MHA-FYOS Dean's Blog

We read a double parasha this week – Nitzavim-VaYelech. Parashat VaYelech records some of the final words that Moshe conveyed to The Jewish People prior to his demise. At the end of these comments, Hashem shares a prophecy with Moshe in the presence of his successor, Yehoshua. Hashem said, “Behold, you will lie with your fathers, and this nation will rise up and stray after the gods of the foreigners of the Land, in the midst of which the nation is entering. And the nation will leave Me and annul My covenant that I have sealed with it. My anger will flare against the nation on that day and I will leave them; and I will conceal My face from them and they will become prey and many evils and distresses will encounter it. (The nation) will say on that day, ‘It is not because my G-d is not in my midst that these evils have come upon me?’ But I will surely have concealed My face on that day because of all the evil that it did, for it had turned to gods of others.” Rabbi Ovadiah Seforno discu...

In this week’s parasha , VaYelech, Moshe gives words of encouragement to his disciple, Yehoshua, the next leader of the Jewish People. “And Moshe called to Yehoshua and he said to him before the eyes of all of Israel be strong and courageous…” (Devarim 31:7) There is some ambiguity in the translation above. Is the Torah telling us that Moshe spoke these words of encouragement to Yehoshua in front of the Jewish People (“before their eyes”) or did Moshe privately tell Yehoshua to be strong and courageous before the Jewish People. A king (or Jewish leaders, like Yehoshua) must straddle the line between arrogance and public displays of confidence while remaining humble internally. For these leaders, the lure of egotism is so great that there are special mitzvot for kings to dissuade kings from becoming haughty ( le’vilti room levavo ). On the other hand, kings must project honor and dignity. The Talmud, in Masechet Makkot, cites King Yehoshafat as a paragon of humility. When he would s...