Vezot Haberachah – Tug of War

tug-of-war.  noun.  təg-ə(v)-ˈwȯr.  Plural: tugs-of-war

1. a contest in which two teams pull against each other at opposite ends of a rope with the object of pulling the middle of the rope over a mark on the ground.
2. a struggle for supremacy or control usually involving two antagonists.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tug-of-war

 

The Oxford English Dictionary says that the phrase “tug of war” originally meant “the decisive contest; the real struggle or tussle; a severe contest for supremacy”. Only in the 19th century was it used as a term for an athletic contest between two teams who haul at the opposite ends of a rope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tug_of_war

Our Torah wraps up at the conclusion of Devarim, the fifth distinct book.  Combined, the Torah contains 187 chapters, 5,845 verses, 79,847 words, and 304,805 letters.  The stories span 2,488 years – not all treated equally, of course – from the moment HaSHem Uttered “Let there be light” until the light of life departed Moshe Rabbeinu with a Divine Kiss.

The final three verses of the Torah are an epitaph of sorts, encapsulating the greatness of the Moshe, whose life story is the bedrock of the Bible’s narratives.  The Torah lets the reader know that Moshe was not just the greatness of his generation, or even the greatest of all who proceeded him.  Moshe is crowned with the title “G.O.A.T.”, the common acronym for Greatest of All Time:

Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses—whom the LORD singled out, face to face,	וְלֹֽא־קָ֨ם נָבִ֥יא ע֛וֹד בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל כְּמֹשֶׁ֑ה אֲשֶׁר֙ יְדָע֣וֹ ה פָּנִ֖ים אֶל־פָּנִֽים׃
for the various signs and portents that the LORD sent him to display in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his courtiers and his whole country,	לְכָל־הָ֨אֹת֜וֹת וְהַמּוֹפְתִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֤ר שְׁלָחוֹ֙ ה לַעֲשׂ֖וֹת בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם לְפַרְעֹ֥ה וּלְכָל־עֲבָדָ֖יו וּלְכָל־אַרְצֽוֹ׃
and for all the great might and awesome power that Moses displayed before all Israel	. וּלְכֹל֙ הַיָּ֣ד הַחֲזָקָ֔ה וּלְכֹ֖ל הַמּוֹרָ֣א הַגָּד֑וֹל אֲשֶׁר֙ עָשָׂ֣ה מֹשֶׁ֔ה לְעֵינֵ֖י כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

[Deut. 34:10-12]

The expression yad chazakah, translated above as “great might” (but literally meaning “strong arm”) in the very last sentence of Torah is a little bothersome.  After all, “yad chazakah” is reserved as a description of God’s unparalleled power.  Some examples:

And the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a mighty hand He will send them out, and with a mighty hand He will drive them out of his land.” [Ex. 6:1]	וַיֹּ֤אמֶרי ה אֶל־משֶׁ֔ה עַתָּ֣ה תִרְאֶ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֶֽעֱשֶׂ֖ה לְפַרְעֹ֑ה כִּ֣י בְיָ֤ד חֲזָקָה֙ יְשַׁלְּחֵ֔ם וּבְיָ֣ד חֲזָקָ֔ה יְגָֽרְשֵׁ֖ם מֵֽאַרְצֽוֹ
And it shall be to you as a sign upon your hand and as a remembrance between your eyes, in order that the law of the Lord shall be in your mouth, for with a mighty hand the Lord took you out of Egypt. [Ex. 13:9]	וְהָיָה֩ לְךָ֨ לְא֜וֹת עַל־יָֽדְךָ֗ וּלְזִכָּרוֹן֙ בֵּ֣ין עֵינֶ֔יךָ לְמַ֗עַן תִּֽהְיֶ֛ה תּוֹרַ֥ת ה בְּפִ֑יךָ כִּ֚י בְּיָ֣ד חֲזָקָ֔ה הוֹצִֽאֲךָ֥ ה מִמִּצְרָֽיִם
And I prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance, which You have redeemed in Your greatness, and which You have brought out of Egypt with mighty hand. [Deut. 9:26]	וָֽאֶתְפַּלֵּ֣ל אֶל־הֹ וָֽאֹמַר֒ אֲדֹנָ֣י ה אַל־תַּשְׁחֵ֤ת עַמְּךָ֙ וְנַֽחֲלָ֣תְךָ֔ אֲשֶׁ֥ר פָּדִ֖יתָ בְּגָדְלֶ֑ךָ אֲשֶׁר־הוֹצֵ֥אתָ מִמִּצְרַ֖יִם בְּיָ֥ד חֲזָקָֽה
And the Lord brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, with great awe, and with signs and wonders. [Deut. 26:8]	וַיּֽוֹצִאֵ֤נוּ ה֙ מִמִּצְרַ֔יִם בְּיָ֤ד חֲזָקָה֙ וּבִזְרֹ֣עַ נְטוּיָ֔ה וּבְמֹרָ֖א גָּדֹ֑ל וּבְאֹת֖וֹת וּבְמֹֽפְתִֽים

