Jewish academic and Hebrew scholar Irene Lancaster reflects on Moses' final lessons to the Israelites before leaving this world.
We have reached the last Book of the Torah, Devarim in Hebrew, Deuteronomy in English. Devarim means words and things. Deuteronomy means repetition.
In this book Moses knows he is about to die before reaching the Promised Land. His aim is to give his people a vision to carry them over from the Wilderness to their true Home, without him.
The author of 'Le Petit Prince', the first French book we studied in school, said: 'If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.'
I grew up in Southport where the American author of 'Moby Dick', on a short visit, was inspired so much by its sea that he wrote possibly the greatest sea novel of all time.
When I was in the Promised Land itself last month for the birth of a grandchild, news of the Southport atrocity cut me in two. Faced by gunfire and sirens in the heart of Jerusalem, to which we've become accustomed, the murder of three little girls in the safe space of Southport my mother had chosen as her haven from the Shoah, affected me in ways I couldn't describe to others.
But the Southport spirit has shown itself for what it is - the immensity of the sea which never came in and if it did was hardly deep enough to swim in - the safe, comforting, soothing sea, continues to cast its spell on people who encounter Southport at its best, and this community spirit is something Israelis also have in spades.
Inspired by the comforting words of Moses in his very own words now that he is about to depart this world, his people are helped to internalize the vision which will keep them going through thick and thin.
The main thing Moses taught the people in the Book of Devarim was to see themselves as a people whose king and lawgiver is G-d Himself.
Moses teaches them, yet again, that mortal monarchs are not to be recommended. They tend to 'multiply gold, wives and horses'. A king or law-maker 'should not turn from the law to the right or to the left' (Deuteronomy 17:20).
Not monarchs but teachers are to be the most revered of leaders. Unlike rulers who tend to make us feel small, good teachers help us to grow and flourish. This is Moses' greatest lesson to his people at the end of his life.
Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, knew that the leader as teacher was essential:
'You must know what you want to achieve, be certain of your aims, and have these goals constantly in mind. You must educate your party, and must educate the wider public. You must have confidence in your people - often greater than they have in themselves. A politician must spend a lot of time thinking. And he must spend a lot of time educating the public, and educating them anew.'
As our own country ventures into the unknown, faced with unprecedented divisions and violence, we shall see how much the new leadership is capable of educating the electorate and, most important of all, retaining the impartiality towards all, which is the hallmark of Moses and of all subsequent Jewish teaching.
