By: Rolando Kahn
Communications Director
In this week’s parsha, V’etchanan, the Israelites camp along the banks of the River Jordan before crossing into the Promised Land. Moses learns he will die before the final crossing into the Land and makes a speech to the Israelites. He reminds the people of the Ten Commandments and recites the Shema and V’Ahavtah prayers.
This portion is split between two emotions. I think about the Israelites quietly listening to Moses speak, on one hand, overjoyed that they’ll finally enter the Promised Land while holding in the other, the fact that the man who led them out of Egypt and into this moment cannot come with them. There is both excitement for what lies ahead and anxiety over what will happen once Moses passes.
At its core, this part of the story is about preparing for change. Whether it’s Moses readying himself for the moment of his death while simultaneously preparing the Israelites for their new reality without him, or the Israelites taking in Moses’ final words and figuring out how to best use his advice once he is gone, we see the shifts beginning to take form.
Let’s face it: Change is sometimes intimidating, confusing, and stressful; particularly when we are used to doing things a certain way for so long, and something new comes along that completely upends the status quo. Often, our impulse reaction is resistance. We attempt to step as far away from change as possible and cross our fingers that maybe it won’t reach us.
But what if we leaned into change instead? What if we took the energy we spent worrying about “what if” and about circumstances that haven’t happened yet, and gave ourselves permission to imagine the good things that change might bring? I am not saying we go in with rose-colored glasses, but what if we let go of just a little bit of anxiety and let in more optimism and hope?
I’m sure the Israelites were feeling plenty of anxiety as they stood at the edge of the Promised Land and on the precipice of so much change, but they must have also felt hope. Hope that even though they could not continue with Moses at their side, he had equipped them with the knowledge and understanding of how to move forward together. We, here in the present, also have that choice when confronted with change to embrace both anxiety and the hope that maybe something exciting is waiting for us on the other side.
Shabbat Shalom.
Please email Rolando Kahn at rkahn@jewishcolorado.org with questions or comments.