 

Chazal could not pass up the opportunity to offer ideas why Moshe Rabbeinu was posthumously awarded this divine distinction.  One Midrash suggests that it is an allusion to the ten plagues, brought about by God through Moshe’s raised hands.  Ramban and Rabbeinu Bachya are of the opinion that the verse alludes to Moshe’s role in splitting the Red Sea:

And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord led the sea with the strong east wind all night, and He made the sea into dry land and the waters split. [Ex. 14:21]

וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת יָדוֹ עַל הַיָּם וַיּוֹלֶךְ יְהוָה אֶת הַיָּם בְּרוּחַ קָדִים עַזָּה כָּל הַלַּיְלָה וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת הַיָּם לֶחָרָבָה וַיִּבָּקְעוּ הַמָּיִם

After witnessing the breathtaking miracle, the Torah declares: “And Israel saw the great hand, which the Lord had used upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in Moses, His servant.”.  Id., vs 31.

Whether it is a reference to the plagues, or the splitting of the Sea, (or, as S’forno posited, the manna or the earth swallowing up Korach and his gang), these Rabbis interpreted Moshe’s yad chazakah as being just another instrument of God’s Power.  Indeed, part of the face-to-face closeness that the verse 10 above was conveying was that Moshe himself was God’s vehicle.

A fundamentally different view is recorded in the Talmud Yerushalmi [ירושלמי תענית פ”ד ה”ה]:

Rebbi Samuel bar Nahman in the name of Rebbi Jonathan taught:	ר’ שמואל בר נחמן בשם ר’ יונתן
The tablets were six hand-breadths long and three wide. Moshe held two hand-breadth, the Holy One, praise to Him two hand-breadth, and two hand-breadths of space were between them	הלחות היו אורכן ששה טפחים ורחבן שלשה והיה משה תפיש בטפחיים והקב”ה בטפחיים וטפחיים ריוח באמצע
When Israel sinned in that way, the Holy One wanted to seize them from Moses’s hand, but Moshe’s hand had the better of it and seized them from Him.	כיון שעשו ישראל אותו מעשה ביקש הקב”ה לחוטפן מידו של משה וגברה ידו של משה וחטפן ממנו
That is what the verse praises him at the end and says, “and all the strong hand”, peace shall be on the hand which had the better on mine.	הוא שהכתוב משבחו בסוף ואומר (דברים לד) “ולכל היד החזקה” ייא שלמא על ידה דגברת עליה מינאי

This account begins by telling us that the Two Tablets were massive, so much so that God Assisted Moshe by holding onto the top third.  (Or is it that He had trouble letting go?)  When the Israelites began to sin, God tried to reclaim the Tablets, but Moshe firmly held the bottom third and refused to release them.  They fought a tug of war – for how long we do not know – until Moshe triumphed.  It is not the first time in Torah that a mortal struggled with the Divine and prevailed.

The sugya ends by telling us that God was not a sore loser.  He “tipped his hat” to Moshe’s strength and persistence by including a reference to that epic struggle in Moshe’s eulogy.  God Humbly and Lovingly admitted that Moshe bested Him.  At that moment atop Mt. Sinai, HaShem Tells us, Moshe had the “Strong[er] Hand”.

The Midrash raises more problems than I can possibly address here, but I would like to tackle two questions that jump off the page:

• What was the point of struggling to control the Luchot since Moshe smashed them in anger a few minutes later?

and …

• Is it really possible to beat God at tug of war (or, in Jacob’s case, a wrestling match)?

