After leaving Camp Ramah on Sunday, Abe and I drove to Asheville, North Carolina for a few days of vacation. While there, we hiked up Mount Pisgah, a part of the Appalachian Mountain Range. We hiked in perfect weather straight up the mountain to a perfectly clear summit and looked out, all around us, to a perfect view. As I stood there, at 5,722 feet, I thought about the name of the mountain upon which I stood.
Mount Pisgah is another name used in the Torah for Mount Nevo, the mountain that Moshe stands upon as he looks into the Promised Land. He sees the land, the land to which he has brought his people but that he will never enter. In fact, it is the mountain upon which Moshe dies. On the one hand, this mountain represented perfect serenity and nature at its absolute finest, but on the other hand, it represented unfulfilled dreams.
The fairy tale ending of the story would be that Moshe entered Canaan with the Israelites after having shepherded them for 40 years, and they all lived happily ever after together. But that’s not real life. The spiritual challenge within that reality is working towards something even if you don’t know if you’ll see the end result. Moshe stood atop the mountain and literally got a glimpse of the land. He got a glimpse into the world into which he was ushering his people, even though he didn’t go in.
We don’t always get to see the fullest fruits of our labor. We are mistaken by thinking that the reward for our work is being present for the full outcome. Hopefully, though, we get a glimpse.
And so I hiked up the mountain and I saw a glimpse of a world that perhaps is further in the distance than I’d like, that perhaps is a world that I may not fully live into. It’s a world where the air is entirely clear and there’s no question about what is beautiful or right and what is not. It’s a world where everyone says “Good morning” as they pass each other, up and down the mountain, and a world where you give a hand to a person for whom ascending is a bit more challenging than it is for you. And it’s a world where we are all working towards a goal, a goal of entry into the Promised Land, even if we might not merit being there. That’s the hike I climb.
