The Weekly Parsha

[John Fisher]

Each week I will post the weekly Parsha here along with the summary from Chabad.org

[John Fisher]

Devarim
Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22

On the 1st of Shevat (37 days before his passing), Moses begins his repetition of the Torah to the assembled Children of Israel, reviewing the events that occurred and the laws that were given in the course of their 40-year journey from Egypt to Sinai to the Promised Land, rebuking the people for their failings and iniquities, and enjoining them to keep the Torah and observe its commandments in the land that G-d is giving them as an eternal heritage, into which they shall cross after his death.

Moses recalls his appointment of judges and magistrates to ease his burden of meting out justice to the people and teaching them the word of G-d; the journey from Sinai through the great and fearsome desert; the sending of the Spies and the people's subsequent spurning of the Promised Land, so that G-d decreed that the entire generation of the Exodus shall die out in the desert. "Also against me," says Moses, "was G-d angry for your sakes, saying: You, too, shall not go in there."

These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan, in the desert, in the Arava, opposite Suf, between Paran, and Tofel, and Lavan, and Hazerot, and Di-Zahav.

It is eleven days' journey from Horeb (Sinai) by the way of Mount Se'ir to Kadesh-Barnea.

And it carne to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the fìrst day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that G-d had given him in commandment to them

-- after he had slain Sichon the king of the Emori, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtarot in Edre'i --

Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this Torah, saying:

The L-rd our G-d spoke to us in Horeb, saying: "You have long enough surrounded this mountain.

"Turn away, and take your journey, and go to the mountain of the Emori, and to all the places near it, in the plain, in the hills, and in the lowland, and in the Negev, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and the Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which G-d swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them."

Moses Delegates the Leadership of Israel

And I spoke to you at that time, saying: "I am not able to bear you myself alone.

"G-d your G-d has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven for multitude. (May G-d, the G-d of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!) --

"How can I myself alone bear your care, and your burden, and your strife?

"Bring wise and understanding men, known among your tribes, and I will place them at your head."

And you answered me, and said: "It is good, this thing which you have spoken, to do."

So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.

And I charged your judges at that time, saying: "Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Do not give anyone special recognition when rendering judgment; hear the small as well as the great; fear no man; for the judgment is G-d's. And the thing that is too hard for you, bring it to me, and I will hear it."

And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.

The Sending of the Spies

We departed from Horeb, and we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which you saw, by the way of the mountain of the Emori, as G-d our G-d commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-Barnea.

And I said to you: "You are come to the mountain of the Emori, which G-d our G-d gives to us. Behold, G-d your G-d has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as G-d, the G-d of your fathers has said to you; fear not, nor be discouraged."

And you all approached me, and said: "We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us back word by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come."

And the thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one for a tribe. And they turned and went up to the mountain, and came to the wadi of Eshkol, and searched it out.

And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us back word, and said: It is a good land which G-d our G-d gives us.

Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of G-d your G-d.

And you murmured in your tents, and said: "Because G-d hates us, He has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Emori, to destroy us. Whither shall we go up? Our brethren have made our heart faint, saying: The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the giants there."

Then I said to you: "Dread not, neither be afraid of them. G-d your G-d who goes before you, He shall fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes; and in the wilderness, where you have seen how that G-d your G-d carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place!"

Yet in this thing you did not believe G-d your G-d, Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in a cloud by day.

G-d Decrees that Moses' Generation Shall Not Enter the Land

And G-d heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying: "Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land, which I swore to give to your fathers. Save Caleb the son of Yefunne; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he has trodden upon, and to his children, because he has wholly followed G-d."

Also with me was G-d angry for your sakes, saying: "You, too, shall not enter there.

"Rather, Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

"And your little ones, concerning whom you said they should be a prey, and your children who in that day had no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

"But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Suf."

The Attempt to Storm the Land

Then you answered and said to me: "We have sinned against G-d; we will go up and fight, according to all that G-d our G-d commanded us." And you girded on every man his weapons of war, and ventured to go up into the hill.

And G-d said to me: "Say to them: Neither go up, nor fight; for I am not among you; lest you be smitten before your enemies."

So I spoke to you; and you would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of G-d, and went presumptuously up into the hill.

And the Emori, who dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Se'ir, as far as Horma.

And you returned and wept before G-d; but G-d would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear to you. So you dwelled in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you abode there. Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Suf, as G-d spoke to me; and we went about mount Se'ir many days.

After Forty Years in the Desert

G-d spoke to me, saying: "You have compassed this mountain long enough. Turn northwards.

"And command the people, saying: You are to pass through the border of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Se'ir; and they shall be afraid of you: take good heed to yourselves. Do not provoke them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Se'ir to Esau for a possession.

"You shall buy food of them for money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water of them for money, that you may drink.

"For G-d your G-d has blessed you in all the work of your hand; He knows your walking through this great wilderness: these forty years G-d your G-d has been with you, you have lacked nothing."

And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, who dwelt in Se'ir, through the way of the Arava from Elat and from Etzyon-Gever, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

Bypassing Moab

And G-d said to me: "Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.

(The Emim dwelt there in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, like the Anaqim; who also were considered Refa'im as the Anaqim; but the Moabim call them Emim. The Horim also dwelt in Se'ir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, and they destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their place; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which G-d gave to them.)

"Now rise up, and get you over the wadi Zered." And we went over the wadi Zered.

And the days in which we came from Kadesh-Barnea, until we were come over the wadi Zered, were thirty eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as G-d swore to them. For indeed the hand of G-d was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed. So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people.

Bypassing Ammon

And, that G-d spoke to me, saying: "You are to pass over through Ar, the border of Moab, this day.

"And when you come near, opposite the children of Ammon, harass them not, nor contend with them; for I will not give you of the land of the children of Ammon any possession, because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.

(That also was considered a land of Refa'im: Refa'im dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonim call them Zamzumim. A people great, and many, and tall, like the Anaqim; but G-d destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their place; as He did to the children of Esau, who dwelt in Se'ir, when he destroyed the Horim from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead until this very day. And the Avvim who dwelt in Hazerim, as far as 'Azza; Kaftorirn who came from Kaftor, destroyed them and dwelt in their stead.)

War with the Emori

"Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the wadi Arnon; behold, I have given into your hand Sichon the Emorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.

"This day will I begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of you, and shall tremble, and quake because of you."

And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemot to Sichon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying:

"Let me pass through your land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn to the right hand nor to the left. You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through with those who follow me (as the children of Esau who dwell in Se'ir, and the Moabim who dwell in Ar, did to me) until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land which G-d Our G-d gives us."

But Sichon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for G-d your G-d hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as is apparent this day.

And G-d said to me: "Behold, I have begun to give Sichon and his land before you; begin to possess, that you may inherit his land."

Then Sichon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Yahaz.

And G-d our G-d delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. And we took all his cities at that time, and devoted to destruction every city, the men, and the women, and the little ones; we left none remaining; only the cattle we took for a prey to ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.

From Aro'er, which is by the edge of the wadi of Arnon, and from the city that is by the wadi, as far as Gilaad, there was not one city too strong for us: G-d our G-d delivered all to us:

Only to the land of the children of Ammon you did not come, nor to any place of the torrent of Yabbok, nor to the cities in the mountains, nor to whatever place G-d our G-d forbade us.

The Battle at Bashan

Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edre'i.

And G-d said to me: "Fear him not; for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sichon king of the Emori, who dwelt at Heshbon."

So G-d our G-d delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people; and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, sixty cities, all the region of Argov, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides unwalled towns a great many. And we devoted them to destruction, as we did to Sichon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.

And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Emori the land that was on this side of the Jordan, from the wadi of Arnon to mount Hermon; (which Hermon the Zidonim call Siryon; and the Emori call it Senir;) all the cities of the plain, and all Gilaad, and all Bashan, as far as Salkha and Edre'i, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Refa'im; behold, his bed is a bed of iron; is it not in Rabba of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits is the length of it, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.

Two and a Half Tribes Receive the Lands East of the Jordan

And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aro'er, which is by the wadi Arnon, and half mount Gilaad, and its cities, I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gaddites.

And the rest of Gilaad, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Menasseh; all the region of Argov, with all Bashan, which was called the land of Refa'im. Ya'ir the son of Menasseh took all the country of Argov as far as the border of the Geshuri and the Ma'akhati; and called them (that is the Bashan) after his name, Havvot-Ya'ir, to this day. And I gave Gil'ad to Machìr.

And to the the Reubenites and to the Gaddites I gave from Gil'ad to the wadi Arnon, the middle of the wadi as a border, as far as the torrent of Yabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon; the Arava also and the Jordan, as a border, from Kinneret as far as the Sea of the Arava, even the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisga eastward.

And I commanded you at that time, saying: "G-d your G-d has given you this land to possess it; [but first you must] pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are fit for the war. Only your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know that you have much cattle), shall abide in your cities which I have given you. Until G-d gives rest to your brethren, as well as to you, and until they also possess the land which G-d our G-d has given them beyond the Jordan; then shall you return every man to his possession, which I have given you.

And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying: "Your eyes have seen all that G-d your G-d has done to these two kings; so shall G-d do to all the kingdoms into which you will pass. You shall not fear them: for G-d your G-d, He shall fight for you."

[Elaine Friedland]

Parshat Dvarim 5769
By Adina Gerver
July 25, 2009
The term tzedakah, commonly understood as “charity,” serves as a catch-all for many biblical commandments
designed to help the poor, including leaving harvest gleanings and the edges of fields for the poor, providing interestfree
loans, forgiving loans and tithing.1 The word “tzedek ,” which has the same root as tzedakah, appears carrying its
now-common meaning of “justice” for the first time in Parshat Dvarim . Though closely related linguistically, these
two concepts each hold up a different ideal of righteousness in the Torah and in the eyes of the Rabbis.
One way that the obligation of tzedakah has been articulated is through a prioritization of giving based on
relationships and proximity. Reading the commandment to “lend money to My people…[and] exact no interest from
them,”2 Rabbi Yosef, a 4th-century Talmudic sage, says that the phrase “My people” teaches us that:
[Given a choice between giving money to] a Jew and a non-Jew—the Jew has preference; the poor or the
rich—the poor takes precedence; your poor [i.e. relatives] and the [general] poor of your town—your poor
come first; the poor of your city and the poor of another town—the poor of your own town have prior
rights.3
This endorsement of prioritization of those closest to you in tzedakah is quite different from the mandate for tzedek
that appears in our parshah, where God clearly forbids favoritism in judging legal disputes:
[Judges must] …decide justly [“ush’fatitem tzedek ”] between any man and a fellow Israelite or a stranger.
You shall not be partial in judgment: hear out low and high alike.4
Why, in giving tzedakah , are our personal feelings of responsibility for those closest to us allowed to dominate, while
in judging—tzedek—we are commanded to ignore those feelings that arise from the very real concentric circles of
obligation around us?
The difference may lie in differing natures of obligation. The commandment to give generously is addressed to
individuals and is dependent on their unselfish willingness to share their wealth. The Rabbis understood that if we
feel kinship with a recipient, we give more; their understanding of human nature allows for the pull of personal
relationships to affect how and when individuals choose to give. Not so with the commandment to establish a just
court system, which is addressed to an entire community, where there is no room for individual feelings of closeness
or responsibility towards certain groups, be they family, neighbors, rich or poor. To the contrary, Jewish sources
emphasize that an unbiased court system is all that exists to protect the rights of the minority stranger against those
of the judge’s brother.
1 Leviticus 19:9-10, Leviticus 23:22, Exodus 22:24, Deuteronomy 15:1-11 and Deuteronomy 26:12-13.
2 Exodus 22:24.
3 Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Bava Metzia 71a.
4 Deuteronomy 1:16-17.

