Where was Moshe Rabbeinu buried? Har Navo? That is how it is recorded at the end of Devarim (34:1). However in this week's parsha, Rashi explains to us that Navo was named in honor of a pagan deity, and that name just had to go. That is how Chazal explain, (32:37-39) "And the [tribe] of Reuven built Cheshbon, and Elaleh and Kiriathaim, and Nevo and Baal Meon - their names being changed and Sibmah and they gave their names to the cities that they built". Yet it would seem that we could not rebrand Nevo, that the new name simply did not take, and even the Almighty conceded to leave the pagan name in place and forever associated with none less than the greatest of all nevi'im.
Why does the Torah record what seems to be a fruitless and failed attempt at communal change? When viewed in context of the entire parsha, we may begin to appreciate that perhaps this was part of a larger lesson that Moshe was imparting to his generation. If correct, then the teaching begins with Moshe's negotiations with the tribes of Reuven and Gad, as they request to leave their families and flocks on the eastern side of the Yarden.
Moshe Rabbeinu reviews and confirms the obligations of the two tribes. Their commitment to fight alongside their brethren to capture the mainland would retroactively earn them the right to settle their families and flocks earlier than anyone else. Moshe (32:24) records this benefit, "Build your cities for your children and spaces for your flocks, and [keep your promises]" However Rashi points out that Moshe was delivering a "shtoch" as he was firming up the deal. He was, in a not-so-veiled critique, correcting their prior presentation, (32:16) "And they approached [Moshe] and they said, "We will build spaces for our sheep and cities for our children". Moshe let them know that he was profoundly disappointed with their priorities. Whereas my untrained ear would never pick this up, Moshe understood that they had planned to build the spaces for the sheep first. This concerned Moshe enough to deliver a stinging rebuke, one that will be heard by all Jews at all times.
In years gone by I had felt that the criticism was unduly harsh and undeserved. Did Moshe really believe that these Jews would protect their sheep before making their children safe? Are we to believe that this was a Freudian slip, that it truly represented their priorities, and that they cared for the sheep more than their children. Did they deserve to be forever censured? Yet this year my mind for some reason took me to a different place and I came to an appreciation of Chazal's insight. I have no doubt these tribes treasured every accomplishment and milestone of their children far more than the fleece and meat of their sheep with all the wealth that it brought. But consider this: every yom tov when they would travel to Yerushalyim and the children would ask for hours, "Are we there yet? Why do we live so far from Yerushalyim?" and undoubtedly we would hear on the very same trip, "why can't we stay home this time?", "why can't we visit Yerushalayim more often and stay longer?"
Whereas their response to Moshe may have been some unthinking and unfortunate gaffe, the honest and perhaps frequent parental answer would be quite different. Every aliya laregel would indeed communicate that our wealth, our family business, our financial security, and our large premises all keep us far from Yerushalayim and make our trips there difficult and less frequent. Truth be told, over the course of the fourteen years the fathers were absent even if only for periods at a time. Undoubtedly their children would need "help learning a daf" or had to "sit alone in shul" or wonder before retiring "where did abba call from?", and they would find out that it is all because of the sheep.
That is the meaning of the "shtoch", of the censure. It was a message that Moshe Rabbeinu wanted to bring home to his children before they signed the dotted line.
So what happened with Har Nevo? That completes this teaching for all times. Sometimes names, and certainly ideas, are so well embedded that even the attempt of the conquering tribes could not change them. That is what Moshe Rabbeinu was attempting to teach us in so many ways.