Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

199
Pinchas
Seeing is Possessing
Rav Yehoshua Paltiel
:לארשי ינבל יתתנ רשא ץראה תא הארו הזה םירבעה רה לא הלע השמ לא ’ה רמאיו
)גי-בי:זכ רבדמב( :ךיחא ןרהא ףסאנ רשאכ התא םג ךימע לא תפסאנו התא התיארו
And Hashem said to Moshe, “Ascend this Mount Ivrim and see the land
that I have given to the Children of Israel. You shall see it and then be
gathered unto your people as well, just as your brother Aharon was
gathered.” (Bamidbar 27:12-13)
Rav Sinai Adler of Mevasaret Tzion in his sefer Dvar Sinai asks why the idea of Moshe
Rabbeinu seeing the land is mentioned twice. And why is the first verb of seeing in
the command form whereas the second is in the future? And why is it necessary for
Hashem to add the obvious words ‘that I have given to the Children of Israel’?
Rav Sinai answers that the two ‘seeings’ served two different purposes and were
therefore worded differently. The first was a command to Moshe to see the land,
and this was necessary to enable B’nei Yisrael to conquer and acquire the Land of
Israel. The next verse describes the future history, what is about to happen; that after
performing this last act on behalf of his beloved flock, Moshe would then be gathered
to his people.
The question remains, however, what about Moshe Rabbeinu’s seeing the land enables
the Jewish People to take possession of it? This Rav Sinai answers in his comments to
Devarim (3:25), Parashat Va’etchanan, on the verses: