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In one of the final scenes of Schindler’s List, Oskar Schindler stands before the eleven hundred Jews whose lives he saved. The war is over. His factory is closed. And now he must flee. The men and women he rescued gather around him, eyes full of gratitude, ready to say goodbye to their unlikely savior. But Schindler can’t see what they see. He’s unraveling. He points to his car: “Ten people right there.” He takes off his gold Nazi pin: “Two people—at least one more.” And then, through sobs, he utters those heart wrenching words: “I could have gotten one more person… and I didn’t.” Stern, his trusted aide and friend, tries to comfort him: “There will be generations because of what you did.” But Schindler can’t hear it. All he sees are the missed opportunities, the people he didn’t save.
While this scene is certainly unique to Schindler’s circumstances, his angst is very human. When we reach the end of a chapter—whether it’s a project, a relationship, a career, or a season in our lives—we so often fixate on what we didn’t do. The moments we mishandled. The doors we didn’t open. The “if only’s” that echo in our minds. And in doing so, we blind ourselves to the lives we have touched, the good we have done, the holy work we have accomplished.
That’s exactly where Parshat Va’etchanan meets us. Moshe pleads—five hundred and fifteen times—to enter Eretz Yisrael. And God finally says, “You have spoken enough; do not speak to Me any more about this matter!” (Devarim 3:26). At first, it sounds harsh, almost cold. But Rav Hirsch reads it differently. God isn’t scolding Moshe; He’s comforting him: “You have done your part. Through your activity on earth you have fulfilled your duty, and you have attained your share of beholding the greatness and might of My rule” (Commentary on Devarim 3:26).
Still, Moshe can’t let it go. How can his life’s work be complete if he’s not leading the people into the Land? So, God brings him to the summit and tells him to look in every direction—west, north, south… and then east. East? Rav Shimon Schwab explains that eastward was the land Moshe had already conquered, the territory already part of Israel because of him. God’s message is crystal clear: “Moshe, stop staring at what you’ll never reach. Turn around. Look at what you’ve already built. You’ve already brought them in.”
And there’s more. Rav Menachem Leibtag notes that looking east meant literally turning his body around—physically shifting his perspective. Sometimes that’s what we have to do, too. We have to force ourselves to stop staring at the horizon of what might have been and instead look back at the road we’ve actually traveled, the victories already won, the lives already changed.
That’s the comfort of Shabbat Nachamu. God is telling us: Yes, the work is never done – “it is not your duty to finish the work” (Avot 2:16), but you are allowed to see that your work has mattered. You are allowed to stand where you are and recognize that it is already holy ground.
So, when you come to the end of a chapter, don’t just tally the things you’ve left undone. Turn around. See the people you’ve uplifted, the good you’ve brought into the world, the blessings you’ve left behind you. Let that be your nechama—your comfort. And then, with the strength of that knowledge, keep moving forward, holding fast to God’s words to Yehoshua: “Be strong and resolute; do not be terrified or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Yehoshua 1:9).
Shabbat Shalom!
-Rabbi Dan
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