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Imagine the following scene: You are one of hundreds of thousands of people who have made their way across a desert over the course of forty years. You live a life of the spirit. All your physical needs are taken care of. As a result of proximity in time and space to a major spiritual event (the giving of the Torah), you have direct awareness of G-dliness in all aspects of your life. All of a sudden, you are told, “Enough! Life on the mountain is nice, but it’s time to move on.” That’s what happened (more or less) to the Jews in this week’s parsha, “Devarim.” Moshe turns to the Jews, and says to them in G-d’s name (Deut. 1:6-8), “You have been living too long on this mountain. Turn and travel…all the way to the Euphrates river. See that I have placed the Land before you, come and inherit itŔ That’s a pretty drastic change of lifestyle, if there ever was one. From scholar-tzaddik to warrior and administrator. How was it possible to manage such a change?
Rashi looks at the verse (Deut 1:6), and focuses on the words ‘too long.’ He makes two comments. One; “it simply means what it says.” Then, “the Midrash agada says that a lot of greatness and reward came to you as a result of dwelling on this mountain. You made the tabernacle, together with its vessels and the menorah, you received the Torah, and you appointed a Sanhedrin, including ministers of thousands and ministers of hundredsŔ Rashi’s “explanation” actually seems to raise more questions than it answers. For example, if a simple explanation of the verse (“You’ve been living on the mountain too long”) is sufficient, why then bring another explanation? And if Rashi must bring another explanation, why these specific details of “making the tabernacle, receiving the Torah and appointing the Sanhedrin”?
Let’s start by making an overall observation. The place to discuss the life of the Jews in the desert was really in the previous book of the Torah, in Bamidbar (Numbers). In Bamidbar are found all the stories of the travels of the Jews in the desert, what they experienced, how they tested G-d and Moshe, and what the results were. Nonetheless, Moshe mentioned the history of the past forty years here in the beginning of Devarim (Deuteronomy) for one reason - to tell us how much G-d wanted the Jews to come immediately into the land of Israel and inherit it. In truth, G-d wished for the Jews to enter Israel immediately after receiving the Torah, but when the spies “messed up” by bringing a negative report of Israel, the Jews had to remain in the desert for an entire generation. And now that the forty years were over, and the Jews were standing on the border of Israel, G-d once more reminded them of the necessity of leaving the desert and coming into the Land. That’s why He used the language, “You have been living too long on the mountainŔ He wished to indicate that the time had more than arrived to enter Israel.
However, the words “too long” may also imply that there was something negative about being on the mountain. They could seem to indicate that even though the Jews were in the desert and close to Mt. Sinai, absorbing the rays of the Shechina and learning Torah, at G-d’s behest, nevertheless something was wrong. Therefore, Rashi brings a second explanation according to the midrash, which is that much greatness came to the Jews from being on the mountain. That is in order to let us know that even though now the command was to move on, there was nothing wrong with dwelling “on the mountain” during the previous generation. Not only that, Rashi wants to say, but the dwelling on the mountain was what prepared the Jews to enter the land of Israel.
What did the Jews gain by dwelling “on the mountain?” That is the subject of Rashi’s explanation. Because at first glance, the details that Rashi mentioned (the tabernacle, the Torah and the Sanhedrin) were not the most impressive things that happened on Mt. Sinai. Far more colorful events took place, such as the thunder and lightening and the smoke that accompanied the giving of the Torah. But, they are not what Rashi mentioned. Moreover, the sequence that Rashi brings is not even the chronological sequence in which the events occurred. Sequentially, the first of the events was receiving the Torah, followed by appointing the Sanhedrin, and finally making the Tabernacle. If so, why did Rashi single out these specific events but change their order?
Entering the land of Israel, the most important thing for the Jews to remember was their purpose as a nation. It would have been entirely plausible for the Jews, upon entering a new land and adopting a new, physically demanding lifestyle, to forget what they were all about as a people. Seeing that they were now living on their own land, growing their food and making their own living, the Jews might have begun to think that they were the same as all the other nations of the world. Therefore, it was important that the Jews internalize that they were holy, a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” And that lesson was instilled during the time that the Jews spent “on the mountain,” before they entered the land.