Unfortunately, most poor people today—four billion around the world—live outside the shelter of the law.5
Participating in informal economies and vulnerable to abuse and oppression, they lack the legal rights and protection
that would enable them to prosper. For the marginalized poor, tzedek means more than making sure that judges are
unbiased. It means making sure that courts are geographically accessible; that people are educated about their legal
rights and how the justice system functions; and that those without financial means can secure legal representation.
A just court system is not only a crucial component of every fair society and necessary for protecting the rights of the
underprivileged, but also critical to eradicating poverty in the long term. According to the United Nations, it is the
right that “guarantees all others,” creating the conditions that ensure the success of development initiatives.6
The establishment of fair judiciary systems in countries that lack them requires collaboration between local and
national governments, international organizations such as the United Nations, regional bar associations and local
organizations that can both monitor judicial processes and empower community members to understand their legal
rights.7 Grassroots NGOs around the world are working to educate people about their legal rights and help them
overcome violations of their rights in the courts.
Tzedek and tzedakah are clearly linked, and not only linguistically. At its essence, tzedakah is not about handouts to
the poor compelled by pity or obligation; at its core, tzedek is not about deciding disputes in court. Both are about
righting the wrongs that are all too pervasive in our world. They are about justice, tempered with a realistic
acknowledgment of human reality. These practices should be mutually enriching: We should strive to extend the
ideal of unbiased tzedek to our own personal practice of tzedakah ; and in our pursuit of justice around the world we
should embrace the ethics of personal responsibility embodied by the Jewish tradition of giving. By combining the
highest ideals of both practices in our pursuit of each, we pursue justice in its purest and most meaningful form.
--------------
5 Report of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, Volume 1, 2008, The Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor and the United
Nations Development Programme, p. 2. http://www.undp.org/publications/Making_the_Law_Work_for_Everyone%20(final%20rpt).pdf .
6 Ibid., p. 5. (For a description of the problems in a country without an unbiased, independent judiciary, see “Sri Lanka’s Judiciary: Politicised Courts,
Compromised Rights,” Asia Report #172. International Crisis Group , June 30, 2009. http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=6186&l=1)
7 Ibid., p. 10. See pp. 62, 83-84, and 87 for information on the bodies that can help make permanent, lasting change in the arena of free and unbiased
judiciaries.

Author:Adina Gerver, a freelance writer and editor, spent 2008-2009 studying at the Pardes Institute and the
Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. She is working at Beit Morasha of Jerusalem this summer, and
previously served as assistant director of the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning and program officer
at the Covenant Foundation. Adina enjoys writing about Jewish legal texts, mental health and prayer, and
gender as a lens for exploring religious and ethnic identities. She has a B.A. in History and Women's
Studies from Harvard University, and has studied at the Drisha Institute, Midreshet Lindenbaum and
Yeshivat Hadar. Adina can be reached at [e-mail].
http://ajws.org/what_we_do/education/publications/dvar_tzedek/5769/...

[Elaine Friedland]

According to Jewish tradition, every verse in the Bible has many levels of interpretation. Each verse has a literal meaning, the plain and simple message that the written text conveys (pshat). At times, the text itself raises questions that allude to interpretations other than the literal meaning (remez). On occasion, these questions are responded to by citing a Midrash, a legendary interpretation of the Bible, which attempts to resolve the disparities in the text (drash). Finally, there are instances where the verse suggests deep and intense new meanings that are generally hidden from the rational mind and are often beyond the ken of mere mortals (sohd).

http://njop.org/html/BEREISHITH5767-2006.html

[Elaine Friedland]

Parshat Va’etchanan 5769 (
By Rachel Farbiarz
August 1, 2009




As the Israelites are poised to enter Canaan in Parshat Va’etchanan, Moses finally finds his tongue and speaks at length with his people, instructing them on his legacy. Central to Moses’s oration is the insistence that the events of his life have unfurled before the people’s “own eyes.” As Moses retells it, his audience’s presence was essential to the covenant at Sinai: “The Lord your God sealed a covenant with us at Horeb. Not with our ancestors did the Lord seal this covenant but with us—we who are here today, all of us alive.” And with reference to the miracles of the Exodus, Moses declaims: “You yourself were shown to know that the Lord is God[.]”1

Moses’s insistence, however, is more fiction than fact. For the most part, his audience was not present at Sinai or the Exodus. The generation to which he speaks was born in the desert, to parents now buried beneath its sands. And it was those parents who saw the revelation at Sinai, who trod the dry depths of the split sea.

This peculiar misidentification—what commentator Robert Alter calls a “slide of identification between one generation and another”2—cannot be understood as the slip of an old, addled mind. Instead, I would proffer that this “slide” is an exceptionally powerful means of laying the experiential foundation for the Torah’s core injunction against oppression of the stranger.

Mentioned no fewer than 36 times throughout Scripture, the Torah’s exhortations on the treatment of the stranger often appear with a companion explanation: Heed the stranger’s treatment because “you know the feelings of a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”3 But this explanation, like Moses’s feint, is premised on a sleight-of-hand. Our forebears were enslaved in Egypt, but we—their far-distant progeny—were not.

Moses’s generational slide begs to be interpreted less as a faithful description of historical fact and more as a normative charge to the nation. Through the frisson of misidentification, the desert generation—and we, Moses’s further-future audience—are implored to reach past the boundaries of self and become the witnesses whom the great leader invokes. We are goaded into taking on the existential reality of our enslaved ancestors.

Moses has set us up well. With this shrewd rhetorical strategy, he has urged us to harness the imaginative effort that empathy requires, training us in the mechanism for satisfying the Torah’s exhortations on the stranger. Just as we have transported ourselves past time’s boundaries to inhabit our enslaved ancestors, so too can we transport ourselves past the boundaries of ethnicity, nation, means and tongue that separate us from the contemporary stranger. The “slide of identification” can thus be understood as a practice-run, through which Moses’s audience limbers up to the imaginative exertions that our duties to the stranger demand.

But it is not only empathy’s mechanism of imaginative engagement that is revealed in Moses’s generational elision. The elision further helps us understand that empathy is work, that there is something awkward and uncomfortable about its habit. We must be schooled in its compulsory nature no less than 36 times, tutored in its essentialness through the heuristic of self-deception: It was you who were a slave; it is you who knows the heart of a stranger. Moses’s elision thus helps us internalize that empathy is not always and already there, burrowed inside like a jack-in-the-box, awaiting an opening to spring forth. It is rather an iterative effort that demands rehearsal and repetition.

And so too with us, modern Jews in a global world, who may take up the fight against the oppression of the world’s strangers—in lands not our own, on behalf of people facing trials so alien from ours; we cannot rely on an axiomatic claim that we understand the stranger’s plight because we, too, were strangers in Egypt. We know this claim to be untrue; or at least, we know that this claim reflects a truth in need of tending.

How then do we maintain the psychological muscle that Moses’s generational slide helped to build? How do we stave off its atrophy?

We can take a cue from Moses, who at the end of his life finally speaks freely to his people, telling them “their” story through his own and those of their forebears. To engage the empathic muscle, we too should immerse ourselves in stories. We should seek out the tales of the oppressed stranger, read her literature, ferret out her testimony. We should find ways to see her face when she speaks—through film, through lectures, through travel. We should train ourselves to pick out those igniting details from dry reports of facts, figures, troop movements and aid shipments.

And when that empathic muscle is flexed, our imaginations gripped, we should charge ourselves with the knowledge that for Moses we will never—and should never—cease being the strangers of his story.


Rachel Farbiarz is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, as well as of an Orthodox yeshivah high school. Rachel worked as a clerk for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, after which she practiced law focusing on the civil rights and humane treatment of prisoners. In this role, she helped to improve the basic living conditions on California's death row at San Quentin. Rachel currently lives with her husband in Washington, D.C., where she works on her own writing and art. Rachel can be reached at [e-mail].


1 Deuteronomy 4:3; 5:3; 4:35.
2 Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses, p. 872. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2004.
3 Exodus 23:9; Studies on the Haggadah from the Teachings of Nechama Leibowitz. Yitshak Reiner & Shmuel Peerless (eds.) New York: Urim Pubs., 2002, p. 100.

http://action.ajws.org/site/R?i=67Jb-FMvDe_uu5sNop1Teg..
©2009 American Jewish World Service. AJWS is committed to a pluralistic view of Judaism and honors the broadest spectrum of interpretation of our texts and traditions. The statements made and views expressed in this commentary are solely the responsibility of the author.

[Elaine Friedland]

The Destruction of Jerusalem and Zealotry::

(The only Torah studies that are permitted on the fast day of Tish'ah b'Av are sombre topics connected with the sadness of the day. A major aggadic source concerning the destruction of Jerusalem follows. Obviously, it is more important for its ethical content than for its strict historical accuracy. If the story about the interview between Rabban YoĤanan ben-Zakkai and Vespasian is true then these events took place in the year 68 CE, the 'year of four emperors'. Modern scholarship thinks that Yavneh was a Roman concentration camp where 'left-wing' defectors were interned.) http://www.bmv.org.il/shiurim/hashkafah/special2.asp



BABYLONIAN TALMUD, TRACTATE GITTIN, FOLIO 55b - 56b.

Jerusalem was ruined because of Kamtza and bar-Kamtza. There was a man the name of whose friend was Kamtza and the name of whose enemy was bar-Kamtza. He arranged a banquet and told his steward to invite Kamtza; but he invited bar-Kamtza. When he discovered bar-Kamtza seated [at the banqueting table], he said, 'I do not like you. What are you doing here? Leave!'
[Bar-Kamtza] replied, 'Since I am already here let me stay and I will pay you for everything that I eat and drink.'
He responded, 'No!'
He said, 'I will give you half the cost of this banquet.'
He said, 'No!'
He said, 'I will refund you the whole cost of this banquet.'
He said, 'No!' And he grabbed him by the arm and threw him out.

[Bar-Kamtza] thought, 'There were rabbis present who did not protest [at the way I was treated] which means that they agreed [that such treatment is acceptable]. So I shall go and inform on them to the emperor.' He went and told the emperor that the Jews were about to revolt against him. [The emperor] said, 'Prove it!' [Bar-Kamtza] said, 'Send them a sacrifice: they will refuse to offer it.' So he sent [bar-Kamtza] with a choice calf. On the way he caused a blemish on the animal's mouth (some say it was on the animal's eyes) in a manner which we [Jews] consider as constituting a blemish but which they [the non-Jews] do not.

The sages were inclined to accept the sacrifice in order to preserve the peace [by appeasing the régime], but Rabbi Zekharyah ben-Eukolos said that people would assume that blemished animals could be offered on the altar! So they thought they should kill [bar-Kamtza] so that he could not inform the emperor, but Rabbi Zekharyah told them that people would assume that those who blemish a sacrifice must be executed.

Rabbi Yoĥanan notes that it was the [over-zealous] piety of Rabbi Zekharyah ben-Eukolos that ruined our House, burned down our Temple and exiled us from our land.
...

Abba Sikra was the zealot leader in Jerusalem and he was the nephew of Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai. The latter sent him a message: 'Let's meet in secret.' He came, and [the sage] said to him, 'How long can you continue like this, killing everyone off by hunger?'
He responded, 'What can I do? If I say anything they will kill me!'
He said, 'Then get me a permit to leave [the city]; maybe I can salvage something.'
[Abba Sikra] said, 'Give out that you are ill and let everyone come to visit you [and see that you are at death's door]. Hide on your person something that stinks so that people will think that you are dead. Permit only your students to pick up your bier and no one else, so that it will not be noticed how light you are (for people know that a live body weighs less than a dead one).'

And that is what he did. Rabbi Eli'ezer bore him up on one side and Rabbi Yehoshu'a on the other. When they reached the gates [the guards] wanted to stab the body [to make certain it was a corpse], but the rabbis said, 'Do you want people to say that you stabbed the sage!?' So they wanted to push him [off the bier to see how he fell], but the rabbis said,'Do you want people to say that you pushed the sage!?' So they opened the gates and thus he left [the city].

When he reached [the Roman camp and was brought before Vespasian] he cried out, 'My lord king, my lord king!' Vespasian retorted, 'Now you deserve to die for two crimes: you called me king even though I am not the king; and if I were the king why have you not waited upon me until now?'
[The sage] replied, 'You say you are not the king, but you must be, because if you were not you would not be able to take Jerusalem because a verse [Isaiah 10:4] is interpreted by the verses [Jeremiah 30:21 and Deuteronomy 3:25]as meaning that the Temple will fall only to a king. And as for the fact that I did not wait upon you until now: the zealots would not let me.'...

While they were speaking a messenger arrived from Rome to inform [Vespasian] that [Nero] was dead and that the Senate had decided to appoint him emperor... [Vespasian] said, 'Ask what you want me to give you.'
He replied, 'Give me Yavneh and its sages and the dynasty of Rabban Gamli'el.'

[John Fisher]

Parshah Va'etchanan - Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11
Torah Reading for Week of Jul 26-Aug 1,2009 - Av 5-11 5769

23
And I besought HaShem at that time, saying:
24
'O L-rd GOD, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness, and Thy strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth, that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy mighty acts?
25
Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly hill-country, and Lebanon.'
26
But HaShem was wroth with me for your sakes, and hearkened not unto me; and HaShem said unto me: 'Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto Me of this matter.
27
Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold with thine eyes; for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.
28
But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.'
29
So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor.
1
And now, O Israel, hearken unto the statutes and unto the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which HaShem, the G-d of your fathers, giveth you.
2
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of HaShem your G-d which I command you.
3
Your eyes have seen what HaShem did in Baal-peor; for all the men that followed the Baal of Peor, HaShem thy G-d hath destroyed them from the midst of thee.
4
But ye that did cleave unto HaShem your G-d are alive every one of you this day.
5
Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as HaShem my G-d commanded me, that ye should do so in the midst of the land whither ye go in to possess it.
6
Observe therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, that, when they hear all these statutes, shall say: 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'
7
For what great nation is there, that hath G-d so nigh unto them, as HaShem our G-d is whensoever we call upon Him?
8
And what great nation is there, that hath statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
9
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes saw, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but make them known unto thy children and thy children's children;
10
the day that thou stoodest before HaShem thy G-d in Horeb, when HaShem said unto me: 'Assemble Me the people, and I will make them hear My words that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.'
11
And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.
12
And HaShem spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form; only a voice.
13
And He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even the ten words; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone.
14
And HaShem commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
15
Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves--for ye saw no manner of form on the day that HaShem spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire--
16
lest ye deal corruptly, and make you a graven image, even the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17
the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the heaven,
18
the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth;
19
and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which HaShem thy G-d hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven.
20
But you hath HaShem taken and brought forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto Him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.
21
Now HaShem was angered with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which HaShem thy G-d giveth thee for an inheritance;
22
but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but ye are to go over, and possess that good land.
23
Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of HaShem your G-d, which He made with you, and make you a graven image, even the likeness of any thing which HaShem thy G-d hath forbidden thee.
24
For HaShem thy G-d is a devouring fire, a jealous G-d.
25
When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have been long in the land, and shall deal corruptly, and make a graven image, even the form of any thing, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of HaShem thy G-d, to provoke Him;
26
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over the Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
27
And HaShem shall scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the nations, whither HaShem shall lead you away.
28
And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29
But from thence ye will seek HaShem thy G-d; and thou shalt find Him, if thou search after Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
30
In thy distress, when all these things are come upon thee, in the end of days, thou wilt return to HaShem thy G-d, and hearken unto His voice;
31
for HaShem thy G-d is a merciful G-d; He will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He swore unto them.
32
For ask now of the days past, which were before thee, since the day that G-d created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?
33
Did ever a people hear the voice of G-d speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
34
Or hath G-d assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that HaShem your G-d did for you in Egypt before thine eyes?
35
Unto thee it was shown, that thou mightiest know that HaShem, He is G-d; there is none else beside Him.
36
Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice, that He might instruct thee; and upon earth He made thee to see His great fire; and thou didst hear His words out of the midst of the fire.
37
And because He loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them, and brought thee out with His presence, with His great power, out of Egypt,
38
to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day;
39
know this day, and lay it to thy heart, that HaShem, He is G-d in heaven above and upon the earth beneath; there is none else.
40
And thou shalt keep His statutes, and His commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the land, which HaShem thy G-d giveth thee, for ever.

41
Then Moses separated three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising;
42
that the manslayer might flee thither, that slayeth his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in time past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:
43
Bezer in the wilderness, in the table-land, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.
44
And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel;
45
these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt;
46
beyond the Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, when they came forth out of Egypt;
47
and they took his land in possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising;
48
from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, even unto mount Sion--the same is Hermon--
49
and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

1
And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to do them.
2
HaShem our G-d made a covenant with us in Horeb.
3
HaShem made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
4
HaShem spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire--
5
I stood between HaShem and you at that time, to declare unto you the word of HaShem; for ye were afraid because of the fire, and went not up into the mount--saying:

6
I am HaShem thy G-d, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
7
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
8
Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, even any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
9
Thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I HaShem thy G-d am a jealous G-d, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate Me,
10
and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
11
Thou shalt not take the name of HaShem thy G-d in vain; for HaShem will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
12
Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as HaShem thy G-d commanded thee.
13
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work;
14
but the seventh day is a sabbath unto HaShem thy G-d, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou.
15
And thou shalt remember that thou was a servant in the land of Egypt, and HaShem thy G-d brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore HaShem thy G-d commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
16
Honour thy father and thy mother, as HaShem thy G-d commanded thee; that thy days may be long, and that it may go well with thee, upon the land which HaShem thy G-d giveth thee.
17
Thou shalt not murder.
17
Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
17
Neither shalt thou steal.
17
Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
18
Neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's wife; neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's house, his field, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.
19
These words HaShem spoke unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice, and it went on no more. And He wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them unto me.

20
And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain did burn with fire, that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;
21
and ye said: 'Behold, HaShem our G-d hath shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire; we have seen this day that G-d doth speak with man, and he liveth.
22
Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of HaShem our G-d any more, then we shall die.
23
For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living G-d speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
24
Go thou near, and hear all that HaShem our G-d may say; and thou shalt speak unto us all that HaShem our G-d may speak unto thee; and we will hear it and do it.'
25
And HaShem heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke unto me; and HaShem said unto me: 'I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee; they have well said all that they have spoken.
26
Oh that they had such a heart as this alway, to fear Me, and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
27
Go say to them: Return ye to your tents.
28
But as for thee, stand thou here by Me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.'
29
Ye shall observe to do therefore as HaShem your G-d hath commanded you; ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
30
Ye shall walk in all the way which HaShem your G-d hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
1
Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which HaShem your G-d commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it--
2
that thou mightest fear HaShem thy G-d, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
3
Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as HaShem, the G-d of thy fathers, hath promised unto thee--a land flowing with milk and honey.

4
HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE HaShem OUR GOD, THE HaShem IS ONE.
5
And thou shalt love HaShem thy G-d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart;
7
and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes.
9
And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.
10
And it shall be, when HaShem thy G-d shall bring thee into the land which He swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee--great and goodly cities, which thou didst not build,
11
and houses full of all good things, which thou didst not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which thou the didst not hew, vineyards and olive-trees, which thou didst not plant, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied--
12
then beware lest thou forget HaShem, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
13
Thou shalt fear HaShem thy G-d; and Him shalt thou serve, and by His name shalt thou swear.
14
Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you;
15
for a jealous G-d, even HaShem thy G-d, is in the midst of thee; lest the anger of HaShem thy G-d be kindled against thee, and He destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
16
Ye shall not try HaShem your G-d, as ye tried Him in Massah.

17
Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of HaShem your G-d, and His testimonies, and His statutes, which He hath commanded thee.
18
And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of HaShem; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which HaShem swore unto thy fathers,
19
to thrust out all thine enemies from before thee, as HaShem hath spoken.
20
When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying: 'What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which HaShem our G-d hath commanded you?
21
then thou shalt say unto thy son: 'We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and HaShem brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
22
And HaShem showed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes.
23
And He brought us out from thence, that He might bring us in, to give us the land which He swore unto our fathers.
24
And HaShem commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear HaShem our G-d, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.
25
And it shall be righteousness unto us, if we observe to do all this commandment before HaShem our G-d, as He hath commanded us.'

1
When HaShem thy G-d shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
2
and when HaShem thy G-d shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them;
3
neither shalt thou make marriages with them: thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
4
For he will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of HaShem be kindled against you, and He will destroy thee quickly.
5
But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.
6
For thou art a holy people unto HaShem thy G-d: HaShem thy G-d hath chosen thee to be His own treasure, out of all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.
7
HaShem did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people--for ye were the fewest of all peoples--
8
but because HaShem loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore unto your fathers, hath HaShem brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9
Know therefore that HaShem thy G-d, He is G-d; the faithful G-d, who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations;
10
and repayeth them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them; He will not be slack to him that hateth Him, He will repay him to his face.
11
Thou shalt therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command thee this day, to do them.

[John Fisher]

In a nutshell


Moses tells the people of Israel how he implored G-d to allow him to enter the land of Israel, but G-d refused, instructing him instead to ascend a mountain and see the Promised Land.

Continuing his "review of the Torah," Moses describes the Exodus from Egypt and the Giving of the Torah, declaring them unprecedented events in human history. "Has there ever occurred this great thing, or has the likes of it ever been heard? Did ever a people hear the voice of G-d speaking out of the midst of the fire... and live? ... You were shown, to know, that the L-rd is G-d... there is none else beside Him."

Moses predicts that, in future generations, the people will turn away from G-d, worship idols, and be exiled from their land and scattered amongst the nations; but from there they will seek G-d, and return to obey His commandments.

Our Parshah also includes a repetition of the Ten Commandments, and the verses of the Shema which declare the fundamentals of the Jewish faith: the unity of G-d ("Hear O Israel: the L-rd our G-d, the L-rd is one"); the mitzvot to love G-d, study His Torah, and bind "these words" as tefillin on our arms and heads, and inscribe them in the mezuzot affixed on the doorposts of our homes.

[John Fisher]

General Overview:

In this week's Torah reading, Va'etchanan, Moses continues his attempt to impress upon the Israelites the importance of following G‑d's commandments, the rewards which will result from obeying G‑d's words, and the punishments they will incur if they neglect to do so. Moses recounts the story of the giving of Torah at Mount Sinai, and repeats the Ten Commandments. Moses designates cities of refuge. This portion also contains the Shema.

First Aliyah: Moses recounts how he pleaded with G‑d to allow him entry into Israel. G‑d refused this request, but instructed Moses to climb a mountain from where he would see the Promised Land. Moses enjoins the people to follow G‑d's law, and never to add to or detract from it. Moses uses the Baal Peor incident to demonstrate that those who remained faithful to G‑d survived and thrived.

Second Aliyah: Moses implores the Israelites to treasure the Torah, praising its wisdom, its righteous and just precepts, and the closeness to G‑d it affords. He admonishes them to never forget the day when G‑d gave them the Torah, and vividly describes that awesome event, enjoining them to recount that day's events to their children and grandchildren. He then focuses on the divine revelation, reminding them that G‑d did not appear as any image or form. Worshipping graven images, Moses warns, will result in national exile and decimation. But even when exiled, G‑d will not forsake His people, and eventually they will repent and return to G‑d. This section concludes with Moses extolling the Israelites' uniqueness: the only nation personally delivered by G‑d from bondage, and the only people to whom G‑d revealed Himself.

Third Aliyah: Moses designates three cities of refuge on the eastern side of the Jordan River. These cities provided refuge for an individual who inadvertently murdered another.

Fourth Aliyah: Moses repeats the Ten Commandments, reminding the Israelites that the Sinai covenant was not limited to those who were physically present at Mount Sinai.

Fifth Aliyah: Moses describes the fright which gripped the nation following the revelation on Sinai. The leaders of the tribes approached Moses and pleaded that he be the intermediary to transmit G‑d's words to them, and G‑d agreed.

Sixth Aliyah: This section begins with the first section of the Shema prayer. This paragraph contains the fundamental mitzvot of belief in G‑d's unity, love of G‑d, tefillin, mezuzah, and Torah study. The section continues with G‑d's promise to give the Israelites a land filled with bounty and spoils. Moses admonishes the people to never forget the Creator who provided them with this wealth. Moses instructs the nation what to respond to their children who might inquire why they observe all the commandments: "We were slaves in Egypt, and G‑d took us out in order that we serve Him, so that we could reap the rewards for doing so."

Seventh Aliyah: The Israelites are directed to destroy the inhabitants of Canaan along with their idols, and the prohibition against intermarriage is discussed.

[John Fisher]

In a nutshell


Moses tells the people of Israel how he implored G-d to allow him to enter the land of Israel, but G-d refused, instructing him instead to ascend a mountain and see the Promised Land.

Continuing his "review of the Torah," Moses describes the Exodus from Egypt and the Giving of the Torah, declaring them unprecedented events in human history. "Has there ever occurred this great thing, or has the likes of it ever been heard? Did ever a people hear the voice of G-d speaking out of the midst of the fire... and live? ... You were shown, to know, that the L-rd is G-d... there is none else beside Him."

Moses predicts that, in future generations, the people will turn away from G-d, worship idols, and be exiled from their land and scattered amongst the nations; but from there they will seek G-d, and return to obey His commandments.

Our Parshah also includes a repetition of the Ten Commandments, and the verses of the Shema which declare the fundamentals of the Jewish faith: the unity of G-d ("Hear O Israel: the L-rd our G-d, the L-rd is one"); the mitzvot to love G-d, study His Torah, and bind "these words" as tefillin on our arms and heads, and inscribe them in the mezuzot affixed on the doorposts of our homes.

[John Fisher]

Haftorah for Va'etchanan

Isaiah
Chapter 40
1. "Console, console My people," says your God.
2. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her, for she has become full [from] her host, for her iniquity has been appeased, for she has taken from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.
3. A voice calls, "In the desert, clear the way of the Lord, straighten out in the wilderness, a highway for our God."
4. Every valley shall be raised, and every mountain and hill shall be lowered, and the crooked terrain shall become a plain and the close mountains a champaigne.
5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see that the mouth of the Lord spoke.
6. A voice says, "Call!" and it says, "What shall I call?" "All flesh is grass, and all its kindness is like the blossom of the field.
7. The grass shall dry out, the blossom shall wilt, for a wind from the Lord has blown upon it; behold the people is grass.
8. The grass shall dry out, the blossom shall wilt, but the word of our God shall last forever.
9. Upon a lofty mountain ascend, O herald of Zion, raise your voice with strength, O herald of Jerusalem; raise [your voice], fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"
10. Behold the Lord God shall come with a strong [hand], and His arm rules for Him; behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense is before Him.
11. Like a shepherd [who] tends his flock, with his arm he gathers lambs, and in his bosom he carries [them], the nursing ones he leads.
12. Who measured water with his gait, and measured the heavens with his span, and measured by thirds the dust of the earth, and weighed mountains with a scale and hills with a balance?
13. Who meted the spirit of the Lord, and His adviser who informs Him?
14. With whom did He take counsel give him to understand, and teach him in the way of justice, and teach him knowledge, and the way of understandings did He let him know?
15. Behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and like dust on a balance are they counted; behold the islands are like fine [dust] that blows away.
16. And the Lebanon-there is not enough to burn, and its beasts-there is not enough for burnt offerings.
17. All the nations are as nought before Him; as things of nought and vanity are they regarded by Him.
18. And to whom do you compare God, and what likeness do you arrange for Him?
19. The graven image, the craftsman has melted, and the smith plates it with gold, and chains of silver he attaches.
20. He who is accustomed to select, chooses a tree that does not rot; he seeks for himself a skilled craftsman, to prepare a graven image, which will not move.
21. Do you not know, have you not heard has it not been told to you from the beginning? Do you not understand the foundations of the earth?
22. It is He Who sits above the circle of the earth, and whose inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heaven like a curtain, and He spread them out like a tent to dwell.
23. Who brings princes to nought, judges of the land He made like a thing of nought.
24. Even [as though] they were not planted, even [as though] they were not sown, even [as though] their trunk was not rooted in the earth; and also He blew on them, and they dried up, and a tempest shall carry them away like straw.
25. "Now, to whom will you compare Me that I should be equal?" says the Holy One.
26. Lift up your eyes on high and see, who created these, who takes out their host by number; all of them He calls by name; because of His great might and because He is strong in power, no one is missing.

[John Fisher]

Va'etchanan Haftorah in a Nutshell

Isaiah 40:1-26

This week's haftorah is the first of a series of seven "Haftarot of Consolation." These seven haftarot commence on the Shabbat following Tisha b'Av and continue until Rosh Hashanah.

This section of Isaiah begins with G-d's exhortation to the prophets: "Console, oh console My people... Announce to Jerusalem that her period of exile has been fulfilled and that her sins have been forgiven."

Isaiah's prophecy describes some of the miraculous events that will unfold with the onset of the Messianic era, such as the return of the exiles to Jerusalem, the revelation of G‑d's glory, and the rewards and retribution that will then be meted out.

The prophet then goes on to comfort the people, describing G-d's power and might, and reassuring them of His care for His people.

[John Fisher]

The Parshah of Va'etchanan ("And I Beseeched") continues Moses' "Repetition of the Torah," begun in last week's reading.

In the closing weeks of his life, Moses speaks to the new generation of Jews who are about to enter the Promised Land and implement their mandate to serve as G-d's chosen "nation of priests" and "holy people," a mandate which they received at Sinai forty years earlier (the generation which Moses took out of Egypt having died out in the desert). Moses recalls the great events that forged the people of Israel -- the Exodus from Egypt and the Giving of the Torah at Sinai -- which this generation experienced as children and youths, or which they heard about from their parents. He repeats the laws and teachings which he taught them during the past 40 years, and reiterates the fundamental principles of the Torah. And he warns them against abandoning the Torah amidst the abundance and plenty they will enjoy in the Land.

Va'etchanan includes some of the basic texts of Judaism, including the Ten Commandments (as repeated by Moses), the Shema (which proclaims the oneness of G-d; the duty to love G-d, and to study His Torah and teach it to our children; and the mitzvot of tefillin and mezuzah), and Moses' prediction of the exile and the eventual Redemption.

Moses' Prayer

In the opening verses of our Parshah, Moses describes his failed efforts to revoke the divine decree that he not enter the Land himself:

I beseeched G-d at that time, saying: "You, O G-d, have begun to show Your servant Your greatness, and Your mighty hand; for what G-d is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to Your works, and according to Your might?

"I pray You, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly mountain and the Levanon."

But G-d was angry with me for your sakes, and would not hear me. G-d said to me: "Enough! Speak no more to Me of this matter.

"Go up to the top of the summit, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes; for you shall not cross this Jordan.

"Instruct Joshua, encourage him, and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see."

Life Defined

Moses now launches into the theme that pervades this Parshah: If the people are to survive in the Land, and survive as a people, the Torah they received at Sinai is the key:

Now therefore hearken, O Israel, to the statutes and to the laws which I teach you to do, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the L-rd, the G-d of your fathers gives you.

You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor shall you diminish it, that you may keep the commandments of the L-rd your G-d which I command you.

Indeed, the essence of life is attachment to G-d through the fulfillment of His commandments:

Your eyes have seen what G-d did because of Baal-Pe'or: for every man that followed Baal-Pe'or, the L-rd your G-d destroyed him from among you.

But you who cleave to the L-rd your G-d are alive, every one of you, this day.

