Ilustration Credit: Rivka Tsinman
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
The name of our parashah, וָאֶתְחַנַּן (Va’ethanan), means “I begged” or “I prayed.” It’s talking about when Moshe prayed to God and begged for permission to go into Eretz Yisrael (Devarim 3:23-25).
God had decreed that Moshe wouldn’t enter Eretz Yisrael (Bemidbar 14), and God even repeated this decision years later (Bemidbar 27). So why does Moshe bother praying now? Was there any reason to think that God’s mind would change?
אַתָּה הַֽחִלּוֹתָ לְהַרְאוֹת אֶת עַבְדְּךָ פֶּתַח, לִהְיוֹת עוֹמֵד וּמִתְפַּלֵּל אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁנִּגְזְרָה גְּזֵרָה. אָמַר לוֹ מִמְּךָ לָמַדְתִּי, שֶׁאָמַרְתָּ לִי "וְעַתָּה הַנִּיחָה לִּי" (שמות לב) – וְכִי תוֹפֵס הָיִיתִי בְךָ? אֶלָּא לִפְתֹּחַ פֶּתַח, שֶׁבִּי הָיָה תָלוּי לְהִתְפַּלֵּל עֲלֵיהֶם, כְּמוֹ כֵן הָיִיתִי סָבוּר לַעֲשׂוֹת עַכְשָׁו.
You began to show Your servant an opening for standing and praying even though the decree had been fixed. Moshe said to God: “I learned this from You. You said to me, 'And now leave Me alone’” (Shemot 32:10). Was I holding You back? You said this to open the door and teach me that it depended upon me to pray for them. And that’s what I’m doing again now.
After the חֵטְא הָעֵגֶל (heit ha-eigel, sin of the golden calf), God seemed to hint to Moshe that he should pray for the people, even though God had already decreed that they should be killed. So Moshe prayed, and it worked! They weren’t destroyed. From this experience, Moshe understood that prayer always has the potential to change things, even when a situation might seem hopeless.
- Do you sometimes pray to God even when you aren’t sure it will help, or you are pretty sure it won’t? How does that feel?
- How does it feel to think that there’s always a chance prayer could help?
- This time, Moshe doesn’t get what he asks for (Look it up: Devarim 3:26-28). Do you think Moshe regretted his choice to try? If you pray for something and you don’t get what you prayed for, would you be able to live with that? Why?
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