Just before Moshe (Moses) sees the burning bush (sneh), the Torah tells us that he leads his flock to the farthest end (ahar) of the desert.  (Exodus 3:1)   

Commentators offer different suggestions as to the meaning of ahar.  Saadia Gaon (Babylonia, 10th C.) understands the text as denoting a specific spot—at the end of the desert—where the sneh was located.  Hizkuni (R. Chizkia ben Manoach, Nothern France, 13th C.) notes that ahar teaches us that Moshe took his flock just beyond the desert, as it was there that he was able to find vegetation for his sheep.  

While Saadia Gaon’s and Hizkuni’s comments teach us that ahar points to a physical place, Seforno (R. Ovadia Seforno, Italy, 16th C.) sees ahar as illustrating why Moshe was suitably prepared for the encounter with God.  Moshe, goes far away, for only there could he properly meditate before encountering God.   

But, it was left to the master commentary, Rashi (R. Shlomo ben Yitzhak, Northern France, 11th C.), to offer a different approach to the question of ahar.  According to Rashi, Moshe took his flock beyond the desert (ahar) to graze.  It was there, in no man’s land, land owned by no one, that Moshe felt he had the right to graze his flock, knowing that his animals would steal from no one.   

Interestingly, the word ahar appears in yet another moment of deep human meeting with God.  When the angel of God tells Avraham (Abraham) not to sacrifice Yitzhak (Isaac), Avraham sees a ram caught in the thicket.  There too, the Torah states in an unusual way, that the ram was –ahar.  (Genesis 22:13)  Perhaps the Torah uses the term ahar to again teach that the ram was “beyond” (ahar) in the sense that it belonged to no one.  Being ownerless, Avraham felt he could take it and sacrifice it instead of Yitzhak.  

An important message emerges from these incidents.  One would imagine that in a moment of religious ecstasy, one could use whatever means at his/her disposal to rendezvous with God.  After all, shouldn’t one be able to expropriate property from anyone if it is needed in the worship of the Lord?  The word ahar powerfully rejects this idea.  The pathway to reaching out to God involves extreme sensitivity to our fellow person.  In a deeply ecstatic spiritual moment, both Moshe and Avraham are careful not to connect with God by taking that which belonged to another.

 Seforno’s comment is important, as it teaches that encountering God requires spiritual preparation.  Rashi’s understanding goes further.  Ahar teaches that the ultimate preparation in engaging God is how one acts towards another.  As Rabbi Yisrael Salanter once said, on the road to worshipping God, one should be extremely careful not step on others along the way. 

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Avi Weiss