Moses brings us a song or a poem in which the message is a very
hard one for us to hear. He begins with "Hear o heavens, listen
o earth…" heaven and earth being the two witnesses required
by Torah before any judgment can be given. Heaven and earth also
have the meaning of an eternal message since according to Jeremiah
"Israel would not disappear until heaven and earth disappears."
Sometimes we grow hard of hearing…our ears becoming accustomed
to the sounds around us. There is a story which the rabbis tell
us of two brothers both born on a farm. One brother decides to move
to the big city, New York and makes something of himself on Wall
Street becoming wealthy. His younger brother however remains on
the farm. After many invitations to come to the big city, the younger
brother finally accepts. He is overwhelmed by the noisy sounds of
the city…traffic, trains, crowds etc. While walking home, after
having gone to eat in a restaurant, the younger man turns and says'
I hear a bird singing." The older brother couldn't hear it
and tells him he is hallucinating since there are no trees in the
area. Soon they see a pet store and a canary bird in the window
was gaily singing but the older brother had not heard it. To test
a theory that he had, his younger brother took a dollar coin out
of his pocket and dropped it on the floor. Everyone in the story
including his brother immediately turned to see where the sound
of the coin dropping had come from.
Our ears are attuned to listening to whatever has become important
and true in our lives. We need to train our ears to hear G-d's message
to us. We told Moses that we would take to heart all the Words of
the Torah. His last message to us is strong for our words have become
evidence against us. The Torah brings life to us. When anyone tells
us that the Torah is no longer valid for our lives, they are taking
life from us.
G-d's punishment of Moses not going into the land was because Moses
made the Israelites lose faith in G-d. His action in front of them
spoke so badly about G-d that they committed Hilul ha Shem. "But
Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon" Because you did not trust
in me, so as to cause me to be regarded as holy by the people of
Israel, you will not bring this community into the land I have given
them". (B'midbar 20:12-13) Moses knew the Torah
where it says in Vayikra 22: 31-33 "You
are to keep my mitzvoth and obey them. I am Adonai. You are not
to profane my holy name on the contrary I am to be regarded as holy
among the people of Israel. I am Adonai who makes you holy…"
G-d will do what it takes to keep his name holy among the nations
of the world and we suffer the consequences if we are called to
do that and fail. "Son
of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled
it by their manner of life and their actions; their way before me
was like the uncleanness of a woman's menstruation. Therefore I
poured out my fury on them, because of the blood they had shed in
the land and because they defiled it with their idols. I scattered
them among the nations an dispersed them throughout the countries;
I judged them in keeping with their manner of life and actions.
When they came to the nations they were going to, they profaned
my holy name so that people say of them, 'These are G-d's people
who have been exiled from the land.' But I am concerned about my
holy name which the house of Israel is profaning among the nations
where they have gone'" (Ezekiel 36:17-22)
When we say that we represent G-d, whatever we do from that moment
reflects directly upon G-d Himself. The implications are great because
G-d's reputation is at stake. When you say to another person, who
knows you are a believer that you are going to do something and
do not do it, it reflects poorly on G-d. Moshe was punished by G-d
because he caused the Israelites not to honor G-d. They lost faith
because of his actions. We need to search our hearts and pray that
G-d will help us to learn from this lesson. Yeshua called the religious
people of his day vipers because they were fakes. Their outer appearances
were white and clean but inside they were filthy. Religion makes
hypocrisy a virtue and honesty, wrong where it becomes more important
to save face then to be transparent. As true believers, we are called
to be transparent. What you see is what you get and only G-d is
holy. Some of us walk around believing that we are better than others.
I am not like them, we think to ourselves…actually you are
worse.
If we are not being a light to the world around us we are missing
the point of Torah. If Moshe failed and there was no prophet greater
than him other than Yeshua himself, what hope is left for us? Our
only hope lies in Yeshua, our yeshuati, Him dwelling in us who points
the way, directs our path and helps us to follow G-d and Torah.
Let us be careful what we say for we will be judged by the words
that come out of our mouths. May we enter this new year 5769 with
a sense of rejoicing for what G-d is going to do in us and in the
world around us.
May
G-d add blessings to His Word!
Rabbi
Percy Johnson
Netanel
ben Yochanan
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©
2008 Use by Permission
Kehilat
She’ar Yashuv
