Parshas Vaeschanan
Irreplaceable
The most cogent lesson from this week’s parsha is that there are no
indispensable human beings in this world. Human beings are not replaceable
and no two are alike, but they are not indispensable. One generation
leaves and the next one arrives but somehow the world continues to exist.
There was no greater leader or prophet than Moshe. He cannot be replaced
per se. But the world generally and the Jewish people particularly are
able to exist and accomplish even after his demise and absence. Moshe, the
rabbis of the Talmud tell us, was the sun while Yehoshua, his beloved
disciple and successor, was only the moon. But the moon was sufficient to
conquer and settle the Land of Israel for the Jewish people and to prevent
any form of idolatry to compromise the faith of Israel.
I think that the symbolism of the great miracle of Yehoshua in “stopping”
the sun and moon at the time of his battle with the Canaanites in the
Valley of Ayalon, indicates this lesson of non-indispensability. Moshe and
Yehoshua, the sun and the moon, can be “stopped” – they can disappear and
no longer be active, but eventually the battle must be fought, in any
case, by the people of Israel.
No reliance on the sun and the moon is justified. The bitter lesson of
life in all of its enormity is that every generation, every person,
has to fight the battle of life and spirit and triumph even if we are not
the equal of the generations that preceded us and even if our leadership
pales in comparison to the type of leadership that went before us in
Jewish life.
Jewish life after the death of Moshe must have been terribly different
from the time of his life. A leader and prophet like Moshe occurred only
once in human history. But a new generation arose that did not know Moshe
personally. Had Moshe survived to lead this new generation there would
have been the clear and present danger that Moshe, who was now treated as
a great but still human being, would be treated as a god.
Leaders are matched to their times and generations. They are never to be
viewed in the abstract or absolute. The generation of Moshe perished in
the desert of Sinai. That great generation of our ancestors that stood at
Sinai and received and accepted the Torah never came to the Land of
Israel. And if they never arrived in Israel then Moshe also could not
arrive. The leader and the generation that he leads are permanently
intertwined.
That is the essence of the story in the Talmud about Choni Hamaagel who
after waking from a seventy year sleep asked for his death since his
generation and peer group no longer lived. No one is indispensable and
every generation passes from the scene. The leader of one generation, no
matter how great and wise he is, is not necessarily the proper head of the
next generation. And that
is the lesson that Moshe himself comes to realize and understand in
today’s parsha.
This is implicit in God’s statement, so to speak, not to discuss the
matter of entering the Land of Israel with Him further. The secrets and
mysteries of human social existence remain hidden from human view and
understanding.
Shabat shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein
Rabbi Berel Wein- Jewish historian, author and international lecturer offers a complete selection of CDs, audio tapes, video tapes, DVDs, and books on Jewish history at www.rabbiwein.com
Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Berel Wein and Torah.org
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