A.
This week’s parasha launches us into the fifth and last book of the Humash, most of which is devoted to Moshe’s farewell address to Israel on the eve of their invasion to retake the Holy Land from the occupying Këna‘anim, who had conquered it from the bënei Shém during the Patriarchal period, over two centuries earlier. In the course of his long, address Moshe’s recounting of many of the events of which we have already learnt in the previous three books provides us with additional insights into those events.
For example, Moshe says: ונפן ונסע המדברה דרך ים סוף כאשר דבר ד' אלי ונסב את הר שעיר ימים רבים: ויאמר ד' אלי לאמר: רב לכם סב את ההר הזה פנו לכם צפנה: ואת העם צו לאמר אתם עברים בגבול אחיכם בני עשו הישבים בשעיר וייראו מכם ונשמרתם מאד: (“And we turned and went to the desert, by way of Yam Suf, as Ha-Shem had spoken to me; and we stayed around Mt. Sé‘ir for many days. And Ha-Shem said to me to say: 'It has been long for you, sitting round this mountain; turn yourselves to the north [tzafona].' And the people, command to say, 'You are passing the border of your brothers the bënei ‘Ésav, and they will be afraid of you, and you must be very watchful'”; II, 1-4).
The reader with a living sense of the Hebrew language will note that, with the sole exception of the word tzav, “command!”, the last two verses of the above passage are couched entirely in the second person plural; in other words, they consist of nothing else than tzavei ha-‘am, “commandments to the people.” If so, why does Moshe use the preceding verse to tell us nothing other than that G-d spoke to him (rather than, e.g., “to him to the bënei Yisra’él,” as we might expect from numerous other passages). What does the unusual emphasis on Moshe at this juncture have to tell us?
B.
The midrash tells us: א"ר חייא אמר להם אם ראיתם אותו שמבקש להתגרות בכם אל תעמדו כנגדו. אלא הצפינו עצמיכם ממנו עד שיעבור עולמו הוי "פנו לכם צפונה". א"ר יהודה בר שלום אמרו לו ישראל רבש"ע אביו מברכו "על חרבך תחי'" ואתה משביר עמו ואתה אומר לנו הצפינו עצמכם מפניו ולהיכן נברח. אמר להן כו' ברחו לתורה. ואין צפונה אלא תורה שנא' "יצפון לישרים תושי'". ד"א מה צפונה א"ר יצחק אמר הקב"ה המתינו עד עכשיו מלך המשיח לבא ויקיים "מה רב טובך אשר צפנת ליראיך". (“Said Rabbi Hiyya, '[G-d] said to [Israel], If you have seen that [‘Ésav] seeks to challenge you, do not stand opposite him; rather, hide [hatzpinu] yourselves from him until his world passes; this is ‘turn yourselves tzafona’.' Said Rabbi Yëhuda bar Shalom, 'Israel says to Him, Master of the Universe, "[Ésav’s] father blesses him, 'by your sword you shall live' [Genesis XXVII, 40] and You support him, and you tell us, hatzpinu ‘atzmëchem mi-panav!? ['Hide yourselves from him']!? Where shall we flee?" He told them... "Flee to the Torah"; and tzafona refers only to Torah, as it is said, "He will hide away [yitzpon] for the upright a gift" [Proverbs II, 7].' Another interpretation: To what does tzafona allude? Said Rabbi Yitzhaq, 'The Holy One, Blessed is He, said, "Wait until now; the Anointed King to come will fulfill, ‘How great is Your goodness which You have hidden away [tzafanta] for those who fear You’ [Psalms XXXI,20]”'"; דברים רבה פ"א סי' י"ז).
The midrash sees in our passage not a mere recapitulation of an isolated incident on the way to the plains of Mo’av, but Israel’s entire future history with ‘Ésav/Edom. The key to the midrash is a series of puns involving the root tzadi-pé-nun which underlies the word tzafona in our passage, as well as the words hatzpinu, yitzpon, and tzafanta.
Rabbi Hiyya opens by recording G-d’s advice that Israel avoid confrontation and conflict with “Ésav/Edom “until his world passes,” i.e., until his time at center stage of world his-tory is over (עיי' מתנות כהונה שם). Instead, he advises, hatzpinu ‘atzmëchem, “hide your-selves” from him, evidently implied by the Torah’s turn of phrase “turn yourself tzafona”. Rabbi Yëhuda bar Shalom responds to him with Israel’s rejoinder: Yitzhaq blesses ‘Ésav/Edom with military success, and G-d Himself supports him on that world-stage; where, then, can Israel hide? Whither can they flee? “Flee to the Torah,” the “hidden gift”, again implied in the root of tzafona; Torah is our refuge in a world dominated by ‘Ésav.
But the midrash goes on to supply the ultimate answer: ‘Ésav’s time on the stage of world history is limited. If Israel stay the course, keep out of ‘Ésav’s way, and shelter in the refuge of Torah, they will finally see ha-melech ha-mashiah, their anointed king; the reign of Edom will be over, and all those who had remained faithfully engaged in the pur-suit of Torah and its implementation in the world will see G-d’s goodness asher tzafanta, “which You had hidden away” for them until that time.
