Coming Around the Mountain

By Rabbi Joshua (forwardly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

Moshe, beginning his farewell address to the nation, recounts, in reference to the encampment at Mt. Sinai, says “The Lord, our God, spoke to us at Choreiv saying: Enough of your dwelling by this mountain. Turn yourselves around and come to the Amorite mountain and all its neighbors...” (Devarim 1:6-7). Rashi cites a midrash which says that God was telling them that they had accomplished much at the mountain that merited reward for them, including receiving the Torah, appointing a Sanhedrin, and other items. The Chasam Sofer raises the question, that this midrash seems to be saying that God was telling the people not to be upset about having to leave the mountain, because they had already done much there to bring them reward. However, we know, as Rashi tells us in parshas Beha’aloscha, that the people left the mountain like a child who runs from the school house! What need, then, was there for appeasement? The Chasam Sofer leaves this question unanswered.

The Sefas Emes, in commenting on the first verse, notes that the word for “dwelling” – sheves – has the same letters as the word “Shabbos.” He explains that the time spent dwelling at the mountain was a period of preparation, just as Shabbos is a preparation for the days of the week. So, too, the spiritual rest they had at the mountain prepared them, through the merit they attained there, for what would follow, namely, the conquest of the land, which was now in their power to achieve. Perhaps, then, in answer to the Chasam Sofer’s question, the message to the people was that, although on the one hand, their attitude towards leaving the mountain that was akin to that of a school child was not commendable, their readiness to leave could be marshalled as a spur for them to proceed toward the goal of conquering the land. As far as that goal was concerned, their spiritual attachment at the mountain had prepared them for that task, and would help them succeed in their efforts.

Unfortunately, the sin of the spies brought about punishment that delayed the conquest of the land until after the people had spent forty years in the wilderness. At the end of that period, when the time again came to conquer the land, Moshe, in his farewell address recounts to the people that they circled the mountain of Seir for many days, and then God told him, “Enough of your circling this mountain, turn yourself northward” (Devarim 2:3). The people were being told that the time of preparation had come to an end and they must now finally proceed to enter the land. The Midrash Rabbah expounds on the word “northward” as alluding to another meaning of the word north – “tzaphon” – which is hidden. The people were being told to hide themselves in the Torah, perhaps meaning that they should pursue the conquest of the land based on the guidelines of the Torah. The Keli Yakar, in a classical comment, finds another message in the meaning of the word “northward” in the sense of hiding. The people were about to pass by the land of Edom, descended from Eisav. They were being told to hide themselves in terms of their material wealth. Eisav has a perpetual complaint against Ya’akov of robbing him, and when a Jew flaunts his wealth, it arouses Eisav’s enmity. The Keli Yakar admonished the people of his generation for failing to adhere to this message, and, by extension issued a warning to future generations in their regard as well. In this sense, Moshe’s address to the people at this point was both a preparation for the conquest of the land, and a message in regard to their future experience in the exile of Edom.