D'var Torah: Shelach Lecha
Jun. 16th, 2012 09:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuThis is the d'var Torah that I gave this morning at the kiddush that we sponsored in memory of my father on the occasion of his first Yahrzeit, which is this coming Monday.
In reviewing this week's parasha, I was struck by a seeming contradiction. After the chet hameraglim, the sin of the spies, God proclaims that the adults of this generation will die in the midbar:
We then have the short passage where some of bnei Yisrael attempt to enter the land anyway, with disastrous results. And then the Torah continues:
What struck me is that God doesn't say "Speak to the under-twenty-year-olds", and God doesn't say "When your children enter the land." God says "When YOU enter the land."
How can we reconcile this? Which is it? Is it אִם-אַתֶּם תָּבֹאוּ אֶל-הָאָרֶץ or is it כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל-אֶרֶץ מוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם?
For that matter, wouldn't it be more, um, delicate to change the subject, and for example give the mitzvah of tzitzit here instead?
Ibn Ezra and Ramban discuss this. They both suggest that this was to comfort bnei Yisrael, by way of confirming that the second generation would not sin in their turn and that they would, in fact, be destined to enter the land.
I would like to suggest another reading.
The generation that left Egypt was given the commandment to conquer Eretz Canaan and settle it, but they sinned and they became unable to fulfill that commandment. We don't always get to accomplish everything we intend to in this life. And we don't always get to perform all the mitzvot that we have been given.
Yet all is not lost. God is telling the generation of the Exodus that their children will inherit their opportunity to fulfill God's command, and the Merciful One consoles the parents by saying that although personally "you shall NOT enter the land", in effect, through your children "you SHALL enter the land which you SHALL settle, which I am giving TO YOU."
The Midrash Tanchuma, in its commentary on Parashat Vayikra, talks about the kinds of wood that can be used on the mizbeach, the altar:
Rabbi Maurice Lamm writes:
This, of course, is from Rabbi Lamm's classic book "The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning," in his analysis of the Kaddish.[1]
Monday is the first Yahrzeit of my father, my teacher. I have been blessed to be part of such a caring community for this past year; both the hashkama minyan and the daily minyan have been a source of comfort. I particularly want to give hakarat hatov to Larry Brown for ensuring that on the darkest of winter nights, we still had a minyan. And I have found fellowship with the others who have been walking the same path with me. By coming to shul, by saying kaddish, we strive to honor our parents’ memories. בזכות הבנים, אבותיהם מתכבדין. [In the merit of the children, the parents are honored.]
The juxtaposition in our parasha can teach us how to take the long view. When our children accept the tasks that we couldn't finish, when our children take their place in the chain of the mesorah, of Jewish tradition, we have succeeded in the most important mitzvah of all, that of veshinantam levanecha, of teaching our children. The comfort we find when faced with our own mortality is the promise that future generations hold. And our efforts to enable them to perform God's will earn us a portion of credit for their achievements, a share in the world of the future.
Shabbat Shalom.
[1] - From the revised edition (2000), pp. 151-152. I have taken the liberty of condensing and re-ordering these sentences without marking my emendations, which would just create typographical noise.
In reviewing this week's parasha, I was struck by a seeming contradiction. After the chet hameraglim, the sin of the spies, God proclaims that the adults of this generation will die in the midbar:
אִם אַתֶּם תָּבֹאוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ
"You shall not enter into the land"
"You shall not enter into the land"
We then have the short passage where some of bnei Yisrael attempt to enter the land anyway, with disastrous results. And then the Torah continues:
וַיְדַבֵּר ה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר: דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל-אֶרֶץ מוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם.
"Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: when you shall enter the land which you shall settle, which I am giving to you...."
What struck me is that God doesn't say "Speak to the under-twenty-year-olds", and God doesn't say "When your children enter the land." God says "When YOU enter the land."
How can we reconcile this? Which is it? Is it אִם-אַתֶּם תָּבֹאוּ אֶל-הָאָרֶץ or is it כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל-אֶרֶץ מוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם?
For that matter, wouldn't it be more, um, delicate to change the subject, and for example give the mitzvah of tzitzit here instead?
Ibn Ezra and Ramban discuss this. They both suggest that this was to comfort bnei Yisrael, by way of confirming that the second generation would not sin in their turn and that they would, in fact, be destined to enter the land.
I would like to suggest another reading.
The generation that left Egypt was given the commandment to conquer Eretz Canaan and settle it, but they sinned and they became unable to fulfill that commandment. We don't always get to accomplish everything we intend to in this life. And we don't always get to perform all the mitzvot that we have been given.
Yet all is not lost. God is telling the generation of the Exodus that their children will inherit their opportunity to fulfill God's command, and the Merciful One consoles the parents by saying that although personally "you shall NOT enter the land", in effect, through your children "you SHALL enter the land which you SHALL settle, which I am giving TO YOU."
The Midrash Tanchuma, in its commentary on Parashat Vayikra, talks about the kinds of wood that can be used on the mizbeach, the altar:
כל העצים כשרים למערכה, חוץ מגפן ומזית. למה, שהם עושין פירות משובחים. הא למדת, שבזכות הבנים, אבותיהם מתכבדין.
"All woods are suitable for use, except for grape vines and olive wood. Why? Because they create important fruit. This teaches that in the merit of the children, the parents are honored."
Rabbi Maurice Lamm writes:
As the tree is judged by its fruit, so a parent achieves personal significance by the moral and intellectual success of his child. The Talmud declares bera mezakeh aba, the son or daughter endows the father or mother. It is a neat reversal, a "merit of the children."
This, of course, is from Rabbi Lamm's classic book "The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning," in his analysis of the Kaddish.[1]
Monday is the first Yahrzeit of my father, my teacher. I have been blessed to be part of such a caring community for this past year; both the hashkama minyan and the daily minyan have been a source of comfort. I particularly want to give hakarat hatov to Larry Brown for ensuring that on the darkest of winter nights, we still had a minyan. And I have found fellowship with the others who have been walking the same path with me. By coming to shul, by saying kaddish, we strive to honor our parents’ memories. בזכות הבנים, אבותיהם מתכבדין. [In the merit of the children, the parents are honored.]
The juxtaposition in our parasha can teach us how to take the long view. When our children accept the tasks that we couldn't finish, when our children take their place in the chain of the mesorah, of Jewish tradition, we have succeeded in the most important mitzvah of all, that of veshinantam levanecha, of teaching our children. The comfort we find when faced with our own mortality is the promise that future generations hold. And our efforts to enable them to perform God's will earn us a portion of credit for their achievements, a share in the world of the future.
Shabbat Shalom.
[1] - From the revised edition (2000), pp. 151-152. I have taken the liberty of condensing and re-ordering these sentences without marking my emendations, which would just create typographical noise.