Parashat Vayeilekh – 5785

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayeilekh

by Rabbi Marge Wise (AJR ’21)

Although the shortest parashah in the Torah with 30 verses, parashat Vayeilekh teaches us so much about life, the trajectory of life’s journey, ways to view life’s accomplishments, the high points and the disappointments. Trying to find a theme for my D’var Torah has led me to be introspective. Being at home for a few days with Covid – which I had avoided until now and had hoped to continue avoiding! – helped fuel that introspection!

I learned a lot in the process of doing research for this D’var Torah. For one, I learned a new word: generativity. But before I get there, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z”l, describes Moses in a way which makes him seem very – well, “human”. He describes Moses as someone who has achieved it all – and now what? He tells the children of Israel that he can no longer “come and go” What does that mean? He is physically able to move around – he has been visiting B’nei Yisrael up and down the countryside, he is mentally capable and his mind is sharp – we know that from the fact that he has been lecturing to the people non-stop. “Can’t” in this instance means that he doesn’t have God’s permission. The time had come for Moses to hand over the reins of leadership to his student and disciple, Joshua. This must have been excruciatingly difficult for Moses to do. He spent his life preparing the people for this moment. It also must not have been easy for Moses to make peace with the fact that his own sons, Gershom and Eliezer, were not in the picture as successors to their father. More about this later.

First, to understand more about Moses, Rabbi Sacks introduces two fascinating concepts. One is generativity, the seventh stage of Erik Erikson’s 8 life stages – the stage where a person’s thinking often turns from being self-centered and inward-focused to what he/she can do in terms of leaving a legacy. This is also when a person starts thinking of how he/she can make a difference. It’s when we might ask ourselves what we can do to improve the lives of others and what values we can impart which will live on in the lives of those we influence.

The second fascinating concept is given to us by David Brooks, a concept he called a “Second Mountain” in his 2019 book by that name. Brooks spent time interviewing people over 70 years of age to learn what their first mountain in life was, namely, what their hopes were when they started out their adult life. He found that some responders achieved their goals and were happy, some achieved their goals but didn’t feel satisfied, and some were thwarted for one reason or another from achieving their goals.

Brooks discovered, in his continuing research, that somewhere along the way many people identified a “second mountain” which they wanted to climb. It involved, similar to Erikson’s seventh stage, a desire to achieve something, a desire to be a source of guidance and perhaps inspiration to others.

The motivational incentives – I like to call them – in the “second mountain” can be incredibly fulfilling, even more so than what’s found in the first mountain we climb, Brooks posits.

I relate intimately to the “second mountain” concept. Always engaged in a career working within the Jewish community, I felt a substantial sense of accomplishment but I knew deep-down that the rabbinate was my true calling. My trajectory was Rebbetzin, day school teacher, Judaica store owner, synagogue executive director – great for first mountain career goals but the second mountain – many years off – was calling me, even then.

Buoyed by my similarly-focused second-career colleagues at AJR and encouraged by my professors, I thankfully achieved my lifelong goal of ordination. With God’s help, after attending evening and late afternoon classes at first, and then, with the advent of Covid, doubling down and accelerating my work load, I began my rabbinic career in 2021.

Almost immediately upon graduation, I worked to carve out my rabbinic niche doing keruv. I chose as my focus: accompanying prospective Jews by choice on their journey to embracing Judaism. I could not have guessed where my love of keruv would take me – thankfully, I have local students as well as students on five continents. I am so inspired by them and I feel very privileged to be able to share with my students my love of Judaism and the beauty of leading a Jewish way of life.

Returning to our parashah, the life of Moses ties it all together. “What do you do if you have already achieved what no human being had ever done before or would ever do in the future”? asks Rabbi Sacks. Moses had spoken to God face to face. He had become His faithful servant. He had led the people from slavery to freedom, putting up with their frequent complaints, enduring their rebellions and praying for – and achieving – forgiveness for the people from God, in the face of their lapses. He had been the conduit through which God had performed His miracles and communicated His commandments.

By now, Moses’ siblings, his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron, had died. They were his closest confidants, friends, and advisors. This was combined with the fact that he knew that the decree had been sealed that he would not cross the Jordan and lead the people on the last stage of their journey to the Promised Land. That role would go to his assistant and faithful servant Joshua. This was surely a huge disappointment to “display on his mantle” alongside the momentous achievements.

With all of this, as Moses faced his own death, what was there left to do? The book of Devarim tells us. As it says in its opening chapter: “In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the Israelites … On the east bank of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began expounding this law …” In this way, Moses went from being the miracle man and the freedom warrior to becoming “Moshe Rabbenu,” Moses our teacher, the man who taught Torah to the next generation.

Furthermore, now Moshe no longer simply stated the law, he explained the meaning behind the law. He spoke about the mutual love between God and Israel and he spoke about the past and the future. Most importantly, Moshe cautions the people to remain faithful to Gd, and to not be influenced by other cultures.

According to Rabbi Sacks, “These are the key verbs of the book, and they remain the most powerful immune-system ever developed against the decadence-and-decline that has affected every civilization since the dawn of time.”

That last month in Moses’ life, is reflected in today’s parashah as he finally hands over the reins of leadership to Joshua. It’s one of the rare instances in Tanakh of generativity: speaking not to your contemporaries but to those who will live on after you. This was truly Moses’ “second mountain.”

What seemed to have been negatives, now turned out to make Moses’ life a huge blessing with limitless influence. The fact that he knew he would not accompany the people into the land, and that he would not be succeeded by his sons, paved the way for him to teach the next generation and in so doing, he made disciples of his students including each and every one of us.

In conclusion, David Brooks and Erik Erikson and Rabbi Sacks are teaching us that we all have the ability to write another chapter in our own lives, just as Moses did. It’s an enormous gift to future generations to leave a legacy of kindness that makes life better for someone else. Regardless of what we accomplish in the first mountain of our lives, we all have the opportunity to climb a second mountain – it may actually be the most beautiful and selfless thing we can do.

In this awe-inspiring season – the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, the Ten Days of Penitence – as we pray for life, may we dedicate our lives to enhancing the lives of others, as Moshe Rabbenu modelled in his life. Amen

Shabbat Shalom – G’mar Hatimah Tovah!

Rabbi Marge Wise