As we approach Tisha B’Av, the saddest day of the year, we mourn our greatest loss: the Bais Hamikdash. We yearn to see its restoration and to once again serve Hashem within its holy walls. In Parshas Devarim Moshe relays a powerful message that is as relevant to us, in our current state of mourning, as it was to the generation who stood before him thousands of years ago.
In this week’s Parshah Moshe recounts his history with Klall Yisrael, enumerating the great events they experienced, especially the day they stood at Har Sinai to accept the Torah. Moshe concludes, however, by drastically changing courses, saying that he is incapable of carrying their burden himself. Why does he change direction from expounding upon greatness to expressing his frustration with them?
As Moshe speaks he is preparing to bid farewell to Klall YIsrael after forty years of leading them in the desert. He will not continue to lead them as they embark upon their greatest journey yet – into the land of Israel. This is the punishment that was doled out to him by Hashem for addressing them as “Hamorim,” undisciplined people.
We begin to understand Moshe’s punishment back in Parshas Pinchos, when he witnesses ZImri sinning with a non-Jewish woman and begins to cry. Moshe’s tears were the result of an epiphany: face to face with a prominent member of Klal YIsrael battling his Yetzer Hora, he suddenly understood the very real internal struggle faced by every Jew. Until that point, from his lofty position, Moshe simply did not comprehend how a Jew could sin. Witnessing Zimri made him realize that his perspective had been flawed: they were not undisciplined, but rather succumbing to very real temptation. His word choice had indeed been a fatal flaw.
Now, however, Moshe was giving Klall Yisrael a powerful message. Yes, his word choice had been wrong, but he was right that they should not have acted out of sync with the ideal image they were meant to personify. “Remember Har Sinai?” he was saying. “Remember how you stood before Hashem, and He made you holy? You are still those same people, and you need to act that way.”
Matan Torah transformed Klall Yisrael into holy people. The Bais Hamikdash did the same thing. It was built for angels, with no facilities for regular human functioning, because that’s what they became when they entered.
We are the same people who stood at Har Sinai; we have within ourselves that holiness. We no longer have the Bais Hamikdash to renew that feeling of becoming pure and elevated, but we remain steadfast in our battle to regain it.
Moshe’s message to the people he stood before was that they destroyed themselves. Although they were elevated to lofty heights, they forgot who they were and so he could no longer bear their burden. In fact, he was being punished for it.
We too were once holy. We destroyed ourselves. By accepting the blame and understanding Moshe’s message – never giving up the fight to rebuild the Bais Hamikdash – we will be Zocheh to serve Hashem in His Home once again.
May we merit it speedily in our days.
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Click here to listen or download the audio file therebbesvort.org/Kosov%
