A.
ואתחנן אל ד' בעת ההוא לאמר:
ד' אלקים אתה החלת להראות את עבדך את גדלך ואת ידך החזקה כו' אעברה נא ואראה את
הארץ הטובה וגו' (“And I begged Ha-Shem at that
time, to say: Ha-Shem, G-d, You began to show [lë-har’oth] Your servant
Your greatness and Your strong hand....Let me cross, please, and see [vë-er’e]
the good land....”). So begins our parasha.
Moshe begins his supplication with both of the most
common Divine names together, Ha-Shem Eloqim, signifying, as Rashi notes
on the verse, that G-d is רחום בדין, “merciful in judgment”; as Hazal point out many
times, the Tetragrammaton which we represent by the expression Ha-Shem exemplifies
the middath ha-rahamim, and
Eloqim the middath ha-din, two “measures,” middoth which
we conventionally translate “mercy” and “judgment,” clearly in the hope of
influencing G-d to rescind the verdict which had been pronounced upon him,
that he would not be allowed to lead Israel into the Holy Land.
G-d answers the plea: רב לך
אל תוסף דבר אלי עוד בדבר הזה: עלה ראש הפסגה ושא עיניך ימה וצפנה ותימנה ומזרחה
וראה בעיניך כי לא תעבר את הירדן הזה:
(“...It is much for you; do not continue to speak to me about this thing. Go up
to the top of Pisga and cast your eyes to the west, the north, and the south
and east and see [u-r’é] with your eyes, for you will not cross this
Jordan”; ibid., 26-27).
It would appear, therefore, that Moshe got half of
what he was seeking: To cross into the Holy Land was not permitted him, but to
“see” the land was. What is the significance of that? What, in fact, was Moshe
asking for, and what was he granted?
B.
We begin our discussion by noting the three
terms in the Holy Language translatable by the English “word”: The general term
davar, which simultaneously means “thing” (as in v. 26 above), which branches
into the more restricted, specific terms milla, signifying the spoken
word, and teiva, signifying the written word.
The davar underlies all physical reality, as
King David notes in several places, e.g., בדבר ד' שמים
נעשו, “By Ha-Shem’s word [bi-dvar
Ha-Shem] were the heavens made”; Psalms XXXIII, 6), an eventuality which
still resonates and sustains the world, as David sings elsewhere: לעולם ד' דברך נצב בשמים (“For the world, Ha-Shem, is Your word emplaced in the
heavens”: ibid., CXIX, 89, עיי' מדרש תהלים שם
וע"ע תניא שער היחוד והאמונה פ"א בשם הבעש"ט), and Hazal add that לא
בעמל ולא ביגיעה ברא הקב"ה את עולמו אלא בדבר ד' (“Not through physical toil and not
through effort did the Holy One, Blessed is He, create His world, but by
Ha-Shem’s word”; בראשית רבה פ"ג סי' ב' וע"ע שם
פי"ב סי' י'), the dëvar Ha-Shem being
expressive of the Divine hochma (“wisdom”), bina (“understanding,
discernment”) and da‘ath (“knowledge”) so evident in the universe’s
structure (שם פכ"ז סי' א'; Proverbs III, 19-20).
That said, it is clear that the two specific terms
become manifest in the physical realm through very different sensory powers, milla
being perceived through the sense of shë-mi‘a (“hearing”), and teiva through the sense of rë’iya (“seeing”).
Hazal tell us that these two powers are not equal: אינו דומה שמיעה לראי'
(“Shëmi‘a is not similar to rë’iya”; מכילתא
יתרו י"ט סי' ט' וע"ע פסיקתא זוטרתא שלח י"ג י"ט), with the strong implication that rë’iya
represents a superior level of perception to shëmi‘a. We find this
in evidence whenever there is an initiation of some spiritual process.
For instance, at each stage of the Creation
account, the Torah declares va-yar’ Eloqim, “And G-d saw....” as the
stage is completed and pronounced tov, “good.” Indeed, I have suggested
elsewhere that the very word conventionally translated “create,” bara’, is
built on a compound root whose second element is the root underlying rë’iya.
As the Torah’s Creation account nears its climax,
with Israel’s liberation from Egypt’s hedonistic hegemony at Qëri‘ath Yam
Suf, we again read: וירא ישראל את מצרים מת על שפת הים:
וירא ישראל את היד הגדלה אשר עשה ד' במצרים וייראו העם את ד' וגו' (“...and Israel saw [va-yar’]
Egypt dead on the seashore. And Israel saw the great hand which Ha-Shem made in
Egypt; and the people feared [va-yir’u] Ha-Shem....”; Exodus XV, 30-31).
And then, at the very climax, the Divine revelation
of the Torah at Mt Sinai, we read: וכל העם ראים את הקולת
וגו' (“And all the people
[were] seeing [ro’im] the voices....”; ibid., XX, 15).
The similarity of rë’iya and yir’a, “fear,
awe” (both clearly derived from the same primal root), as well as the
prominence of rë’iya in the Creation account, brings to mind Rashi’s famous
comment on Genesis I,1, prompted by the exclusive use of the Divine name Eloqim
which, as noted above, is emblematic of the middath ha-din, שבתחלה עלה במחשבה לבראותו במדת הדין וראה שאין העולם מתקיים
והקדים מדת רחמים ושתפה למה"ד והיינו דכתיב "ביום עשות ד' אלקים ארץ
ושמים" (“that at first it arose in thought to create
[the world] with the measure of justice; and He saw that the world would not continue
in existence, and moved up the measure of mercy [rahamim] and
associated it with the measure of justice, as it is written, ‘...on the day
Ha-Shem Eloqim made earth and heaven’ [Genesis II, 1]”).
