We are ready to return to our learning sedorim with greater fervor; to get to every Tefillah, every day and on time; to be more attentive to our brachos before and after eating; to be more sensitive to all those around us. Yet the very first day after Rosh Hashana we face Tzom Gedalyah, a fast day where we must refrain from eating and drinking, draining our already weakened strength after two days in devoted and intense prayer. We find ourselves trying to stay awake, having gotten up earlier than usual to compensate for the lengthy Selichos that we add during these days. We have to cut short our learning session we’ve set aside after davening because we finish much later than usual. We steal time in the middle of the day to catch a Mincha, finding our routines slightly off due to the longer Amidah and the addition of Avinu Malkeinu, rushing back to our appointments with a bit more angst. On the very first day after Rosh Hashana, having fasted we can barely stay awake for our nightly learning session. We find ourselves going to sleep each night a little earlier so we may awake on time, once again carving time we might have otherwise spent studying. We can’t simply pop into Dunkin Donuts to grab a quick bite because we strive to only eat Pas Yisroel during these days of repentance. On top of all this we have less than two weeks to figure out where to purchase the Four Species and to put up our Sukkah. With our life is so disrupted from its normal schedule, how are we ever expected to reorder our lives normally once again and repent for our previous laxness? Can’t a guy get a break!?

•

On the last day of his life the Torah tells us: וילך משה, Moshe went. But the Torah doesn’t tell us where he went, simply that ‘he went’. Some say he went to the people to show his honor for them, or perhaps console and encourage them after they heard of his impending departure. The Targum Yehonoson says he went to the Study Hall, the Bais Midrash, to delve in Torah. Others simply state that this word implies he went with dispatch and diligence. However we understand where it is he went we are left perplexed as to why the Torah chose to keep it a secret and not spell it out?

The Baal HaTurim directs us to the verse directly prior to this one whhich is the concluding verse of a series of verses that speak about our need to ‘choose life’ by following the ways of the Torah so that we may merit to ‘dwell upon the land that G-d swore to your forefathers, to Avraham, to Yitzchok, and to Yaakov, to give them.’

He says that juxtaposition of these verses allude to Moshe having ‘gone’ to the forefathers to report of his success in having brought their children to the Promised Land.

Rabbi Elazar of Worms, the renowned twelfth century scholar and kabbalist, known as the Rokeach, makes a fascinating discovery. In the twelve or so verses describing the הליכה וביאה, the ‘goings and comings’ of Moshe in Egypt, there is absent from them the letter 'ג', the third letter of the alef bet. This alludes to the three goings of Avraham: לך לך מארצך, Go for yourself from your land; קום התהלך בארץ לארכה ולרחבה, Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; ולך לך אל ארץ המוריה, and go to land of Moriah. It also alludes to the three ‘goings’ at the Akeidah: ואני והנער נלכה, I and the lad will go up; וילכו שניהם יחדו, and the two of them went together;  וילכו שניהם יחדו, and the two of them went together. It is in the merit of these ‘three’ goings that fueled Moshe’s successful goings and comings, and will merit that their children will make a pilgrimage to the Temple three times a year.

Our history as a people begins with Avraham’s response to G-d’s directive, ‘Go...’, and the Torah concludes with fulfillment of that mission, embodied within the persona of Moshe and his ‘going’.

Avraham is suddenly thrust into the unknown simply being told to ‘go’. He is told by G-d to ‘walk the length and breadth of the land’, prophetically seeing the tortuous trials and tribulations of his progeny throughout history, infusing his children with a faith that will assist them through the great abyss ahead. Finally Avraham faces the challenge of giving up all that he has accomplished by slaughtering his beloved son. But he ‘walks’ with purpose, devotion and faith, striding with the same confidence and enthusiasm he did during times of clarity, as he faces the clouds of disruption and doubt.

Moshe is told ‘it is over’, his mission is accomplished. He no longer possessed ‘the fountains of wisdom’ that flowed freely from within him. No future, nor mission, Moshe nevertheless steps forward purposefully with zeal and joy, extracting from every morsel of life an opportunity to encourage others, to delve in Torah study despite his diminished perception, or to simply exude faith in G-d’s word before his beloved nation.

It really doesn’t make a difference to us where he went. The message he left is that no matter what we face we much always be ‘going’ and never remain static.

Perhaps that is the profundity in his ‘going to the forefathers’. In his never allowing himself to lapse in moving forward, despite disappointment and failure, he remained a living testament to the inspired continuation of the legacy of Avraham who took that very ‘first step for mankind.’

It has been revealed that every letter in וַ-יֵ-לֶ-ךְ, alludes to our mission in these days:

ו equals six, referring to the six week days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

י equals ten, emphasizing the Ten Days of Repentance.

ל equals thirty, alluding to the thirty days in the month of Elul.

ך equals twenty, relating to the twenty opportune days from Rosh Hashana to Hoshana Rabba.

During these elevated days G-d wants to see how skillfully we ‘walk the walk’.

It’s easy to walk when the going is calm, the question is how steady we are when our earth shakes?

Will we maintain our balance and stride in these overwhelming days remaining focused on our goals and sensitive to the people around us?

Every small step we take is truly a giant step for our nation because it is in that resolve that we walk in the footsteps of our illustrious ancestors meriting their intervention on our behalf.

Keep it movin!