Parshas Devarim: Fire and Cloud

 Sefer Devarim begins with Moshe’s recounting of the journey of Bnei Yisrael after they received the Torah. It is interesting, however, that in the first perek of his recounting Moshe deliberates on two points: the creation of the system of judges and the reaction of the people during the reports of the scouts. The question, of course, is why these two items are so specifically detailed, and the answer might very well be because they demonstrate the contentious nature of Bnei Yisrael.

 Sefer Devarim is understood to be both a review of the people’s history and a prophecy of all that will come to Israel. Integral to that future would be both our structured community order and, unfortunately, our penchant for questioning Hashem and getting ourselves in trouble. This latter trait, alas, has seen us, time and again, in the cross-hairs of Hashem’s ire, at a point where Hashem finds it necessary to bring forth all of the dire warnings we have been given in order to remind us of the role we accepted at Sinai.

 When you look at Devarim as prophecy, the following pasukim stand out as having an interesting opportunity for interpretation:

 “Yet for all that, you have no faith in the Hashem your God, who goes before you on your journeys—to scout the place where you are to encamp—in fire by night and in cloud by day, in order to guide you on the route you are to follow. Upon hearing your loud complaint, Hashem became angry and vowed: Not one of those involved, this evil generation, shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers—" (Devarim 1:32-35).

 Moshe is speaking of a very specific incident and yet perhaps it could be understood as more. The place we are to encamp is our ultimate destination, the time when we achieve the status of a goy Kadosh and a mamleches kohanim. To reach that role, we must be able to truly recognize our dynamic relationship with Hashem. Sadly, however, like our ancestors, we often lack faith in Hashem and the future because we fail to recognize the fire by night or the cloud in the day; we fail to understand Hashem’s constant guidance as referenced by the fire and the cloud.

 The fire in the night represents – perhaps - those times that might be labeled difficult - in truth, tragic. Fire is hot and dangerous. Fire burns away the fringes. But think of a forest fire, a necessary act of nature so that the forest can grow back stronger and fresher. When we “have no faith in Hashem,” we fail to see that these challenges serve a purpose. It allows us to grow stronger.

 The cloud by day represents the good times, the times of success – the times when the Jewish people flourish and thrive – the day. Why then, you might ask, “a cloud”? In the good times, Hashem is also obscured. He hides behind a cloud so that we do not see Him directly; and He does so with good purpose. Hashem needs Bnei Yisrael to follow His path with absolute bechira, free will, and so He hides Himself away. But we, in our stubborn, human existence, fail to see beyond the cloud.

 Thus it is that Moshe’s words in Devarim 1:32-33 describe the future – our present – in which the Jewish people (and yes this means both frum people and not frum people) lack in emuna. That lack, that inability to hold on to our faith in God (although, thank God, there are many exceptions) leads to the delay in the ultimate redemption, and thus reflecting Devarim 1:35: “Not one of those involved, this evil generation, shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers—”

 It’s hard, if you pay attention to what is going on in the world, not to find correlations. Hashem gave us the opportunity to return to the Promised Land, but now, as our enemies grow bolder – as lies permeate the news with the conviction of fact – there are Jews themselves that are digging a hole for our people. We have, Baruch Hashem, many Kalevs and Yehoshuas, many people who understand the incredible nature of Eretz Yisrael and the relationship of Bnei Yisrael with Hashem. But there are far too many around the world who believe the lies about themselves – and it is both terrifying and depressing to watch because all of our history is already laid out for us if we look in the Torah.

 Right now, we seem to be approaching “night” and the fire seems to be getting hotter for Jews around the world. if there is one way to turn back the tidal wave of anti-Semitism, it is right here: Emuna. Belief – beyond belief. Not only must we embrace and strengthen our emunah, but we must use our emuna to fulfill the Torah.

 (Please note, it is clear in the Torah that the pillar of fire and the cloud were matters of Divine protection. This Dar Torah is just looking at them metaphorically in light of the world today.)

 MAZAL TOV! Parshas Devarim is the anniversary of these Divrei Torah, the first of which “Eleh Devarim”, was published in 5778 (2018).  Here is the link – https://cthedawn.blogspot.com/2018/07/these-are-words.html - and it is terribly sad how similar the message is – and to think how far that date was from October 7^th and the world we live in now!

 May Hashem Moshiach bmherya biyamenu. Have a beautiful Shabbas, which is a taste of the world to come.

Parshas Devarim* – Food, Water, and Dignity

Parshas Devarim* – Food, Water, and Dignity

Dedicated to a refuah shelaima for Chaya Sarah bas Esther Leah, Chaya Sofya Sara bas Mera, Tova bas Perel, Binyamin ben Simcha, and Betzalel Tzvi ben Chaya Yocheved.

This week’s Dvar Torah is going to start with a question that might sound a little foolish. What did Bnei Yisrael eat and drink in the Midbar? If you answered manna and water from the ba’eir Miriam (Miriam’s well), then you are probably wondering why such a simple question is being asked…

If Bnei Yisrael ate manna in the wilderness and had a constant source of water, then why does Moshe discuss – not once, but twice – offering to pay for food and water? This occurs twice in Perek Beis of Devarim, and this fact is, truly, food for thought. (Ok, I couldn’t resist).

Perek Beis begins with Hashem telling Moshe that the people have circled Har Seir long enough, and it is time to move forward. In doing so, they will be passing through the land of Bnei Esav. “You shall not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land not so much as a footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for an inheritance. You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat, and also water you shall buy from them with money, that you may drink” (Devarim 2:5-6).

The Perek then continues to describe the movements of the Israelites, including the fact that there were 38 years between Kadesh Barnea the water of Zered. It mentions interactions with Moav and Ammon, cousins who were not to be disturbed, until Bnei Yisrael comes to the land of the Amorites, where Sichon is king. Upon reaching the border of the Amorites, Hashem told Moshe that He has put the dread and fear of the Israelites into these people, but Moshe proceeds with diplomacy. He sends messengers and says “Let me pass through your country. I will keep strictly to the highway, turning off neither to the right nor to the left. What food I eat you will supply for money, and what water I drink you will furnish for money; just let me pass through” (Devarim 2:27-28).

The simple question is why did Bnei Yisrael need to buy food and water if they had manna and a continuous water source? The deeper question is what can we learn from the fact that Bnei Yisrael offered to buy food and water when it was not needed. 

This is, of course, pure postulation. Perhaps from Perek Beis of Devarim, we can learn about acting humbly and respectfully before other nations. The Jewish people are known as the Chosen nation. Hashem promised Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov that their descendants would be blessed. This does not mean that we have the right to be lofty over other nations, but rather that we have responsibilities as the mamleches kohanim, the kingdom of priests. 

In the verse that follows the recollection of being told to offer to buy food and water from Bnei Esav, Moshe states, “For the Lord, your God, has blessed you in all the work of your hand…” Bnei Yisrael was blessed in the wilderness with Divine care-taking. They were given food and water, but within the territory of another nation was not the time to exult. This was a lesson Moshe heeded when they then came to Sichon’s kingdom. Moshe knew already, for Hashem had told him, that this nation would be afraid of Bnei Yisrael, and that this is where the conquest would begin. Moshe, however, did not approach them in a bellicose manner, but rather with a fair and equitable offer. The Amorites refused and attacked and were defeated, but the significance is the fact that Bnei Yisrael behaved in a morally upstanding manner. 

The national implications can, and should, be reflected on an individual level. Just because one can, doesn’t mean one should. Having natural talents or specific skill-sets is valuable, of course. More important, however, is knowing how to treat others with respect and dignity. 

*Personal Parsha Prose began as a personal project I named Eilu Devarim in 2018 after leaving my job of 19 years. I wrote my first Parsha Essay on Parshas Devarim 2018. While some parshios were skipped some years, every parsha has at least 4 unique pieces. All Personal Parsha Prose, along with other writing, can be found on http://cthedawn.blogspot.com/

May you all have a beautiful and inspiring Shabbas.

