
offspring that the Visitor bears.

The  death of Yitzchak's mother had left a void in his  life
that  remained unfilled until he takes the hand of Rivka  in
marriage.  After the demise of his father some four  decades
later,  Yitzchak mourns for his loss, and God  then  blesses
him with words of comfort and strength.

Finally,  in our parasha, Moshe's lifeless body is  laid  to
rest  by God Himself, Who lovingly inters him in his  hidden
tomb.  Here, it should be noted, the recipient of the act of
kindness  is  not  physically conscious or  capable  of  any
response whatsoever.


Common Denominators - 1) Universality

Why   did   the  Talmud  choose  to  emphasize  these   four
expressions  of  Divine kindness as being exemplary  of  the
ones  that  we  should follow in our quest to  emulate  God?
First of all, it will be noticed that these four things  are
universal.   All  of  us  can relate to  the  experience  of
nakedness,  all  of us have felt the enfeebling  effects  of
illness  at some point during our lives, all of us sometimes
require comfort and solace from the buffeting winds of trial
and  tragedy,  and  everyone experiences  death.   In  other
words, one of the cornerstones of true moral conduct is that
it  is predicated upon being able to truly identify with the
plight  of  the  injured  or the  aggrieved.   This  empathy
becomes possible through the fact that we all share  in  the
human condition, and can therefore understand someone else's
needs if we so choose.


2) Life Moments

Secondly, the four examples under discussion can be taken as
a  very  broad  outline of the experiences of a  typicahuman
life.  We enter the world naked and cold, and like the first
human  beings are in immediate need of garments to alleviate
our  discomfort.  During the course of our transient  lives,
we  often feel the weakening effects of sicknesses small and
great.   We  then require the direct loving care of  friends
and  family, the medical advice of experts, and the  miracle
of  medications  to restore our health and spirits.   As  we
acquire  more  life experiences, more friendships  and  more
things,  we  also begin to experience the distress  of  loss
with  greater frequency - of possessions lost or  destroyed,
of precious people wrenched from us, and of dreams and hopes
that  took  flight with the wind.  Finally, we stand  before
the  menacing  prospect  of death  itself,  a  specter  that
threatens to engulf our declining physicality and  grind  it
into  the  dust.   In the end, we are powerless  before  its
ruthlessness,  and like all those that came  before  us,  we
must submit to the cruel reality of its morbid grasp.

But,   suggests  the  Talmud,  the  very  experiences   that
sometimes  seem to overwhelm our finitude, are the  keys  to
our  salvation.   For  within these four  things  and  other
experiences like them is the promise and potential of  moral
and  ethical  conduct.  These events provide the possibility
of  becoming connected not only with other people, but  also
with a God Who is caring, compassionate and concerned, a God
Who holds the promise of eternity in His embrace.


3) Vulnerability

Finally,  we notice that not only are these four experiences
universal as well as typical nodes along the span of a human
life, but also that without exception they involve some sort
of vulnerability.  The one who is naked is at a disadvantage
because  he  has no clothes to cover his body or his  shame.
The  one  who is ill cannot provide all of his own  physical
and  emotional needs and may in fact be incapable of  taking
care of any of them.  The mourner who is bowed by sadness or
tragedy  needs  a caring heart to share the  burden  of  his
sorrow  and pain.   The dead human being is, in a manner  of
speaking, the most 'needy' of all, for there is nothing that
he can do whatsoever to take care of himself or to alleviate
his plight.

By  singling  out these four, the Talmud again  indicates  a
central idea of the Torah's vision of morality.  Ethical and
moral  conduct ought to be of course extended to all  people
without    exception    and   under   most    circumstances.
Nevertheless, the truest test of a person's morality is  not
to  be  gauged by how they treat their friends, loved  ones,
equals or superiors, but rather by how they treat those  who
are  clearly  weaker than they are.  Those who cannot  fight
back  and  who do not present a counter threat can  be  (and
frequently  are) conveniently ignored or brazenly exploited.
But, to behave morally and ethically with respect to them is
to  truly  follow in God's ways.  After all, as  regards  an
Absolute  Being,  are we not all at a 'disadvantage'?   This
explains the Torah's oft-repeated directive to show  special
deference  to  the  'convert, orphan and widow,'  for  these
groups  represent  elements of society  that  are  typically
downtrodden,    marginal,   friendless   and    economically
depressed.


Conclusion

Appropriately, the Talmudic passage adds a postscript to the
above:   "Rabbi  Simlai  explains:  the  Torah  begins   and
concludes with acts of loving-kindness.  It begins with  God
clothing Adam and Eve in their nakedness, and concludes with
God interring Moshe at the Plains of Moav."  In a manner  of
speaking, the primary thrust of the Torah's message is quite
honestly  bracketed by these two events, for  they  are  the
story of humanity.  Adam and Eve are the first humans to  be
given  life,  and God cares for Moshe at his death,  and  in
between  these  two poles the drama of the  Torah's  guiding
illumination unfolds.  As we stand to conclude the words  of
the Torah and to immediately begin them anew, let us bear in
mind  the precious lesson of 'gemillut chassadim,' the  acts
of  loving  kindness  that make live  meaningful  and  human
existence heroic.

Shabbat Shalom

YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH
ALON SHEVUT, GUSH ETZION 90433

Copyright (c) 1999 Yeshivat Har Etzion
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