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Parshat Devarim begins by setting the stage; the Jews were on the east side of the Jordan river, eleven days journey from Mt. Sinai where they received the Torah, but forty years after that momentous event. As Rashi emphasizes, the Jews could have gone straight into the land of Israel after receiving the Torah, but because of their transgressions, G-d led them on a circuitous route through the desert for over forty years, until they were ready to enter the land. Then, all of a sudden the Torah itself takes a turn. It says (Devarim 1:6-8), “The Lord our G-d spoke to us at Horev [Mt. Sinai] saying, You have spent too much time dwelling on this mountain. Turn around and travel, and come to the Emorite mountains and all of their neighbors…See, I have placed the land before you, come and inherit the land that G-d swore to your forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give to them and to their descendents after them.”
The problem with these three verses is that they were supposedly said thirty-nine years earlier, while the Jews were still at Mt. Sinai, one year after having received the Torah. However, when we revisit the Torah at that chronological point (Numbers 10:11-12), we don’t find the above words mentioned at all. Instead, the Torah says simply, “During the second year, the second month, on the twentieth of the month, the cloud lifted off the Tabernacle, and the Jews embarked on their journeys from Mt. Sinai.”
The Torah brings these words (Devarim 1:6-8) here, and not in Numbers, in order to make a point. Here, at the beginning of Devarim, the Jews have undergone all of the travails of the desert, and stand ready to enter the land of Israel. Moshe doesn’t want to see a repeat of the problems that occurred at Sinai; the episode of the spies, and the rebellion of Korach, etc, all of which resulted in the Jews’ failure to enter the land of Israel. He therefore recalls Mt. Sinai, saying that even then, forty years earlier, G-d wanted the Jews to do what they were now about to do now - enter Israel. In fact, G-d was so eager for them to enter the land of Israel that He tells them, as Moshe expresses it, “You have spent too much time dwelling on the mountain.” In this way, he meant to both encourage and warn the Jews, saying that if they hesitate now, after forty years, they may have to spend even more years in galut, or exile.
This, Rashi says, is the “simple” explanation of the verse. He then proceeds to bring a second explanation; “The Midrash agada says that the Jews received much reward for dwelling on this mountain; they made the tabernacle, menorah and vessels, received the Torah, and appointed the Sanhedrin as well as the heads of thousands and the heads of hundreds.” Here, many questions may be asked, among them;
1) Rashi’s declared task is to explicate the simple meaning of the text. Having done so in our case, why does he proceed to bring yet another explanation?
2) If Rashi wants to explain the “greatness” that appears in the beginning of the verse (Rav lachem – Deut. 1:6), why does he mention these three details and not what the verse itself mentions later, “this great thing, the voice of G-d speaking from within the fireŔ (Deut. 4:32-33)?
3) The order with which Rashi mentions the three details (Tabernacle, Torah, Sanhedrin) does not correspond to the order in which they occurred; first occurred the receiving of the Torah, followed by appointing the Sanhedrin, and finally establishing the Tabernacle?
4) Why does Rashi mention only the “leaders of thousands and of hundreds,” neglecting to mention the leaders of fifties and tens?
The explanation: Rashi is concerned with the word rav, meaning “too much,” in the verse, “You have spent too much time on Mt. Sinai.” If “too much” refers to the holy activities of the Jews on Mt. Sinai, then it seems to be inappropriate, since one can never be involved in “too much” holiness. On the other hand, if rav means only “enough,” then it contradicts another verse in parshat Korach, wherein Moshe Rabeinu says to Korach, rav lachem, meaning “you have assumed too much.” Therefore, Rashi explains that rav here also means “too much,” but it refers not to the holy activities of the Jews on the mountain, but to the amount of time that the Jews spent on the mountain, as explained above. This is the simple meaning of the word, according to Rashi.
However, there is a problem with this explanation as well.
How could the amount of time on Mt. Sinai be “too much” when in truth it was the will of G-d that they remain on the mountain for the entire year? The delay on Mt. Sinai was at the express will of G-d, since the instructions were not to travel until or unless the clouds lifted up off the mountain. The ananei kavod (clouds of glory) were their signposts; only when they lifted up off the camp were the Jews to travel, and where the clouds settled was to become their new place of encampment. Since the clouds of glory did not lift off the camp during the entire year, it must have been the will of G-d that they remain, and therefore how was it possible that the duration of time on Mt. Sinai was “too much?”