The Specialty of Israel

The Torah, Moses continues, is not only the Jew's lifeline of connection to G-d -- it is also our mission to humanity:

For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, who shall hear all these statutes, and say: Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

For what nation is there so great, that G-d is so near to them, as the L-rd our G-d is in all things for which we call upon Him? And what nation is there so great, that has statutes and laws so righteous as all this Torah, which I set before you this day?

The revelation at Sinai must remain uppermost in the nation's collective memory:

Only take heed to yourself, and guard your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; teach them to your children, and your children's children:

The day that you stood before the L-rd your G-d at Horeb, when G-d said to me: Gather Me the people together, and I will make them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

You came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

G-d spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of the words, but saw no form, only a voice.

He declared to you his covenant, which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Words; and He wrote them upon two tablets of stone.

G-d commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and laws, that you might do them in the land into which you go over to possess it.

Sans Form

One of the most important lessons of Sinai is the negation of idolatry, for there it was revealed to man that G-d transcends the physical, transcends form itself:

Take therefore good heed to yourselves, for you saw no manner of form on the day that G-d spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire --

Lest you become corrupt, and make a carved idol, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of any thing that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth;

And lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you should be misled to worship them and serve them -- which the L-rd your G-d has allotted to all the nations under the whole heaven...

Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the L-rd your G-d, which he made with you... For the L-rd your G-d is a consuming fire, a jealous G-d.

Moses Predicts the Exile

When you shall beget children, and children's children, and you shall have remained long in the land, and shall deal corruptly and make a carved idol, the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the L-rd your G-d, to provoke Him to anger:

I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall soon utterly perish from off the land into which you go over the Jordan to possess it; you shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

G-d will scatter you among the nations, and you shall be left few in number among the nations where G-d shall lead you. There you shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

From there you will seek the L-rd your G-d, and you will find Him, for you will seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

When you are in distress, and all these things are come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to the L-rd your G-d, and you will hearken to His voice.

For the L-rd your G-d is a merciful G-d; He will not forsake you, nor will He destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

The Revelation at Sinai: "There Is None Else"

The revelation at Sinai, says Moses, was an event unique in human history:

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that G-d created man upon the earth, and from the one side of heaven to the other: has there been any such thing like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?

Did ever a people hear the voice of G-d speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?

Or has G-d ventured to go and take him a nation from the womb of another nation -- by trials, by signs, and by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors -- according to all that the L-rd your G-d did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Moses proclaims what is perhaps the most radical statement of Judaism:

To you it was shown, that you might know, that the L-rd, He is G-d: there is none else beside Him.

This the people saw at Sinai; and this awareness they are to cultivate in their minds and hearts in the ordinary "today" as well:

Know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the L-rd, He is G-d in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is nothing else.

Moses Establishes Cities of Refuge

A short break in the narrative describes how Moses established three "cities of refuge" on the eastern side of the Jordan, "that the slayer might flee there, who should kill his neighbor unawares, and who hated him not in times past; he shall flee unto one of these cities, so that he might live."

(These are the lands which Moses conquered from the two Emorite kings, Sichon and Og, and upon which he settled two and one-half of the twelve tribes of Israel: the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh.)

Moses Repeats the Ten Commandments

Moses called all Israel, and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and laws which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and keep, and do them.

The L-rd our G-d made a covenant with us in Horeb. G-d made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.

G-d spoke with you face to face on the mountain, out of the midst of the fire (I stood between G-d and you at that time, to show you the word of G-d; for you were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up to the mountain), saying:

[1] I am the L-rd your G-d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

[2] You shall have no other gods beside Me. You shall not make for yourself any carved idol, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them, for I the L-rd your G-d am a jealous G-d, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing mercy to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

[3] You shall not take the name of the L-rd your G-d in vain: for G-d will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

[4] Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the L-rd your G-d has commanded you. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the L-rd your G-d: on it you shall not do any work -- you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your ass, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates, so that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the L-rd your G-d brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the L-rd your G-d commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

[5] Honor your father and your mother, as the L-rd your G-d has commanded you; so that your days may be lengthened, and that good befall you, in the land which G-d your G-d gives you.

[6] You shall not kill.

[7] You shall not commit adultery.

[8] You shall not steal.

[9] You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

[10] You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbor's house, his field, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.

The People Ask Moses to Intervene

As Moses mentions above, he "stood between G-d and you at that time" at the people's request, because they feared direct contact with G-d. Now he relates what happened in detail:

These words G-d spoke to all your assembly on the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a great voice which was not again. He wrote them on two tablets of stone, and delivered them to me.

It came to pass, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and the mountain burned with fire, that you approached me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; and you said:

"Behold, the L-rd our G-d has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire; we have seen this day that G-d does talk with man, and he lives.

"Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the L-rd our G-d any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living G-d speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

"Go you near, and hear all that the L-rd our G-d shall say, and speak to us all that the L-rd our G-d shall speak to you; and we will hear it, and do it."

G-d heard the voice of your words, when you spoke to me. G-d said to me: "I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you; they have well said all that they have spoken.

"O, if only that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

"Go say to them: Return again to your tents.

"But as for you, stand here by Me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, and the statutes, and the laws, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I gave them to possess it..."

The Shema

Hear O Israel: the L-rd our G-d; the L-rd is one.

You shall love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

These words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

You shall bind them for a sign upon your arm, and they shall be as tefillin between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house, and on your gates.

Warnings

Our Parshah concludes with a series of warnings. You are entering a land of plenty, says Moses to the people, where you will receive

"great and goodly cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant.

"When you shall eat and be replete, beware lest you forget G-d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."

As for the idolatrous in habitants of the land,

"You shall make no covenant with them... Neither shall you make marriages with them: your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor shall you take his daughter to your son. For they will turn away your son from following Me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of G-d be inflamed against you, and He will destroy you speedily."

Make sure to eradicate all vestiges of idolatry from the Land,

For you are a holy people to the L-rd your G-d: the L-rd your G-d has chosen you to be a special people to Himself, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

G-d did not set his love upon you, nor did He choose you, because you are more in number than any people; indeed you are the fewest of all peoples. Rather, because G-d loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn to your fathers, has G-d brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Know therefore that the L-rd your G-d, He is G-d, the faithful G-d, who keeps covenant and truth with those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations; and repays them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them; He will not be slack to him that hates Him, He will repay him to his face.

You shall keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the laws, which I command you today to do them.