We have reached the book of Deuteronomy! The wandering has come to an end and the Israelites find themselves assembled before Moses, who will be delivering his 34-chapter-long Swan Song.
The Book of Deuteronomy are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel, the prophetic message admonishing the Israelites what will happen if Israel follows or chooses not to follow the laws and precepts of this Torah.
One particular admonishment, Deuteronomy 1:39, stands out. The verse reads:
“וְטַפְּכֶם אֲשֶׁר אֲמַרְתֶּם לָבַז יִהְיֶה וּבְנֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדְעוּ הַיּוֹם טוֹב וָרָע הֵמָּה יָבֹאוּ שָׁמָּה וְלָהֶם אֶתְּנֶנָּה וְהֵם יִירָשׁוּהָ׃
Moreover, your little ones who you said would be carried off, your children who today do not know good from bad, they shall enter [into the land]; to them will I give it and they shall possess it.
While we find ourselves at the end of the Torah, we must return to the beginning to fully appreciate this verse. We learn in Genesis 3:22 that humanity was expelled from the garden for eating fruit that gave us the ability to know good and bad, and yet the generation set to enter into the land of Israel is apparently unaware of the difference between good and bad.
For the children of the wandering generation, coming into the Promised Land is like a new Eden; a fresh start and a new perspective. Fresh starts, however, also come with the consequence of an absence of knowledge—in this case, the knowledge of good and bad. Each generation learns, grows and passes on their knowledge and wisdom to the next generation, who then also has a fresh start and a new world through which to navigate.
As much as we value the experience of wandering and want the next generation to enjoy the fruits of the previous generation’s experience, so much of the generational knowledge obtained cannot be transmitted and must be learned through one’s own experience. In this way, each generation has to learn the difference between good and bad—to learn to carve out a new way.
Arriving in the Promised Land doesn’t mean everything is promised. In fact, the Promised Land is more like an empty plot, a blank canvas, an opportunity in the making.
Rabbi Brett Weisman