Moshe: A Human Being, a Burning Bush
Family Edition

The Summary

● This summary is adapted from the essay written by Rabbi Sacks in 2012, available here >

And Moshe the servant of the Lord died there in Moab as the Lord had said. He buried him in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. Moshe was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not dimmed nor his energy abated. The Israelites grieved for Moshe in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of mourning was over.

With these words, the life of the greatest leader Israel ever had draws to a close. The Torah ends as it began, with an act of tenderness by God. Just as He breathed life into the first man, Adam, so now He buries the greatest of men, Moshe. There is a sense of closure: Adam and Chava were denied the Tree of Life, but Moshe gave Israel the Torah - “a tree of life to all who hold fast to it.” Yet there is also incompletion: Adam and Chava were exiled from Eden, and Moshe was prevented from entering the Promised Land.

There are other connections too. Both stories speak of human mortality. Adam was formed from the earth; Moshe was the most humble man “on the face of the earth.” Though made in God’s image, we are still dust. Neither the first man nor the greatest man escapes death. For each of us there is a Jordan we will not cross, a journey we will not finish. Yet we carry within us immortal longings.

Moshe’s life overturns every conventional idea of leadership. By worldly standards he failed again and again. Pharaoh rejected him, his people complained constantly, they made a Golden Calf, and for striking a rock, Moshe was denied entry to the land. Yet spiritually, his life was an overwhelming success.

Unlike most leaders, Moshe had no faith in himself. When God called him, he said, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” But this humility ultimately became his strength. Moshe carefully led a stubborn people from slavery to nationhood, delivered God’s law, and spoke the most eloquent words in all of Torah, though he once said, “I am not a man of words.” His greatness lay not in believing in himself but in believing in God and the call.

Moshe was a man between heaven and earth, bringing God’s word to the people and their words to God. He died not gently but with his energy “unabated, because his eyes were undimmed” - so we know that his vision of justice and holiness never faded. In a way, he was a burning bush himself, aflame with faith and principle.

Ha-ish Moshe: he was a mortal man, fallible, full of doubts about himself, often frustrated, occasionally angry, once close to despair - that is the Moshe who, more than anyone else, set his seal on the people he led to freedom, permanently enlarging their horizons of aspiration.

Rambam writes that: “Every human being [note: not just “every Jew”] has the potential to become as righteous as Moshe Rabbeinu. For the Moshe we meet in the Torah is not a mythical figure, an epic hero, an archetype, his blemishes airbrushed away to turn him into an object of adoration; and he is all the greater for it. He is human, gloriously human. It is his very humanity that shines forth from the pages of the Torah - sometimes with such radiance that we are afraid to look, but always and only a mortal and fallible human being, a medium through whom God spoke, an emissary through whom God acted, reminding us eternally that though we too are only mortal, we too can achieve greatness to the extent that we allow the presence of God to flow through us, His word guiding us, His breath giving us life.

Around the Shabbat Table

Questions to Ponder

1. What is most unusual to you about Moshe? 
2. How did Moshe’s humility become his strength?
3. What does Rambam’s message teach us about freewill?

On the Haftara

Written by Rabbi Barry Kleinberg

Inspired by the Teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

The Haftara reading

in a Nutshell

Joshua 1:1-18 (Ashkenazim) 
Joshua 1:1-9 (Sephardim) (Yemenites add 6:27)

Joshua 1:1–18 begins with God commissioning Joshua (Yehoshua) after Moses’ death. 

God promises to give Israel the land and assures Joshua of His constant Presence. He commands Joshua to be strong, courageous, and faithful to the Torah, meditating on it day and night for success. Joshua instructs the officers to prepare the people to cross the Jordan within three days to claim the land. He reminds the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh of their duty to help the other tribes in conquest before returning to their allotted land east of the Jordan. 

The people affirm their loyalty to Joshua, pledging obedience just as they obeyed Moses, and even declaring that anyone who disobeys him will be put to death. They echo God’s words, and encourage their new leader to be strong and courageous.

Point to Ponder

1. God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous three times. Why do you think He repeats this instruction?
2. Can you cite some repetitions in the Torah? Why are repetitions significant in Judaism?

Tanach Connections

Parsha and Haftara Links

In his excellent book “A Haftara Companion” Julian G. Jacobs wrote:

“One reason why this Haftara is read is that in the Bible it comes directly after the Five Books of Moses. Judaism does not know of an end to Torah study, knowledge, piety or spiritual growth. Just as on Simchat Torah the annual cycle of Torah readings is concluded with Vezot HaBracha and begins again with Bereishit, so too is this Haftara, taken from the beginning of the Book of Joshua, the immediate continuation of Vezot HaBracha. It serves as a powerful symbol of the continuance of Judaism from one generation to the next.”

     Rabbi Sacks notes a further dimension, when expounding upon the meaning of Simchat Torah:

“On Simchat Torah, without being commanded by any verse in the Torah or any decree of the rabbis, Jews throughout the world sang and danced and recited poems in honour of the Torah, exactly as if they were dancing in the courtyard of the Temple at the Simchat Beit HaSho’evah, or as if they were King David bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. They were determined to show God, and the world, that they could still be ach same’ach, as the Torah said about Succot: wholly, totally, given over to joy. It would be hard to find a parallel in the entire history of the human spirit of a people capable of such joy at a time when they were being massacred in the name of the God of love and compassion.”

• What is the link between Rabbi Sacks’ message here, and the message given to Joshua in the Haftara?

Putting the Haftara into Context

From Moshe to Yehoshua

Here is how Rabbi Sacks describes the transition and different roles of these two great leaders:

Moses, whom everyone associated with strong, decisive leadership, in effect told Joshua, “Your task is not what mine was. I had to take people out of slavery. You have to lead them into a land of freedom. Freedom means taking people seriously. The leadership of a free people involves listening, respecting and striving for consensus wherever possible.

God, who gave humans their freedom and never imposed Himself on people against their will, said, “Joshua, I am God; you are not. I have to respect people’s freedom. I have to let them go the way they are determined to go, even if it is wrong and self-destructive. But you are a human among humans and it is your task to show them the way that leads to justice, compassion and the good society. If the people do not agree with you, you have to teach them, and persuade them, but ultimately you have to lead them, because if everyone does what is right in their own eyes, that is not freedom but chaos.

Quote of the Week

“The Torah ends with three great life-changing ideas. We are mortal; therefore make every day count. We are fallible; therefore learn to grow from each mistake. We will not complete the journey; therefore inspire others to continue what we began.”

Unfinished Symphony, Vezot Habracha, Covenant & Conversation

Further Ponderings

What instructions would you pass on to the next generation to help them succeed?