OUTREACH

Vaeschanan – Shabbat Nachamu 

Leaders of the Jewish People, even the greatest and most pious, are not always given what they pray and beseech for. In our Torah portion Vaeschanan, Moses - the greatest of all Jewish Leaders, Kings, Prophets, Rebbes and the paradigm of Jewish leadership - prays, begs, and pleads in more than five hundred ways, with all of his heart and soul for Almighty G-d to allow him to enter the Holy Land.

He is in fact so insistent with profoundest yearnings that Almighty G-d Himself tells Moses to stop praying so that it does not seem to make G-d into such a harsh master as the student’s pleadings cannot move Hashem’s reconsideration or forgiveness.

Moses uncharacteristically puts the blame for this immutable punishment on the Jewish People saying, “It is because of you and your rebelliousness that caused this particular issue for me that is so devastatingly disappointing”. What was so critical about Moses entering into the Holy Land?

Though Almighty G-d complied with every request of Moses - to forgive the Jewish people - to show Moses G-d's essential presence and to give him the Torah, only two issues that Moses yearned for did G-d not grant him.

When encountering G-d for the first time in the burning bush, G-d tells Moses to go to Egypt and emancipate the Jewish People, to which Moses responds, "Send the one who will lead the final and complete emancipation when there will no longer be exile. Send Moshiach."  G-d tells him that he must go.

Here too Almighty G-d refuses Moses begging to allow him access into the Holy Land.

The two fundamental aspects that are critical in order to prepare the world for Moshiach and the building of the third and eternal Temple are the vanquishing of Amalek and entering and inheriting the Holy Land in a holy and unified way.

Moses our Rebbe was ready but the Jewish people were not. When Moses told the Jewish people that they were the cause, he was merely giving them their instructions that at this point in their historical journey they were not yet ready for the final redemption and must still continue to refine themselves and the environment.

In our own times, the Rebbe/Moses of our generation was continuously, very publicly vocal and passionate in begging and demanding for the Jewish people regarding both the uncompromising sanctity and Jewish ownership of the ENTIRE Holy Land as recorded in the Bible, and the vanquishing of the evil forces.

His constant total passion and profoundest desire was to make sure that Moshiach is revealed and the Messianic world will come into effect. He frequently stated that the time of redemption and Moshiach has arrived.

Almost a year before the tragic episode at the Ohel, he stated in an internationally broadcast public gathering that "I have done whatever I can and now I am leaving it you. You have the tools and capacity to get the job done but it is up to you”.

Our Moses of this generation has brought us to the point when Moshiach is to be revealed, when we can make it happen. It is now up to us.

This week's portion contains both the revelationary 10 commandments and also the ultimate expression of Almighty G-d's unity and our complete faith in that unity, the Shma.

Those two foundational structures of Jewishness that include loving our fellow man like ourselves will bring us to the final redemption now.

Have a great Shabbos and a good week.

Sholom D. Lipskar 

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