C.
Elsewhere, the Or ha-Hayyim makes a remark which serves to buttress the world-view embodied in our midrash: Commenting on Exodus XXVII, 20, he advises in the name of the Zohar Hadash that Israel’s gë’ula, our redemption from our final exile, is entirely dependent on the merits of continuous Torah-study. This the Zohar Hadash derives from the verse: גם כי יתנו בגויים עתה אקבצם (“Also since they will give amongst the nations, at that moment shall I gather them up”; Hosea VIII, 10), interpreting the verb yittënu, “they will give” as a reference to teaching and learning (even to-day, we speak of “giving shi‘urim”). The implication is that so long as there is insufficient Torah in Israel, less than a certain “critical mass,” as it were, the gë’ula will not come.
Hence, concludes the Or ha-Hayyim, Israel’s entire future was utterly dependent on Moshe and his efforts to inculcate Torah, the love of Torah, the unslakable thirst for Torah in Israel, whence G-d tells him: ואתה תצוה את בני ישראל ויקחו אליך שמן זית זך כתית למאור (“And you will command the bënei Yisra’él and they will bring to you pure olive-oil, pressed for illumination.” Hazal note in numerous places that both olive oil and the clean, clear light which it gives off when it burns are metaphors for Torah (עיי' בין השאר ברכות נ"ז., הוריות י"ג:, שיר השירים רבה פ"א סי' י"ט, פסיקתא זוטרתא לפ' ברכה ל"ג כ"ד ועוד ).
If we now re-read our passage in the light of the midrash, Zohar Hadash, and Or ha-Hayyim cited above, we find that Moshe prophesied that Israel’s final exile, in those countries dominated by ‘Ésav/Edom, i.e., Western civilization, would be long and arduous: “as Ha-Shem had spoken to me, around Mt Sé‘ir for many days.” But the means was given to Israel to break that exile: “turn yourselves tzafona”, devote yourselves to Torah and the Divine ‘avoda which flows from it and we will have a refuge from the worst ‘Ésav can do; more than that, we actively contribute to bring the final gë’ula about, by patiently waiting as we pursue Torah and yet more Torah, creating that critical mas, until such time as G-d’s great goodness will be revealed to those who have kept the faith.
Moshe’s role in all this is central; “And Ha-Shem said to me to say.”. It is Moshe’s “saying” to us, the Torah which he brought down from Sinai and taught so diligently to Israel, which Israel are to elaborate and work up to create that critical mass.
But our passage ells us that, in addition to teaching Torah, Moshe was to “command the people,” i.e., all the people, including those who might not be amongst the biggest talmidei hachamim, that since they would be skirting close to their “brothers” the bënei ‘Ésav, those very bënei ‘Ésav would stand in fear and awe of the Torah-nation; nonetheless, the people would have to be very watchful and careful.
Of what?
D.
Hazal famously tell us that Israel merited redemption in Egypt because they did not change their names, language or dress, and did not mix with the Egyptians. This was not the proximate cause, of course: That was the incredible moral courage required for our ancestors to make the first qorban Pesah. Consider: The Egyptians, citizens of the proud super-power of their day, had been beaten into the ground; famine, in the wake of the ten Makkoth, was certain. But the Egyptian army, one of the most powerful forces in the world at that time, was still intact, and the Egyptians were seething with hatred. At this moment, the bënei Yisra’él unhesitatingly heeded the call to slaughter the Egyptian creator god, always represented as a ram, before their very eyes at the height of his ascendancy (Nisan falls under the zodiacal sign Aries). That was the act which brought about Israel’s redemption.
But the opportunity to perform that mitzva came about only because the bënei Yisra’él were still bënei Yisra’él. After 210 years in the Egyptian exile, they had not adopted foreign names, the Egyptian vernacular, or manners and customs. In other words, they clung to their patriarchal traditions with both hands.
Hence, Moshe says that he was ordered to exhort Israel: You will be passing along the border of your “brothers” the bënei ‘Ésav. You will have to live beside them, do business with them, coöperate with them. You will inevitably form friendships with them. Do not get too close. Be very careful in your dealings with them, do not adopt their values, remain bënei Yisra’él in all particulars, so that, when the time comes for this exile of “many days” to end, you will be able to seize the opportunity presented you to bring it to an end.
This was not directed at the Torah-scholars, the rabbinical leadership and learned ba‘alei bayit, but at the ‘am, the lowest common denominator in Israel. It is a warning to us directly from Moshe that we at least cling to our traditions, that we at least remain Jews, in order to expect the gë’ula.
Now that we are in the Nine Days leading up to the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction with which our present, long exile with ‘Ésav/Edom began, this reminder of Moshe’s warning is most pertinent: Remain steadfast, intensify the study and spread of Torah wherever possible, and we can bring it to its conclusion.
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