Shabbat Parashat Va'etchanan - 5781

Shabbat Parashat Va'etchanan - 5781

Rabbi Hal Miller

But God became angry with me because of you and He did not listen to me. He

said to me, "It is much for you. Do not continue to speak to Me further about this

matter." [Devarim 3:26]

We have seen the express rav lach on numerous occasions. Literally, it means

"much for you". How does it fit here, and can we learn anything by comparing our

verse to the other places we see it?

Mechilta writes that Moshe offered to God to enter the land as Yehoshua's

assistant, but God turned this down. Abarbanel says that rav lach means it would

be too much for the leader to step down and become the assistant.

According to Onkelos, our verse means God is tired of hearing about Moshe's

request to enter the land and is saying, enough already.

Others, though, see our verse in a positive sense, where God is telling Moshe that

he has already earned all the merit he could possibly earn, and has completed each

goal that was set out for him in this world. Rashi implies that it is a promise from God

that Moshe will receive an abundant reward in the next world.

In Bamidbar [16:7], Moshe says to Korach, "It is much for you, son of Levi." Just a

couple weeks ago, in Devarim [1:6] Moshe repeated God's words to the people,

"It is much for you, dwelling by this mountain." In both of these cases, as well as in

our verse, the implication could be negative, that someone is testing the patience of

the speaker. If so, then in our verse, God would be telling Moshe that he has done

something wrong leading up to this. Korach led a rebellion, the people worshipped

the golden calf. All Moshe did was pray, so it would seem there is no connection

here to the prior uses of the term.

However, if we read them in a positive sense, Moshe here is told that he will receive

reward. We might read the earlier verses that Korach was rewarded, through his sons'

teshuvah and later prominence, and for having served as a Levi. In Devarim the people

were being rewarded for saying na'aseh v'nishmah in accepting the Torah. Maybe the

purpose of our verse here is to help us understand those other two in positive terms.