Parshat Devarim
This Shabbat we begin the final book of the Torah, Devarim/Deuteronomy, in which Moses begins his five-weeks long farewell speech to the children of Israel. Picture it - there they are, preparing to cross the River Jordan and begin their conquest of the Promised Land – and Moses decides to keep them standing and listening for five weeks. Why?
One explanation can be found in the Greek name of this book, Deuteronomy, which means "Second Law". While in fact this translation is incorrect, in essence there is truth to it. We do not receive the “law”, the Torah, or the 10 Commandments, a second time. What we do receive is a retelling of the experiences that our people have been through since leaving Egypt and receiving the Torah.
Once before Moses had stood at the edge of the River Jordan hoping to enter the Land, yet that time the People were not ready. We had the incident with the spies and the subsequent punishment of wandering in the desert for 40 years until that generation died off. Fast forward 40 years and we are standing once again by the River Jordan. Moses might be remembering the last time he stood there, with the current people’s parents and grandparents. He now stands with a group of people who had never been slaves in Egypt and who did not experience receiving the Torah at Sinai.
Moses takes this time to bei’air et ha’torah ha’zot (1:5), to expound on or illuminate this Teaching/law. In other words, Moses decided to take his last moments on earth to leave an ethical will of sorts to his adopted children, the Children of Israel. Instead of sitting around and being bitter that he had led his people to the edge of a land that he was not allowed to enter, he chose to end his life with dignity by using his last moments as a gift, as teachable moments.
He begins by teaching that the new life that they are about to begin in the land of Israel— which includes obedience to God’s commandments—begins first in accepting responsibility for the Jewish past. That is why his first story is that of the spies – the parents of his listeners, the ones from whom they inherit the responsibility of being the Jewish people. He goes on to review the contents of the 10 Commandments and all the battles that were fought – both militarily and spiritually.
Parashat Devarim is always read upon the Shabbat preceding Tisha b’Av – which this year begins Monday night. On Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the month of Av, we mourn a series of sorrowful events that happened to our people throughout history – beginning with the destruction of the holy temple, going on the tragic ending of the Bar Kochba rebellion and in more “modern times” Tisha B’Av is said to be the date of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and the beginning of World War I. Tisha B’av is also the date upon which the spies told their lies about the goodness of the land of Israel.
I am always a bit sad when I begin the book of Deuteronomy and must begin anew the process of saying good-bye to Moses. But I take heart in the example he sets of how to leave this world with dignity. Moses leaves us with Devarim – the words of Torah that, according to Ibn Ezra, ensure the future of the Jewish people and according to Hosea, can return us to God.
1. Are you familiar with the idea of an ethical will? Here is a good article to learn about it: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/writing-and-reading-ethical-wills/
This dvar Torah has been printed in the Washington Jewish Week
