Devarim
The book of Devarim consists of Moses’s speech to the people of Israel, as they prepare to enter the land of Canaan. In this first parsha, he describes their journeys in the desert, including the establishment of the judicial system, the incident of the spies, their encounters with the nations of Eisav, Moav, and Ammon and battles with Sichon and Og, and the giving of the Trans-Jordan territory to the tribes of Reuven, Gad and half of Menashe.
Maureen Kendler is Head of Educational Programming at the London School of Jewish Studies LSJS.
"These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel..." (Deuteronomy 1,1.) Words, words, words, as Hamlet might have said when confronted with this Sedrah and indeed the whole of the fifth book of the Torah. Words and nothing but. And delivering them all is the single and singular speechmaker, the eloquent, passionate, wordmeister Moses. The same man who in Exodus Chapter 4, verse 10 begged God not to send him to speak to Pharoah: "Bi Adoni, lo ish devarim anochi" - Please Lord, I am not a man of words - becomes in this week's Sedrah the man of words, to be remembered for all eternity for his astonishing swansong which completes the Torah. God promises Moses: "Anochi eheye im pichah, vehoraitichah asher tedaber - I will be with your mouth and I will instruct you what to speak." (Exodus 4: 12)
The final verse of the fourth book in the Torah, Bamidbar (Numbers) states: "These are the commandments and judgments that Hashem commanded by Moses's hand to the people." Yet Devarim opens with words. Now Moses gives the people much more than commandments and judgments. He gives wisdom, inspiration and explanation.
Can we track a certain irony from the man who begged to be excused from his original God-given task on the grounds of not being a man of words? He states it so beautifully in the previously quoted Exodus passage: "lo ish devarim anochi, gam mitmol gam mishilshom gam ma-az daberchah el avdechah - I am not a man of words, neither yesterday nor the day before - nor since you spoke to your servant!" His expressive answer somewhat undermines his own case.
I teach on the Torah L'Am (Torah for Everyone) course - familiar to many Limmudniks - which consists of six classes. For the first five of those classes, I do a great deal of talking. But in the final class I have the pleasure of hearing students who protested they could never possibly give a D'var Torah (Torah talk) speak eloquently and passionately on a passage of Torah they have prepared. That is a truly rewarding moment for me.
When Moses is called by God at the burning bush, God calls him twice - "Moses, Moses." Midrash Numbers Rabbah 14,21 comments that this can be interpreted "that he was Moses before God spoke to him and (the same) Moses after God had spoken to him" - as meek as ever. Moses does not alter from the beginning to the end. But another reading of the Exodus to Deuteronomy journey Moses made would reflect enormous changes. The opening thirty chapters of Deuteronomy comprise a formidable, inspirational farewell address which, according to Friedman's calculations (Richard Elliott Friedman, contemporary American Tanakh scholar/translator), would have taken about three hours. Truly God was with Moses "in his mouth." A model of empowerment for us all and a reminder to all teachers... to watch the quiet ones.
Another Voice - Lucinda Glasser
Lucinda is on the Taste of Limmud team.
Next Tuesday we will be commemorating Tisha B’Av (9th Av) by observing various mourning rituals. The following are nine examples of atrocities experienced by the Jewish people on the 9th Av.
1) The incident of the spies slandering the land of Israel with the subsequent decree to wander the desert for 40 years.
2) The destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem by Nevuchadnetzar, King of Babylon.
3) The destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE.
4) The fall of Betar and the end of the Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans 65 years later, 135 CE.
5) The Jews of England expelled in 1290.
6) Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade. Tens of thousands of Jews were killed, and many Jewish communities obliterated.
7) The Jews of Spain were expelled in 1492.
8) World War One broke out on Tisha B'Av in 1914 when Russia declared war on Germany. German resentment from the war set the stage for the Holocaust.
9) On Tisha B'Av, deportation began of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto.