Shabbat Parashat Devarim - 5784

Shabbat Parashat Devarim - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller

  How can I alone carry your contentiousness and your burden and your quarrels?

  [Devarim 1:12]

The Hebrew word 'eich' means 'how'. Our word here is 'eichah', which also translates as

'how', but with a nuance. The first version states or asks something about the manner in

which something occurs, the second version implies a troublesome answer. Eich is used

if one asks, how do I do this, and eichah is used when one asks, how the devil did you let

this happen, meaning you should have been more careful. Rav Soloveitchik notes that

eichah is used in three places in Tanach, ours, Yeshayahu [1:21] "How has the faithful city

become a harlot", and by Yirmiyahu in {Eichah 1:1] "How has the city that was once so

populous remained lonely". All three usages are saying, this should not have happened.

Our verse begins with eichah. Given that, what is Moshe telling the people here? Rav

Moshe Feinstein explains Rashi that by our verse, Moshe is not saying that he cannot do

this, rather than he could but God told him not to do so.

The context is Moshe reviewing what happened as they were leaving Mount Sinai. He

says in verse 1:9, "I said to you at that time saying, I cannot carry you alone" followed

by noting how much the population of the nation has grown since then, forty years prior.

Then comes our verse, in effect saying, if I could not carry you then, all the more so I

can not carry you now. So what is behind Moshe saying this?

We could look at this from two main viewpoints. One is that Moshe is complaining that the

people are causing him difficulties, and the other is that Moshe is chastising the people

for causing each other difficulties.

As to the first, Rav Hirsch defines the word tarchachem, your contentiousness, as "your

wearisome trouble, irritating, enduring, which demands patience." Moshe is complaining

that he is stuck judging foolish legal cases when he has more important leadership things

to be doing. Malbim notes that in the desert with everything provided to them, their disputes

were simple, whereas entering the land would bring more complex and numerous cases.

As to the second, Onkelos writes, "all refer to unnecessary litigiousness and combativeness

against each other" which Moshe is now condemning, saying the people are supposed to

be kind, forgiving and considerate to each other. Rashi says the burden teaches that the

people were heretical, which could be understood both as a problem for Moshe and for

themselves. Kol Dodi also fits here, for Moshe could solve the problems to himself by adding

more judges, but that with the people about to enter the land of plenty, they would "descend

into a spiritual morass".

There is a middle position, dealing with the advice Yitro gave to Moshe about setting up a

judicial system. Sforno explains that Moshe is here telling the people why he is instituting

that system, listing various inappropriate legal fights that were preventing them from going

to the promised land. Ramban explains that our verse is an introduction to the next few

verses implementing a chain of command.

Sfas Emes has an interesting point. He asks why Moshe would rebuke this generation, as

they were not the ones who sinned all these forty years. The answer is that all the generations

of the Jewish people are tied together, and that we must add to previous successes and also

correct for previous failures. Moshe is telling the people to stop the contentiousness of the

prior generation and go forward in unity.