Ve'Ethchanan: Exceptionalism

Ve'Ethchanan: Exceptionalism 

Why should good things, exceptional things, happen to me and those I care about? The unpredictable nature of good fortune is not just.  Sometimes the law applies one way, sometimes another.  Luck is distributed over life like galaxies in the universe; mostly bland with bright spots that have black holes in their centers. 

Moses prays to be allowed to enter the promised land. His request his refused with an expression of annoyance: don't ask about this anymore. 

רַב־לָ֔ךְ אַל־תּ֗וֹסֶף דַּבֵּ֥ר אֵלַ֛י ע֖וֹד בַּדָּבָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה׃  “Enough! Never speak to Me of this matter again! 

Gd banished Moses from from the Promised Land.  Like all Gd decisions, this was irrevocable and it was for the best...in the long run.  That did not stop Moses from filing an appeal, thus modeling the process for attempting to re-open an adjudicated case despite the odds. 

The meaning of the first word of the parsha,  ve'ethchanan, וָאֶתְחַנַּ֖ן, derives from חֵ֖ן, chayn, usually translated as grace or favor. The first person to have found חֵ֖ן  chayn before Gd is Noah ( חֵ֖ן spelled backward).  Noah is permitted to survivive the flood that kills all other land animal life. 

חֵ֖ן chayn seems to be a field of favor, privilege granted to the beautiful  and, occasionally, the supplicant. It is a quality that exempts the  petitioner from considerations of fairness and history. Its allotment is  unpredictable; its unexpected gravity arises from nothingness ( like the Higgs boson). חֵ֖ן  chayn can be requested in certain close relationships.  The ask raises the stakes. Granting the request is an act of love. Rejection  shakes the foundation of the connection. The unreasonable nature of the petition may allow the bond's survival. 

When Jacob returns to Canaan from his time in Aram with Lavan, he buys and requests חֵ֖ן  chayn from Esau, that he not kill him, and allow him to return to the territory  Jacob acquired with subterfuge.    Is this the model for Moses? Chayn can allow the banished to return to the Promised Land.  This does not work for Moses. To Israel, Moses transfers the secret for obtaining grace: obedience to the law, especially monotheistic behavior toward the GD of the Hebrews.  This is the price of admission.  No rational principle can stand against Divine grace. 

The tribes of Israel are the heirs of  Gd's beneficence to their ancestors. Allegiance to the people and/or their Gd of oneness confers privileges. During the thousands of years of exile, these people continued to strive for  חֵ֖ן  chayn in a world in which their historic exceptionalism, recorded in stone tablets for all to see, was seen as a source of envy and (hence) a threat - a basis for persecution. 

 The natural variation among living beings is the basis  for the selection that drives evolution. As circumstances change, different traits become advantageous and are selected and survive. Retrospectively, every survivor is an exception, a recipient of חֵ֖ן chayn. 

Sometimes you have to ask for חֵ֖ן,  chayn. Sometimes you get it.