In general, the message consisted of three elements:
1) “Be holy, since I myself am holy.” This was expressed in building the tabernacle, about which G-d said (Ex. 25:8), “I will dwell within them.” The tabernacle was the place where G-d chose to “dwell” permanently, and this necessitated that the Jews themselves be a holy nation. The “multi-media show” that accompanied the giving of the Torah was not sufficient, since it was a one time affair. For the Jews to be holy on their own land meant that holiness had to become fixed in their souls. For this reason also, Rashi chose to mention the Menorah, which provided “witness to all the world that the Shechina dwelt among the Jews” (Rashi on Lev. 24:3).
2) It was not enough to just be different; it was necessary to act differently – to act holy. And for that the Jews received the Torah. The Torah is a set of instructions which the Jews have to follow because G-d dwells among them, and especially upon entering the land of Israel, it was necessary for the Jews to follow the commands of the Torah.
3) Finally, it was necessary to learn and promulgate the laws of the Torah. Not everyone could understand exactly what the Torah demanded. For that, it was necessary to appoint a Sanhedrin, who possessed the wisdom and authority to understand and teach the Torah.
The three elements above were all instilled in the Jews during their sojourn in the desert, while “on the mountain,” near Mt. Sinai. The “mountain” was not only where the Jews received the Torah. It is also where it became instilled and internalized in the Jewish soul, allowing the Jews to maintain their distinct holy status while settling the land of Israel. Rashi forsook the chronological order of events (Torah, Sanhedrin, Tabernacle) and inserted his own sequence (Tabernacle, Torah, Sanhedrin) in order to tell us that this was the whole purpose of the sojourn on the mountain – to prepare the Jews to enter Israel. So, even if the first explanation that Rashi offers is lacking (because it implies something negative about remaining “on the mountain”), it is still the main explanation because the second explanation continues with the same theme, which is the urgency of the need to enter the Land of Israel.
On a personal level, there are a couple of lessons for us. Number one: Don’t just sit there. We have a tendency to achieve success and then sit back on our laurels. Whether it’s in physical matters or in spiritual achievement, a Jew has to be a sojourner, a spiritual mover. He can’t stagnate. Sometimes it’s helpful to pause and briefly enjoy the fruits of our achievements, but just as ultimately the Jews couldn’t remain “on the mountain,” outside of Israel, so we can’t merely sit and enjoy whatever plateau we may have achieved. There’s an individual and a national necessity to “move on” – into the land of Israel.
A second lesson has to do with how we enter Israel. There’s an essential difference between the relationship of the Jews with Israel, and the relationship of any other people with its land. In general, the nations of the world are defined by the land they live upon, among other things. By living upon a certain piece of land, they eventually they came to be identified with that land and its customs. The situation is reverse regarding the Jews. Only after we became a holy nation (by dwelling “on the mountain”) did we merit to Israel as our own land. The land is holy in its own right, being the land that G-d chose. However, the Jews had to go through spiritual preparation in order to claim it for themselves. And once having merited the land of Israel, no other nation has any claim to it.
The same is true in our individual lives. We can approach our goals in two ways. Either we can focus on our own efforts, striving mightily to achieve our goals, applying our minds with effort and determination, and hopefully succeeding. Or, realizing that it’s the One above who determines success, we can perform a minimum of mental and physical exertion, while maximizing our prayer and Torah observance. Then if it is meant to happen, He will maximize our success in a way that is completely beyond nature.
In other words, the connection between the Jews and the land of Israel is essential. No other nation of the world has an essential connection with their land, which is why the nations of the world occasionally fight over their lands. However, the connection of the Jews to the land of Israel is so essential, that when the Jews act as they are supposed to, as a holy people, prepared for holiness by “living on the mountain,” it is not necessary for them to even fight over the land of Israel. As it did when the Jews first entered Israel, the land falls to them without a fight, because it is truly theirs. But, we first have to deserve it. And that takes place by being holy, acting holy, and spreading holiness.
Adopted from Likutei Sichot of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, ztz’l, vol. 24, pp. 12-19 Rabbi David Sterne, Jerusalem Connection in the Old City of Jlm