Travel Plans

By Rabbi Joshua (petitionally known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

In the beginning of our oarsha, Moshe prays, repeatedly but, unsuccessfully, to God to be permitted to enter Eretz Yisroel? The midrash and Talmud ask why Moshe prayed so much to enter the land? Was it then the fruits of the land that he was interested in enjoying? Several answers are given to this question, among them that Moshe wanted to perform the mitzvos that are obligtory only in Eretz Yisroel, and that Moshe wanted to imbue the peel with a love for the land by demosrating how much he wanted to enter it. I believe tat these two answers are actually connected to each other, and that one explains the other.

Moshe continues with his farewell address tothe people, and after finishing his introductory remarks which contain words of admonition tot he people concerning the sins committed in the past, he goes on to teach them Torah, which was the major purpose of the address. he recounts the event of the relation and giving of the Torah Ct Mt. Sinai, and repeats the section of the Decalogue, albeit with some changes form the way it was originally presented in the Torah, in parshas Yisro. One of these changes is that in the mitzvah of honoring one's parents it is said that observing the mitzvah will lengthen one's days on the land the Lord your God gives you ( Devarim, 5:16), something that was not mentioned previously. The Netziv points out that even though this mitzvah is one that the human intellect would dictate even without a commandment being given, the Torah mentions the granting of long life in Eretz Yisroel t specifically in regard to this mitzvah, to emphasize that even in regard to this category of mitzvah, there is a difference between keeping it in Eretz Yisroel and keeping it outside the land. we may add that this may be why Yaakov, according to the midrash, when he returned from the house of Lavan, was afraid of Eisav due to his having fulfilled the mitzvah of honoiring his parents for the past twenty- two years, that he- Yaa\kov - was away form home, did not have that opportunity. Actually, however, Yakov's very absence from home constituted a fulfillment of honoring his parents,becaus they told him to leave and go to Lavan's house. However, since Eisav fulfilled this mitzvah in Eretz Yisroel , while Yakov fulfilled by absenting himself from the land, he felt that Eisav's fulfillment was on a higher level.

Moshe, then, wanted to impress the peel with the importance of Eretz Yisroel in regard to all of he mitzvos, and that is why he petitioned God so many times and earnestly to enter the land. Rashi and Ramban, in fact, in commenting of a verse in the first paragraph of Shema, mentoned at the end of oyr parsha, cite the Sifrei, which says, in regard tio the mitzvah of tefillin, which is not dependent on Eretz Yisroel, that the people should fulfill it in exile so that it will not be new to them when they returrn to the land, Ramban explains that this is because the mitzvos were meant to be observed priorly in Eretz Yisroel, which many explaind to mean that the spiritual effect of mtzvos on those who observe them is greater in Eretz Yisroel than elsewhere, because that is where the divine presence dwells. Perhaps we may add that this inclusion of this teaching in the parsha of Shema is one of the reasons that it was not said until Moshe gave his final address to the nation, because he was preparing them to enter the land, and his teaching had special relevance to them at that time.