The original intent did not go away, and G-d did
not change His mind; the alternative to din was not precisely rahamim
but hesed, kindness, also present from the beginning (King
David sings, כי אמרתי עולם חסד יבנה, “For I say firmly, the world is built of hesed”;
Psalms LXXXIX, 3) and which, in amalgam with din, results in rahamim
(עיי' זוה"ק ח"א קס"ד: ניצוצי אורות שם ).
Hence (as the Nefesh ha-Hayyim tells
us, based on Psalm CXXXVI), the world subsequently ran on hesed for 26 generations, until the climax of Creation, Mattan Torah, when
the world was reset to din (ע"ע זוה"ק
ח"ב פ"א:-פ"ב: וקמ"ו:).
However, even after Mattan Torah, the
perfect clarity of the middath ha-din as expressed by rë’iya could
not be sustained; the world would still not long endure. So we find the
softening, as it were, of shëmi‘a: שמע ישראל ד'
אלקינו ד' אחד (“Hear [shëma‘]
Israel, Ha-Shem Eloqeinu – those two Divine names in sequence once again –
Ha-Shem is one”; Deuteronomy VI, 4; the allow of hesed and din
yielding rahamim once more), and: והי' אם
שמע תשמעו אל מצותי אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם וגו' (“And it will be if you will diligently listen [shamoa‘
tishmë‘u] to My mitzvoth which I am commanding you....”; ibid., XI, 13).
There is, however, one place in this world in which
both the perfect clarity of the superior perception of din through rë’iya
applies and the perfect unity of din and hesed are evident,
and that is the Holy Land. The Torah puts us on notice of this with its first
mention, when G-d instructs Avraham avinu לך לך כו' אל
הארץ אשר אראך (“Go for
yourself...to the land which I will show you [ar’ekka]”; Genesis XII,
1). It is, indeed, the ארץ אשר ד' אלקיך דרש אתה תמיד עיני
ד' אלקיך בה מרשית השנה ועד אחרית שנה
(“land which Ha-Shem Eloqecha cares about always; the eyes of Ha-Shem Eloqecha
are on it from the beginning of the year until the end of the year”;
Deuteronomy XI, 12).
These will be made apparent to all when Israel are
led back to the Holy Land under the leadership of their anointed king, as the
prophets sing, בשובי את שבותיכם לעיניכם אמר ד' (“when I bring about your return before your
eyes, says Ha-Shem”; Zephaniah III, 20), and
עין בעין יראו בשוב ד' ציון(“eye to eye will they see [yir’u]
when Ha-Shem returns [to] Tziyyon”; Isaiah LII, 8). As the Ba‘al Shém Tov says
of that day: והיינו שיהיו עיניך רואות מוריך שיראו אותיות
התורה והתפלה שלומדים ומתפללים לנגד עינים וגו' (“that is, that ‘your eyes will be seeing
your guides’ [Isaiah XXX, 20], for they will see the letters of the Torah and
the tëfilla which they are learning or davening before the
eyes....”; מובא בשמו בספר תולדות יעקב יוסף, סוף פר' וישלח). Once again, and this time permanently,
we shall experience כל העם ראים את הקולת, “all the people seeing the voices”, as
the arrangements of letter in the dëvarim sustaining and maintaining the
world will be manifest not only through shëmi‘a, but also through rë’iya.
C.
In light of the foregoing, let us reconsider our
passage.
Moshe, as Rashi infers, was asking for rahamim.
He did not deny the justice of the Divine decree that he not enter the Holy
Land; nonetheless, he sought its nullification.
But Moshe inhabited a much more rarified place than
any ordinary person, even one so great as to achieve prophecy; ולא קם נביא עוד בישראל כמשה אשר ידעו ד' פנים בפנים (“And there did not arise another prophet in Israel like Moshe,
whom Ha-Shem knew face to face”; Deuteronomy XXXIV, 10), that very Divine entity
that לא יראני האדם וחי (“a human being may not see Me [yir’eni]
and live”; Exodus XXXIII, 20). If anyone in the world could live with the
perfect rë’iya of din, G-d answers, it is Moshe. Go up to the top
of Pisga, He said, and look: You will see the perfect justice of the decree,
and you will not cross the Jordan.
But Israel would.
Moshe, having accepted and justified the din and
ceased his supplications, goes on to say:
ועתה ישראל שמע אל החקים
ואל המשפטים אשר אנכי מלמד אתכם לעשות למען תחיו וגו'
(“And now, Israel, listen [shëma‘] to the laws and judgments which I am
teaching you to do, that you might live...”; IV, 1), but remember: ראה למדתי אתכם חקים ומשפטים כאשר צוני ד' אלקי לעשות אתם בקרב
הארץ וגו' (“See [rë’é],
I have taught you laws and judgments as Ha-Shem my G-d commanded me, to do them in the midst of
the land....”; ibid., 5), that Eretz Yisra’él retains the
scrutiny of rë’iya, since it is there that Torah observance finds its
fullest expression.
D.
We are, alas, still in exile; even those of us
who merit life in the Holy Land remain in exile, for the Béyth ha-Miqdash has
not yet been rebuilt, ha-Melech ha-Mashiah – the anointed king –
has not yet declared himself. We therefore retain the need for rahamim,
for that amalgam of hesed and din marked by shëmi‘a,
as opposed to rë’iya.
The prophets come to remind us that this
dispensation will one day end, Our Torah and tëfilla sustain the world
even now, but the fact is concealed from us by the veiled, inferior scrutiny of
shëmi‘a. With advent of Mashiah and restoration or
enhancement of the capacity for rë’iya, it will be plain to all, and
all will know the truth.
