G'vurah–Strength: How Did All This Happen?

Sources from essay by Rabbi Judy Shanks in The Mussar Torah Commentary

What an understated prelude to the powerful rhetoric that will flow from Moses's lips in his final effort to explain "how this all happened" to himself and to the Israelites. As his life draws to a close, Moses summons the middah of g'vurah ("heroic strength"), displayed in all its multiple dimensions, to compose and deliver the series of soaring sermons that fill the Book of Deuteronomy. When memories bubble up, Moses paints vivid pictures for his communal audience, selectively reaching the Torah they will need to embody themselves, when, without him, the will enter the Promised Land. Implicit in every word is the self-awareness of his impending mortality. Through Moses's reflections, we travel now (in the Book of Deuteronomy) on a different kind of sacred journey where past and present conflate, and the long and short views of one (extraordinary) man's life are woven seamlessly into a timeless guide for all future generations. Biblically, Moses's final great gift of leadership is to teach us how to live our last days with g'vurah. Our final great task is meeting death.

-Rabbi Judy Shanks

A middah is not an action; it represents a pool of sacred energy we identify within ourselves as a quality available to generate action (mitzvah) fostering greater holiness or wholeness in this world.

-Rabbi Marc Margolius

The word that Moses spoke was addressed to all Israel, to each one according to his or her character and age, his or her understanding and level of perception, each one according to his or her measure.

-Rabbi Simcha Bunem of Prszysucha

Moses begins his historical review not in Pharaoh's palace, at the Burning Bush, or on the far shores of the Reed Sea. Instead, he speaks first of the times when leading this Israelite nation became an untenable burden to him. Though covenanted to sanctity, the Israelites' behavior has swung repeatedly from goodness to transgression, from obedience to rebellion, from gratitude to relentless complaint. Moses relates how twice he desperately called out to God to relieve him of the full weight of the people's sins,
boundless needs, and expectations (Exodus 18:13-27; Numbers 11:11-15). And now, depleted just by the act of remembering, he cries out again:

-Rabbi Judy Shanks

Perhaps it is Moses's fulsome disappointment at being denied entrance to the Land that prompts him to speak of the pain the people inficted upon him . He begins his exhortation with a revelation of his own vulnerability and a judgment on the people who pushed him past his breaking point. Mussar teaches that the middah of g'vurah is connected with strict judgment and thus must always be counter-balanced and tempered by chesed ("loving-kindness").

-Rabbi Judy Shanks

Moses could have begun his great orations with chastisement and heaped scorn upon the children of those who repeatedly provoked his anger and resentment. Such a decision would have come from pure g'vurah, fueled solely by Moses's ego-driven desire to exonerate himself of guilt and responsibility. Such an approach would surely have alienated many who listened, whether from familial loyalty to their forebears or simply from resentment at his harsh tone. As he composes in the whole of the Book of Deuteronomy what becomes his ethical will, Moses must again and again consider how each word will be taken–and remembered–collectively and individuall by the
Isralites and the generations to come. Granted the blessings of time and the opportunity to speak at length, Moses skillfully blends g'vurah and chesed in necessary proportion–with messages ranging from castigating them about the spies early in Parashat D'varim to loft inspiration in Parashat Nitzavim–to impart the emotions he hopes to inspire and the memories important to implant.

And it is with chesed alone that Moses concludes the prelide to his greatest sermons. He hearkens back not decades but centuries to family memories, to the divine promises made to the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, blessing his people and calling on God to continue blessing them:

-Rabbi Judy Shanks

A Question to Ask

• Aks yourself: Which g'vurot, which "strengths," do I possess that allow me to bring goodness into my world or inspire others to do the same? Which gvurot provoke me to demean or alienate others? When do I most often find myself tempering my g'vurah with chesed, bringing kindness to my judgments? How can I increase my
  opportunities for connection through strength?

• Imagine your final days and the words you would want to share. Write them
  down as the beginning of your own ethical will, or gather your gvurah and say them now in the way each listener will best be able to hear.