Parshas Vayelech-Shabbos Shuva 5786
This week’s Parsha talks about Moshe Rabbeinu saying goodbye to Klal Yisroel saying:
“I am a hundred and twenty years old today; I can no longer go out and come in, and Hashem has told me you shall not cross this Yarden.”
Rashi explains:
“I can no longer go out and come in” as referring to “[going out and coming] in the words of the Torah. This teaches us that the knowledge handed down and the wellsprings of wisdom had become closed to him.”
In other words, on the last day of his life Moshe was no longer “connected” to the source of the Torah and its wisdom.
Mori U’Rabi Rav Yochanan Zweig asks Why was it necessary for Moshe to be closed off to the wisdom and wellsprings of Torah on the last day of his life?
Rav Zweig answers:
That as long as Moshe was alive the Torah was literally in Shomayim. That is, the domain of Torah remained with Hashem and his Beis Din Shel Maalah. Moshe was “connected” to the source. He had learned all the mitzvahs and the deep meanings that Hashem intended for us to know. If there was a question as to what the proper course of action Hashem wanted from us, we merely had to ask Moshe. If Moshe was unclear (like in the story of the person who gathered wood on Shabbos) or if he forgot a halacha (such as in the case of the daughters of Tzelaphchad) Moshe could go directly to Hashem to clarify. On the last day of his life the Torah was gifted to the Jewish people. The Torah became our domain. Our sages were now the final authority as to what the proper halacha was in any given situation.
Rav Moshe Mordechai Biderman Zt”l of Lelov (The Grandfather of Rav Meliech Biderman Shlita), As seen in the Divrei Torah from Rav David Silverberg suggests a different answer to this question; he says “that Moshe had reached the point where he No longer experienced spiritual setbacks. Shlomo Hamelech teaches us that a Tzadik Falls seven times, and picks himself back up each time. Meaning, even the exceedingly righteous are not entirely perfect at all times. They, like all people, occasionally err and stumble. They excel more during some periods than in others. Moshe told the people that he reached the point where he no longer “goes and comes.” He had now achieved perfect consistency, the point where he would never again fall and need to lift himself anew. Having achieved this level of consistency, the time came for him to leave the world.”
Mori U’Rabi Rav Yisroel Apelbaum Shlita points out another amazing thing about the last day of our greatest leader’s life
“Moshe Rabbeinu spent this last day of his life comforting Klal Yisroel of his upcoming death and put an effort into saying goodbye to the Bnei Yisroel and acknowledging their feelings. This is how careful Moshe Rabbeinu was with Derech Eretz and with other people’s feelings and self-respect. This Derech Eretz was more important to Moshe Rabbeinu than spending the last day of his life being immersed with anything else.”
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For the resources I used for this Dvar Torah please go to the following websites.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7377258184534544384/