My son, Rabbi Avi Miller, provided me with a satisfying answer to the first question.  HaShem wanted the intact Luchot to hold up as evidence that Bnai Yisrael breached their binding contract when they worshipped the Golden Calf.  Moshe, however, seized control of the Tablets so he could destroy all evidence of the contract that obligated Bnai Yisrael to refrain from making (and deifying) ordinary objects.[1]

As for the more troublesome second question, HaShem most assuredly allowed Moshe to “win” this round; a view that holds that Moshe could “strong arm” God would surely be blasphemous.  However, God insisted that Moshe fully engage himself in the contest.  Every father who has played one-on-one basketball, or chess, or checkers, with his son, knows this to be absolutely true.

That God wanted Moshe to succeed in snatching the Tablets is explicitly stated in a somewhat different version of our midrash.  As quoted by the Rosh, God granted Moshe to power to prevail.  He also endowed Moshe with the strength to carry the Tablets unassisted.  The Torah’s use of “strong arm” in its final sentence is a nod to the fact that Moshe alone carried the enormous weight of the Two Tablets.

It sounds well and good until we probe it more deeply.  What is so special about Moshe’s physical strength when it was merely a transfer of power from God?  At the very least, referring to Moshe Rabbeinu’s “strong hand” deserves an asterisk next to it, as do the feats of Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire whose successes were ‘assisted’?

Just because God endowed Moshe with the strength to snatch and grab the Luchot does not mean that Moshe would automatically do so.  Moshe’s strength lay in his spirit, for he was willing to rise to the occasion even before he was given God’s blessing to do so.  Moshe wrestled with God and even destroyed God’s priceless handwritten work in order to protect his people.  That is the strength that the Torah appreciates.

Yad chazakah is not merely a catchphrase for God or epitaph for Moshe.  It is the raison d’etre of Torah.  Yad chazakah does not mean that win we every tug of war in life.  But it does mean that life consists of constant struggles and challenges.  It means that we must have the strength of character to carry burdens that are often too great, and to balance competing forces that pull us apart.  It means that we must lift our arms high and be counted even when those arms are weary.  And it means that we must help others carry their baggage even as we struggle to carry our own burdens.

There is a near universal custom that when the public reading of the Torah is completed – not just at the end of Vzot HaBracha but every single week- we in the assembly lift our hand and extend our pinky.  It is a gesture of symbolic support of the Torah and he who is shouldering it at that moment.  Yad Chazaka means that the heavy lifting is not just a symbolic act.

The very purpose of life itself is to have a “strong arm” backed by a strong conviction to do that which is right and just.  It is what characterizes the human condition.  It was how God wanted Eulogize Moshe even though that particular incident had occurred forty years earlier.  In some ways, it was the pinnacle of Moshe’s greatness, more so than being God’s instrument in bringing about plagues and great miracles.  This is the lesson in the Torah’s final, glorious, verse.

It is no accident that as when we conclude the Torah (or any of its books) we recite collectively: חזק, חזק, ונתזחק.  Chazak, Chazak, V’nitchazek. “Be strong, Be strong, and Let us strengthen others.”  It is also no coincidence that the gematria (numerical value) of “Moshe” shares its value – 345 – with this root Chazak, repeated thrice!  God’s take away message to us from His Five Books, and His 187 chapters, and His 5,845 verses, and His 79,847 words, and His 304,805 letters is this:  we are to be strong as we wrestle with life, and be strong in the face of adversity, and lend a helping, strong hand whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Shabbat Shalom & Chag Sameach!

 

 

[1].  My friend and colleague, Rabbi Noah Gradofsky, offered a second satisfying answer as to why Moshe struggled to retain the Luchot.  Rabbi Gradofky offered the following insight found in a midrash in Exodus Rabbah (46:1):

“[Moses] grasped the tablets, and didn’t believe that Israel had sinned.  He said “Until I see, I do not believe”…

Is it possible that Moses didn’t believe God who told him “your nation has done perversely?”  Rather, Moses taught Israel proper conduct – that even a person who hears something from a trustworthy individual is forbidden to accept [the individual]’s testimony to do anything (i.e. to act on the information) if he doesn’t see [what the individual is talking about]. . . .