Ziv: Parashat Vaethanan 2

That good mountain and the Lebanon

The second parasha of the Book of Deuteronomy continues from its predecessor seemingly without interruption. There seems to be no pause in Moses’ speech nor change of subject, but those who divided the Torah into parashas found it necessary to split the narrative at the point of Moses’ plea whereas there would have been a perfectly logical division only a few verses later at the beginning of what is now chapter four, from which point the portion focuses exclusively on an exposition of the Ten Commandments.

Why did they feel that a new focal point in the narrative begins here? Moses’ plea consists of an acknowledgement of God’s great powers and a petition to let him “go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good mountain and the Lebanon” (Deuteronomy 3:25). The ancient Onqelos Aramaic Targum (translation) of this verse renders the end of the verse as “that good mountain and the temple”. The word Lebanon comes from the Hebrew root “laban” which means white and is sometimes used in Scripture as a synonym for the temple - especially Solomon’s temple. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi) explains, regarding the temple: “why is it called Lebanon? Because it makes the sins of Israel white as snow, as it is said “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18)”. It is also called Lebanon because King Solomon constructed the first temple from cedar wood from the region that is called Lebanon to this day. It is in this temple that the tablets of stone upon which the ten commandments were written will be stored inside the ark of the covenant, effectively containing a relic of Mount Sinai to be kept on top of Mount Moriah. God’s answer to Moses’ request to see a temple built in the land of Israel is decisive, after commanding him not to speak any more of this issue, He says: “Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan” (Deuteronomy 3:27). First God tells him to look in all directions - not just to the temple, which is to his west, but also to the east of where he is standing, and he then tells Moses to look with his eyes - meaning the eyes of Moses the leader, the prophet and the teacher of Israel; the eyes that have seen the mighty deeds of God and His outstretched arm, these eyes that have been trained to look with the spirit of prophecy and are to see that the ultimate temple will stretch far beyond Mount Moriah to all four corners of the earth as it is said: “for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7). And herein we find the reason why the division of the parasha begins at the point of Moses plea to see the temple: the entire parasha will focus on the commandments which, just like the temple, are destined to become universal. Shabbat Shalom.