Even When You Won't Get There Yourself
אֶעְבְּרָה־נָּ֗א וְאֶרְאֶה֙ אֶת־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַטּוֹבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֖ר בְּעֵ֣בֶר הַיַּרְדֵּ֑ן הָהָ֥ר הַטּ֛וֹב הַזֶּ֖ה וְהַלְּבָנֽוֹן׃
Let me, I pray, cross over and see the good land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country, and the Lebanon.”
- Deuteronomy 3:25
On this weekend is the most tragic day of the Jewish calendar. On the 9th day of the month of Av, befell the calamities that would bring the Jewish nation to forced exile and dispersion throughout the globe.
First through the hands of the ancient Babylonians, and then hundreds of years later, again by the Roman Empire, the Jewish people were forced into servitude, their national home ransacked and occupied, and the Temple in Jerusalem, the center of Jewish religious life, destroyed.
Every year on this day Jews pause their routines and immerse in the historical trauma and remember. A people that does not or cannot remember will not remain a people for long. The tradition created structure for the day to ensure the foundations of a shared collective experience: fasting, refraining from greeting each other, resisting the comforts we take for granted - chairs to rest in, good footwear to support us, and more.
The Torah portion that follows this day next week, Vaetchanan, continues the retelling by Moshe of the people's journey as they stand on the precipice of entering the Land of Israel for the first time as a nation, before these exiles occurred, their nationhood in its infancy.
In this week's portion Moshe tells the people he beseeched God to let him enter the land. He begged God to let him see the national project that he led for so many years to completion. However, it was not to be. He was not to finish the work.
לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה
He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say: It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it
- Mishnah Avot 2:16
Moshe was not to finish the great work of his life, but nonetheless, he persisted. The Jewish people year after year, one 9th of Av to the next, were not to see their tearful prayers and dreams realized, but nonetheless, they persisted.
We work and we strive and we toil not only for ourselves, but for those that will follow us. The redemption of the nation of Israel is even today not fully realized, but we still work to create a society rooted in justice and righteousness. In so doing we build on the path charted for us by Moshe when he was denied the chance to realize to completion his work but still persisted. In so doing we build on the path charted by every generation of Jews for two thousand years who cried, who prayed, who strived and who dreamed for redemption.
Do you lay the foundations for people who will come after you in the work that you do? Do you plan for those that will inherit your great projects and your legacy? Even if you may not see your work to fruition, you are obliged to build it for those who eventually will.
Shabbat Shalom,
Yechiel && Ben
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