Musar su Deuteronomio 3:23

It is written in the name of Moshe our teacher, peace be upon him, “And I pleaded with Hashem” (Devarim 3:23). Our Sages of blessed memory have explained (Devarim Rabbah 11:10) that he prayed 515 prayers — the numerical value of the phrase, “And I pleaded” (Va’eschanan) — that he be allowed to enter the Holy Land

Yalkut Shimoni item 177 on Exodus 6,12, where we have another instance in which Moses uses the word לאמור when speaking to G–d, says that there are altogether four such instances. Rabbi Eleazar ben Azaryah claims that Moses demanded that G–d reply to him, i.e. “לאמור, whether He would redeem the Children of Israel or not. G–d responded in Exodus 6,1: "Now you will see what I shall do to Pharaoh, etc." A similar incident occurred when the Torah reported Moses as using this expression in Numbers 12,13 when he wanted an immediate answer whether G–d was going to heal Miriam or not. There, too, G–d is reported as responding to this outcry in verse 14, indicating that Miriam would be healed after a week. We also have such an instance in Numbers 27,15 where Moses wanted a reply from G–d to his request that He appoint a suitable leader in his stead. G–d responded in verse 18 that Joshua would be the new leader of the people. Lastly, the Yakut quotes the verse in our portion where Moses supposedly demanded an immediate response to his request to enter ארץ ישראל.

The beginning of the פרשה speaks about the gift of the land of Israel which is a patently "good" gift both in its manifest and in its hidden aspects. The land is situated "opposite" a corresponding ארץ ישראל in the Celestial Regions. Both the terrestrial land of Israel and the Celestial land of Israel has areas of varying degrees of sanctity. We have learned (Keilim 1,6) about the ten respective layers of sanctity of terrestrial ארץ ישראל culminating in the Holy of Holies. Moses thought that the lands of the kings Sichon and Og, i.e. the East Bank of the Jordan, already contained some level of the sanctity common to the whole of ארץ ישראל. We will explain why he thought so later on. A leader who leads the people to take possession of the Holy Land acquires great spiritual advantages. The authority of Jewish leaders is not of the same caliber as that of the Gentile kings or rulers. While the Gentiles derive their authority from physical power and material attributes, this is not so in the case of leaders of the Jewish people. Their authority is rather of the caliber of Heavenly authority. To be more specific: Leaders are appointed according to superior intellectual qualities, according to the ability of the individual in question to lead the people in Torah observance. As soon as the first Jewish king, Saul, was anointed king by the prophet Samuel he was granted Holy Spirit, as we know from Samuel I 10,11-12: הגם שאול בנביאים, "Saul too has joined the ranks of the prophets." One of the reasons the kingdom was transferred to David was that there was no one as qualified as David as far as Torah scholarship was concerned. G–d was with him to such an extent that any religious rulings pronounced by David were always accepted by his colleagues as binding. In addition, no one excelled like David in singing the praises of the Lord. These are the considerations that made Moses so desirous of remaining the leader who would bring the Jewish people into the Holy Land. He knew that if he were to be granted this request he would further perfect his personality, would be granted even greater insights by G–d. He wanted to fulfill those commandments which can only be fulfilled on the soil of the land of Israel, and he was certain that by doing so he would ascend still higher spiritually (Sotah 14a).

In the words of our sages there: "Surely Moses did not plead with G–d to let him enter the Holy Land merely to taste its fruit!" While on this subject let me explain Rashi's comment on 3,24. He divides his comment into פשט and דרוש. As far as the דרוש is concerned I find it difficult to follow him because, if he is correct, the Torah should have written אתה החילות והראית, "You have begun and shown me." I therefore prefer to deal with the פשט part of his commentary: that Moses felt that because he had been allowed to defeat the kings Sichon and Og on the East bank of the Jordan, this was a sign that G–d had rescinded His decree (Numbers 20,12) that he, Moses would not be allowed to lead Israel to the Holy Land. He considered the lands ruled by these kings as part of the land of Israel. Rashi quotes 2,31 where G–d had said: ראה החילותי תת לפניך את סיחון as proof that Moses thought that the decree had been rescinded. If Rashi's reasoning is correct, why did the Torah add the words בעת ההיא "at that time," in 3,23?

It is implied in the Zohar (Parashas Va’eschanan 260a) that the hosts of Heaven look forward to the moment that a Jew will rise from his bed to engage in study and prayer. The proof to this is that when he does so a proclamation goes forth saying, “Behold, bless Hashem all servants of Hashem who stand in the House of Hashem at night” (Tehillim 134:1). Then, when he has risen and gone to the synagogue to beseech his Master they proclaim, “And I will grant you movement among these standing ones” (Zecharyah 3:7). All this is true, however, only if he prays with devotion, pouring out his supplications like a beggar, just as our teacher Moshe did when he said, “And I pleaded with Hashem, etc.” (Devarim 3:23).