Waiting for Rain: Reflections at the Turning of the Year

Chapter Eleven Standing on Holy Ground

Chapter Eleven
Standing on Holy Ground
Simchat Torah marks the conclusion of the annual Torah reading cycle. As the final verses of Deuteronomy are read, a feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment spreads over the congregation. All rise and joyously sing: Hazak, hazak, ve-nit’hazek!—“May we be strong, mighty, and reinforced!” The Torah scroll is lifted high so that all may see it, and again the congregation proclaims: Ve-zot ha-Torah asher sam Moshe! “This is the Torah that Moses placed before all of Israel!” The service continues with an encore, as a second Torah is opened, dramatically demonstrating that our engagement with the Torah has not ended—it has just begun. Having come full circle, the reader continues with the first verse of Genesis: Bereshit bara Elohim—“In the beginning God created.” Thus, we initiate a year of new beginnings, new opportunities for spiritual growth, and new hopes. Surely, to add any other readings to such inspiring selections could only be anticlimactic . However, the final Scriptural reading of the holiday season is neither the end of Deuteronomy nor the beginning of Genesis. It is the opening passage of the Prophets, Joshua, chapter 1: the haftarah of Simchat Torah. 223 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ attendant: “My servant Moses is dead. Prepare to cross the Jordan, together with all this people, into the land that I am giving to the Israelites. Every spot on which your foot treads I give to you, as I promised Moses. . . . Be strong and resolute, for you shall apportion to this people the land that I swore to their fathers to assign to them . . . observe faithfully all the Teaching that My servant Moses enjoined upon you. Do not deviate from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Let not this Book of the Teaching cease from your lips, but recite it day and night, so that you may observe faithfully all that is written in it. Only then will you prosper in your undertakings and only then will you be successful. (Josh. 1:1–8) This chapter marks a pivotal transition from the death of Moses, with which the Torah ends, to the leadership of Joshua, which is about to commence. Michael Fishbane explains the thrust of the haftarah is that: Joshua is thus enjoined to combine two ideals: that of action and that of study. He is asked to be at once a man of power and of piety—learning for the sake of actions and acting in accordance with God’s will. Becoming in effect a “new Moses” through study makes Joshua also the first “man of tradition.” The divine revelations received by Moses “face to face” (Deut. 34:10) must be learned and recited by his successor. Significantly Joshua is not called a “prophet”—but one “filled with the spirit of wisdom” (Deut. 34:9). Revelation sets the task that tradition tries to realize. (Fishbane, 415) The book of Joshua begins on a sad note. Moses our teacher, the master of the prophets, who ably stood by his people for 40 years, is no 224
Waiting for Rain more. We sorrowfully recall how Moses walked the Israelites to the Promised Land, step by step, only to be painfully compelled to take leave of his people at the border of the land for which he longed. His departure marked a significant turning point in the life of the nation. Joshua would now take over, both as the commander in chief of the Israelite army and as the religious leader in place of Moses. However, Moses did not go down without a fight. In the book of Deuteronomy, he is described as having pleaded dramatically for a temporary reprieve, to “cross over and see the good land on the other side of the Jordan” (Deut. 3:25). This appeal is artfully embroidered in Midrash Tanhuma. In the Rabbis’ version of the affair, Moses presents many different remonstrations against the verdict. He who is described by God as “the humblest of men” makes a poignant case for his worthiness above all others. The Master of the Universe counters Moses’ claim by explaining to him that his time has simply come, and that Joshua’s term of office must begin: Thus it was in My mind even before I...