Parshas Devarim: Learning from the Generation

It is, as many know, not a coincidence that we read parshas Devarim, the first portion of the final book of the Torah, on the Shabbas before Tisha B’Av (9th of Av), the day on which we mourn a series of calamities in Jewish life. Devarim is, as is noted in the opening phrase, a recording of the words that Moshe spoke to Bnei Yisrael before his death and their entry to eretz Yisrael, and he began by talking about the demand of the people for sending scouts into the Promised Land and their refusal to enter the Land after the scouts returned. 

There are many excellent reasons for this to be Moshe’s starting point, not the least of which is because the reactions of Bnei Yisrael to the report of the scouts were the reason the nation had to remain in the Wilderness for four decades. And yet, it seems a strange place to begin a review of the journey of Bnei Yisrael. Why wouldn’t Moshe begin at the beginning, with Hashem instructing him to lead them out of Mitzrayim, or with their experiences at the crossing of the Sea and camping at Har Sinai? On the other hand, if one is going to state the great infraction of the burgeoning Jewish nation, most of us think first to the Cheit Ha’egel, the Golden Calf, of which here there is no mention. 

In sefer Bereishis, humanity received two great punishments. They were utterly obliterated, with the exception of Noach, by the flood as a punishment for becoming corrupt and so depravedly self-centered that they wantonly stole and plundered from each other.  Not long after, another generation is struck down and scattered by a transformation in their communication (no longer able to speak the same language) as a punishment for raising a tower to make war against the Heavens. The difference in the two incidents, the reason that Hashem did not destroy humanity again at the Tower of Babel, was that Hashem could accept His creation fighting with Him but He could not accept His creation destroying one another. From here we are taught that Hashem values Bein Adam L’Chavero over Bein Adam L’Makom (interpersonal behaviors over those between a person and the Divine).

Perhaps remembering these distinctions will help us see the difference in Moshe’s perspective on the people's behavior during the Cheit Ha’egel verses their reaction to the scouts. The commentators explain that the people made the Golden Calf because they miscalculated Moshe’s time on Har Sinai. They expected him to have returned and so they panicked. They created the calf not to be a replacement for Hashem, but to be a replacement for Moshe, to be a new intermediary. They were wrong, of course, but they were also misguided and, perhaps, spiritually confused due to the idolatrous world that had surrounded them throughout their lives.

The Incident of the Scouts happened not long thereafter, but the exposure of the underlying flaw of the nation was far more insidious. They did not lack faith, they lacked trust and they lacked hope. They knew that Hashem exists and that Hashem was active in their lives, and yet somehow they could not believe that they could conquer and be successful in the Promised Land. More significantly, however, was that how they each reacted undermined the future of their fellow Jews.

While both the Chait Ha’egel and the reaction to the scouts appear to be issues of trusting Hashem, the comparison is in the ramifications. Like Migdal Bavel, the Cheit Haegel was a group of people but each was compromising their own individual relationship with the Divine. They joined together from peer pressure, but the actions had the greatest impact on themselves. Like the dor haflaga, the nation of the flood, the generation that came out of Egypt and who bemoaned their fate and cried out against their ability to conquer the Promised Land were determined to act in a way that put others in danger. Refusing to enter Eretz Yisrael was an action that affected not only them but their children and their future generations. Moaning that they wanted to go back to Mitzrayim demonstrated a psychological state that preferred the depravity of Egypt to the promises of living a full Torah life. (This fits even with the Midrashim that speak of the generation’s reaction as an attempt to stay in the environment of being secluded with Hashem, because truly acquiring Torah – and the benefits of Torah - mean taking it into the world, into real life, and living it.) 

The generation that came out of Egypt was in no means depraved as was the generation of the flood. They did not deserve to be annihilated in one fell swoop. But they were so deeply flawed that their actions had incredible ramifications on the lives of all of their descendants – for generations. The anniversary of the bewailing of the people as a reaction to the report of the scouts is Tisha B’Av. This is the date on which both Temples were destroyed, on which the Roman Emperor Hadrian plowed over the city, and on which the Bar Kochba Rebellion was decimated. This is the date on which Jews were kicked out of England in 1290 and on which the great Expulsion from Spain took place. This is the date of endless tragedy because the generation that came out of Mitzrayim could not take the lessons they had learned of Hashem’s ability and desire to perform miracles for them and take the first step to independent Torah living. 

Had we moved into Eretz Yisrael when Hashem first led the people there, the history of the world and the fate of the Jewish people would have been very different. The sages placed the reading of Devarim at this time, just before Tisha B’Av, because just as the action of that generation continues its impact on us, we need to read/hear Moshe’s words so that we can try to repair the exile that, in many ways, began before we even entered the land. 

These Are The Words (Devarim)

Eilu Devarim - These are the words...starts the first verse of the fifth book of the Torah. Perhaps that is what I should title this project that I have chosen to create for myself. These are the words, for I am starting a commitment to myself to write a brief essay on the weekly parsha. The goal is threefold. I am making a commitment to have a writing schedule. I am making a commitment to review the parsha each week. I am making a commitment to find my own voice, to reignite the fire I once had for delving into sources and sifting through the holy word (after ten years of writing almost solely as the voice of JewishTreats.org).

Perhaps this is an auspicious week for my journey into unleashing my personal commentary, for it is specifically stated in Devarim that Moshe’s words contain “every detail that God commanded to them (Bnei Yisrael)” (Devarim 1:3). The presentation, now in the first person, presents the four-decade experience of the Israelites from Moshe’s perspective.

And now for some of that more personal commentary....

The parsha of Devarim is always read at the time of Tisha B’Av, when the Jewish people mourn the loss of the Holy Tempe (twice) because the tragic tone of the day was set when the nation cried out in response to the report of the scouts sent to the Land of Canaan. (For a full recount of this event, here’s the Jewish Treat I wrote: http://www.jewishtreats.org/2008/09/forty-years-and-forgiveness.html).

Reading through the narrative of the scouts as retold by Moshe in Devarim, I was particularly struck by the words Moshe states as part of the people’s outcry. “Our brothers have shattered our hopes...” (Devarim 1:28).

What struck me most about this verse was its possible connection to recent stories describing how young Jewish adults travelled across the world to visit Israel on Birthright trips and then left the trips to protest the State of Israel. Let’s not talk about the theft involved (whether that be legitimate or simply the spirit of the law) in their taking a free trip in order to leave and work against the very purpose of the trip. Let’s talk about the distorted vision of these young Jewish adults.

When the Israelite scouts returned from the Promised Land, their first words were: “We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large...” (Numbers 13:27-28).

HOWEVER. What a terrible, poisonous word and it is a word that seems to capture the current relativism of public opinion about Israel. At the birth of the State of Israel, the Jewish people were rejoicing. Through long, hard years - interspersed with tragic, bloody wars - the Jewish people built a successful, vibrant, diverse Democracy in a land once desolate and corrupt (Ottoman era). And instead of saying that we have been blessed with a land flowing with milk and honey, a new voice has emerged decrying the fact that we are no longer the underdogs in the story. We were no longer weak, and somehow that is bad.

As the volume of the outrage against Israel grows louder, particularly from our own people, one can only wonder at how similar this is to the story of the scouts. Joshua and Caleb were the minority voices trying to remind the people of the promises made to them by God and of the magnificence of the Promised Land. Their voices were drowned out by the fear, the self-doubt, the lack of faith of the rest of the nation.

We today need to remember that God’s promises still hold true. That we are still a unique nation. And we need to stay strong when the cries of our people are overwhelming. Remember the words, “Good is the land that Hashem our God is giving us” (Devarim 1:25).