Jewish academic and Hebrew scholar Irene Lancaster reflects on Moses’ final lessons to the Israelites before leaving this world.
We have reached the last Book of the Torah, Devarim in Hebrew, Deuteronomy in English. Devarim means words and things. Deuteronomy means repetition.
In this book Moses knows he’s about to die before reaching the Promised Land. His aim is to provide his people a vision to hold them over from the Wilderness to their true Home, without him.
The creator of ‘Le Petit Prince’, the primary French book we studied at school, said: ‘If you would like to construct a ship, don’t drum up people together to gather wood and do not assign them tasks and work, but reasonably teach them to long for the infinite immensity of the ocean.’
I grew up in Southport where the American creator of ‘Moby Dick’, on a brief visit, was inspired a lot by its sea that he wrote possibly the best sea novel of all time.
When I used to be within the Promised Land itself last month for the birth of a grandchild, news of the Southport atrocity cut me in two. Faced by gunfire and sirens in the center of Jerusalem, to which we have turn into accustomed, the murder of three little girls within the protected space of Southport my mother had chosen as her haven from the Shoah, affected me in ways I could not describe to others.
But the Southport spirit has shown itself for what it’s – the immensity of the ocean which never got here in and if it did was hardly deep enough to swim in – the protected, comforting, soothing sea, continues to solid its spell on individuals who encounter Southport at its best, and this community spirit is something Israelis even have in spades.
Inspired by the comforting words of Moses in his very own words now that he’s about to depart this world, his individuals are helped to internalize the vision which can keep them going through thick and thin.
The most important thing Moses taught the people within the Book of Devarim was to see themselves as a people whose king and lawgiver is G-d Himself.
Moses teaches them, yet again, that mortal monarchs are usually not to be beneficial. They are inclined to ‘multiply gold, wives and horses’. A king or law-maker ‘mustn’t turn from the law to the appropriate or to the left’ (Deuteronomy 17:20).
Not monarchs but teachers are to be probably the most revered of leaders. Unlike rulers who are inclined to make us feel small, good teachers help us to grow and flourish. This is Moses’ biggest lesson to his people at the tip of his life.
Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, knew that the leader as teacher was essential:
‘You must know what you would like to achieve, make certain of your goals, and have these goals continually in mind. You must educate your party, and must educate the broader public. You must have faith in your people – often greater than they’ve in themselves. A politician must spend numerous time considering. And he must spend numerous time educating the general public, and educating them anew.’
As our own country ventures into the unknown, faced with unprecedented divisions and violence, we will see how much the brand new leadership is capable of teaching the electorate and, most significant of all, retaining the impartiality towards all, which is the hallmark of Moses and of all subsequent Jewish teaching.