Therefore, Rashi offers a second explanation, in which rav means not “too much,” but just “much,” in quantity. According to this explanation, rav refers to the preparations that the Jews undertook while on Mt. Sinai; receiving the Torah, building the Tabernacle and appointing the Sanhedrin. These were multiple preparations that the Jews undertook while on Mt. Sinai, in order to be ready for entry in the Holy land.
There is always a danger that a new people, formed not on the basis of their own physical land but upon a principle (such as belief in G-d, in the case of the Jews), will lose their sense of purpose once transplanted to a new location. This was certainly true of the Jews, who sense of national purpose was no more than a few weeks old, since the exodus from Egypt, when they were originally called upon to enter the new (for them) land of Israel. Seeing that the Jews were not ready for such an immediate and radical change, G-d had them remain on Mt. Sinai. Instead of entering Israel immediately, they undertook preparations.
The underlying principle that makes the Jewish people distinct is kedusha, or holiness. In order to prepare to enter the land and settle it, the Jews had to recognize their own distinctive nature as a holy people, internalize it, and make it permanent in their souls. That was their purpose on Mt. Sinai, to internalize their own holy nature, and it took expression in three ways;
A) By creating a means for expression of G-dliness. “Just like I [G-d] am holy, so should you [the Jews] be holy” – came to expression in building a physical structure in which to pray and offer sacrifices. This was the Tabernacle. The revelation of G-dliness present at the giving of the Torah (“the voice speaking from within the fire”) was temporary and therefore insufficient to fix G-dliness in the soul of the Jew. A more permanent revelation was necessary, and this was provided by the mishkan, or tabernacle. Within the tabernacle, it was the menorah, more than any other vessel, that provided witness to the holiness of the Jew (it testifies “to the entire world that the shechina dwells among the Jews”). That is why Rashi mentions it specifically.
B) Thereafter, it was the receiving of the Torah that made an impression upon the Jewish psyche. Revelation is the spark, and the Torah is the fire. It was the Torah that informed the Jews with a permanent sense of mission, to live a spiritual and holy life according to the precepts of the Torah.
C) In order to put the Torah into action and inform the Jews how to live it in everyday life, it was necessary to form a body of sages who were capable of interpreting and understanding the Torah. This was the Sanhedrin. This assembly of sages was the third pillar which created a permanent consciousness of distinctiveness among the Jews. First there was revelation, followed by a body of laws, followed by an assembly that was capable of applying those laws. This was the three-part formula that imparted a sense of permanent distinctiveness to the new-born Jewish people while on Mt. Sinai, allowing them to later settle their own land.
Now, it is possible to understand why Rashi mentioned “leaders of thousands” and “leaders of hundreds,” but not of fifties and tens (as was the original formulation by Yitro). While wandering in the desert, the Jews were a concentrated mass of people in a foreign environment. It was necessary to organize a close watch over them which included small groups of fifty and ten Jews. However, once they were settled on their own land, with the Jews spread out over large areas, it was no longer feasible or necessary to organize groups of fifty or ten. That is why Rashi does not mention the smaller groups, but only the larger groups of hundreds and thousands. In accordance with his explanation, that our verse refers to preparation of the Jews for settling the land of Israel, it was only appropriate to mention the larger groups and not the smaller.
There is a lesson for us now, thousands of years later. Unlike other nations, who first lived on their land and only later eventually took on their own national characteristics, the Jews first accepted and internalized a philosophy and a way of life, and then found themselves a physical country. It is true that Israel was promised to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob long before the Jews entered the land, but nonetheless they could only enter after they had developed their own holy identity. Unlike other nations, it is the Jews who make the country, and not the country who makes the Jews. The connection of the Jews to the land of Israel is essential, which is why no other nation has been able to conquer and remain in Israel. This is in contrast to all other nations, who have had to fight to acquire and defend their lands (since there is no essential bond between themselves and their land). Ultimately though, in order to remain in Israel, the Jew has to be live out his heritage and act holy in order to remain in the land of Israel.
Which brings us to the final point; it is not enough to attain a spiritual level and remain there. As the Torah says, Rav lachem shevet bahar – “Enough sitting on the mountain.” If you want to remain holy, you have to grow and progress. A Jew never sits still; he has to keep growing from one level to the next, and in this way hopefully we will all merit to enter the holy Land very soon!
From Likutei Sichot of the Lubavitcher Rebbe ztz’l, vol. 24, pp. 12-19 Rabbi David Sterne, Jerusalem Connection in the old city of Jerusalem