Who will reach out to Israel?

By HaRav Dov Begon
Rosh HaYeshiva, Mechon Meir

Moses distanced himself from the Israelite camp after receiving the Second Tablets on Yom Kippur, until the Tabernacle was erected on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, as it says, “Moses took his tent and set it up outside the camp at a distance. He called it the Meeting Tent. Later, whoever sought God would go to the Meeting Tent outside the camp” (Exodus 33:7). Yet G-d spoke to him the way a person might talk to a friend, convincing him to return to the camp, as it says, “God spoke to Moses face to face, just as a person would speak to a close friend. Moses then returned to the camp” (33:11). What did G-d talk about with Moses and why? Our sages say, “G-d said to Moses, ‘Now they will say, ‘Both the Master [G-d] and the disciple [Moses] are angry.’ What will be with the Jewish People?” (Berachot 63b; Rashi explains, “If so, who will reach out to Israel?”). 

Indeed, Moses restored his tent to the camp in order to lead Israel from within the camp and not from without. He thus was able to bring Israel closer to their Father in Heaven. 

Today, just as Moses restored his tent to the Israelite camp and brought the nation close to their Father in Heaven, strengthening their spirits despite the crises they had undergone, so, too, in our own generation we have to go back and restore the Torah, and those who learn it and teach it, to the Israelite camp. The Torah is the inheritance of the entire Jewish People, as it says, “Moses prescribed the Torah to us, an eternal heritage for the congregation of Jacob” (Deuteronomy 33:4). The entire Jewish People must learn Torah, which is our life and our length of days. The crisis of identity, the spiritual, moral deterioration as a result of our distancing ourselves from our roots and from our holy Torah, demands rectification, and that will come about through great Torah scholars teaching and restoring the Torah to the Jewish masses. It will come about through Jewish children everywhere voluntarily and willingly receiving a Torah education, provided with love and faith. 

Looking forward to complete salvation,
Shabbat Shalom,
Chodesh Tov.