Pashat Vayelech 5779-Where did Moshe go?

א  וַיֵּלֶךְ, מֹשֶׁה; וַיְדַבֵּר אֶת-הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, אֶל-כָּל-יִשְׂרָאֵל.

1 And Moses went and spoke these words unto all Israel

The commentaries are very mystified as to the whereabouts of Moshe at the beginning of our parsha. Where did he actually go?

Targum Yonatan tells us:

וילך וַאֲזַל משֶׁה לְמַשְׁכַּן בֵּית אוּלְפָנָא וּמַלֵיל יַת פִּתְגָמַיָא הָאִלֵין עִם כָּל יִשְרָאֵל

‘AND Mosheh went into the tabernacle of the house of instruction, and spake these words unto all Israel’.

He went to the bet hamidrash and gave his words over to Israel in that place.

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The Seforno(16th century Italy) gives a more metaphorical explanation:

וילך משה, “he was self-propelled, just as was Amram, Moses’ father who married his aunt Yocheved, daughter of Levi, and almost certainly many years his senior. (Exodus 2,1) Another of many uses of the word וילך meaning that the person described acted of their own initiative is found in Deut. 17,3 where the Jewish idolater described had not been seduced by anyone. After having concluded the matter of the covenant between G’d and this second generation of Israelites many of whom had not been born at the time of the Exodus, Moses now proceeds to comfort the people over his impending death. He does so in order that the joy over G’d having concluded this covenant with them should not be turned into sorrow over the prospect of his impending passing from the scene. “

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The ‘going’ of Moshe is understood as an act of self-motivation by Moshe(‘gearing himself up’), to go and let the people know of his imminent demise and to comfort them before the sad event takes place.

Rabbenu Bachya(14th cent Spain) sees an act of pure devotion in Moshe’s behavior at this time.

'Similarly, the Torah describes Moses’ leaving the camp of the Levites in order to go to the camp of the Israelites in these terms. He could have waited for the Israelites to come to him and take leave of him. In fact, although they had all been assembled around him to listen to the rebukes, and he could easily have said his good byes then, he waited till each one of them had returned to his tent, and only then………………………………'

The most profound explanation that I have come across to explain this enigma is found in the Ohr Hachaim(16th century. Israel).He sees the ‘going’ of Moshe in metaphysical terms and he explains the following:

‘Here we are told that "Moses went;" this means that his soul, the spirit of life named Moses, had gone from him just like in any other צדיק whose end is at hand. In this instance Moses' soul is referred to in the masculine gender, i.e. וילך, to stress the greatness of his soul. ‘

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He explains that the soul of Moshe was so pure that part of his soul went into every Jewish soul   that is to be born in the future. We all have within us the potential to become like Moshe and this should inspire us to achieve our maximum potential, as Moshe did in his lifetime. Moshe ‘went’ in the sense of going into every Jew and elevating the person to strive for greater heights and achievements in Torah and life in general.

This explanation was conveyed to me by Rabbi Isaac Bernstein zal when I asked him about what to say at the funeral of a congregant who had not remotely lived any sort of religious life. The comfort for the family was that the niftar had had within him the spark of Moshe, which hopefully had inspired him to do some good deeds in his life.

This awareness should also inspire us and give us the impetus to go from strength to strength in the coming year. We are all blessed with different talents and the soul of Moshe will hopefully inspire us to achieve the highest level in whatever we do. He is so admirable that even just before he died he was encouraging Klal Yisarel to continue the good deeds that they had begun in this world. The Jewish people can also become a true inspiration to the non-Jewish world, especially today with all the innovation and ideas coming from the State of Israel. We can try to emulate Moshe in our actions between man and man and also in our attention to detail in matters between man and God. As a Rosh Yeshiva once said; ”The minimum that God demands of every Jew is try to do the maximum”.

Let us be inspired by Moshe and his ideals and in his merit may we all have the blessings of both spiritual and material gain in the coming year.

Gemar Chatimah Tova           Rabbi Ian Shaffer        5779    Cherry Hill NJ/SCW