A Pessimistic Outlook for Am Yisroel? Chas Veshalom!

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Reading the second part of Parshat Vayelech was somewhat depressing.

First Hashem tells Moshe, Perek 31 Pesukim 16-19. "Hashem said to Moses, "Behold, you will lie with your forefathers, but this people will rise up and stray after the gods of the foreigners of the Land, in whose midst it is coming, and it will forsake Me and annul My covenant that I have sealed with it. May anger will flare against it on that day and I will forsake them, and I will conceal My face from them and they will become prey, and many evils and distresses will encounter it. It will say on that day, Is it not because my G-d is not in my midst that these evils have come upon me? But I will surely have concealed My face on that day because of all the evil that it did, for it had turned to gods of others."

Here is the last talk Moshe gave the people before his death.

"So it was that when Moses finished writing the works of this Torah into a book, until their conclusion. Moses commanded the Levites, the bearers of the Ark of the Covenant of Hashem, your G-d and it shall be there for you as a witness. For I know your rebelliousness and your stiff neck, Behold while I am still alive, with you today, you have been rebels, against Hashem - and surely after my death. Gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers and I shall speak these words in to their ears and call heaven and earth to bear witness against them. For I know that after my death, you will surely act corruptly, and you will stray from the path that I have commanded you, and evil shall befall you at the end of days . If you do what is evil in the eyes of Hashem to anger him through your handiwork."

The heavens and earth are called upon as witnesses. Perek 32 pasuk 1. "Haazinu Hashamayim VeAdabera, Vesishma Haretz Imrai Fi". Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and may the earth hear the words of my mouth.

Perek 31 Pasukim 19-21. Heaven and earth are witnesses to the fact that G-d brought us to the Land promised to our forefathers and heaven and earth are witnesses when we have annulled the Covenant.

May G-d save us from natural disasters. Can we prove Moshe wrong? Please G-d, You are a righteous judge. It's not really fair if our rebelliousness is pre ordained. Let us really focus on the Mitzvoth and let these lessons come via the Mitzvoth such as Shemittah and Maaser and not through curses. Curses are in fact also for our ultimate good. The whole picture is hidden to us. We don't see the silver lining. We bless G-d for the good and for the bad. Curses however, are very painful. For an example on how we learn lessons by keeping Shemittah that is equivalent to lessons learned from a "curse" such as the expulsion of Gush Katif, please read previous blog on the Mitzvah of Hakhel and the blog about how pooling our resources to help the people of Gush Katif is similar to the Shemittah year.

G-d is a fair judge and gives us free choice. He asks us to choose life. We have had a taste of the curse from the expulsion of Gush Katif. That's enough. Let us focus on the Mitzvoth and reap the blessings!