QUESTIONS AND COMMENTARY ON PARASHAT DEVARIM
1. Why is Parashat
Devarim always read on the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av? What connection does
it have to this tragic day and what relevant lessons does it communicate to us?
Jason
Tisha B'Av commemorates
several terrible tragedies that have befallen our people including the chorban bet hammiqdash, the destruction
of the first and second Temples.
To remember these tragic events and learn from them, observant Jews fast on the
9th of Av. Elaborating further on the reason why Jews fast on
certain days like Tisha B'Av, the Qitzur Shulchan Arukh states:
It is a mitzva from the Prophets to fast on those days that troubles befell
our ancestors (Zechariah 8:19).
The purpose of the fast is in order to arouse our hearts to search the ways of
repentance, and let this be a reminder to our evil deeds and our ancestors that
were like our present [evil] deeds until it caused them and us those troubles
[that we are fasting for]. By remembering these things we will repent . . .
Therefore it is incumbent upon each person on those days to search his ways and
to turn from them. Because the main thing is not the fasting, as it says
concerning the people of Nineveh [who repented tremendously after the prophet
Jonah warned them of their impending doom], (Jonah 3:10) "And the LORD saw
their deeds . . ." and our Rabbis comment (b.
Ta‘anit 16a) that it does not say that the LORD saw their sackcloth and
their fasting, rather "the LORD saw their deeds that they repented from their
evil ways . . ." The fast is only a preparation to repentance.
On Tisha B'Av all of us should take the time to examine
our own lives and repent from our own sins. But how does the theme of teshuva ("repentance") connect to this
week's Torah portion?
At the beginning of this week's Torah portion it states,
"Moses took it upon himself to expound this Torah" (Deuteronomy 1:5). But why
is this statement made here, when the actual expounding of the Torah does not
begin until chapter five, with the restatement of the Ten Commandments? Would
it not make more sense for verse five to appear as a preface to chapter five?
One Jewish expositor offers the following answer to our
question:
According to our
Sages, one of the most fundamental principals in the worship of God is that one
must repent of one's past transgressions before beginning to learn Torah . . .
It was keeping with this basic precept of Judaism that Moses reproved the
people before he proceeded to teach them the commandments of the Torah. The
verse under discussion was placed immediately before the admonitions in order
to explain why Moses wanted to recall the sin of the children of Israel. It was because
Moses "took it upon himself to explain the Torah" that he had to reprove his
people in order to cause them to repent of their sins.
Me'or
VeShemesh
The answer to this question is just one way that Parashat Devarim and Tisha B'Av are connected. Both are meant
to recall the past transgressions of our forebears in order to move us to
repentance. By learning from their mistakes and turning from them, we bring
about a tikkun (rectification) for both
our sin and theirs. As it states in
Leviticus 26:40, "They shall confess their sin and the sin of their ancestors."
What was their sin and the "sin of our ancestors" that
lead to the destruction of the second bet
hammiqdash? Knowing the answer to this question is essential, so that we do
not continue to repeat their mistakes and thus bring further harm to ourselves
and our people. According to our Sages, the primary sin that lead to the second
Temple's destruction was sinat
chinam, gratuitous, senseless hatred
among Jews. This gratuitous hatred is demonstrated by the Kamtza and Bar Kamtza incidents (b.
Gittin 55b) and by Josephus' account of the fierce bloodshed among Jewish
groups during the Roman siege of Jerusalem. Instead of putting their differences aside in order
to fight the Romans, many choose to fight and murder one another, out of their
deep hatred.
Does
the Sages' reason for the destruction of the second bet hammiqdash square with what Yeshua taught concerning the Temple's ruin? In Matthew 23:36-39, he says,
Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this
generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one
who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted
to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,
but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to
you, you shall see me no more till you say, "Blessed is the one who comes
in the name of the LORD!"
I believe the two explanations are compatible. Both the brutal treatment of
Messiah Yeshua, who came humbly as the Prince of Peace to redeem Israel, and the infighting that occurred in the first
century among Jews were rooted in sinat
chinam.
What
are the lessons for us today? The Talmud tells us that "Every generation that
does not merit the rebuilding of the Temple is deemed to have destroyed it" (y. Yoma
1:1). This is a very powerful statement that merits
careful consideration. This statement is an indictment of every generation
since the Temple's destruction and a reminder that we are still
guilty of the same sins. As Messianic Jews, we are all too familiar with this
kind of Jew against Jew hatred that still persists today due to religious,
political, and ethnic differences. Unless we learn to love and respect all Jews, and
all other people for that matter, we are as guilty as our ancestors in whose
footsteps we are following.
How then can we hasten the Messianic redemption and the building of the Third Temple? If it was on account
of gratuitous hatred for other people and Messiah in particular, then it only
through gratuitous love for both that we can hasten the coming of Messiah and
the rebuilding of the Third Temple. May God cause this to
speedily occur and grant us the privilege of seeing it in our day!
2. According to Rashi, in this week's parasha, Moses expounded or "clarified" the Torah by explaining it to Israel in the seventy languages of the Nations (Deuteronomy 1:5-7)? Why does Rashi feel compelled to add this insight? Why is this spiritually significant for Israel and the Nations?
Jonathan
In his comments on Deuteronomy 1:5, Rashi writes:
He [Moses] expounded the Torah: In seventy languages, he interpreted it for them.
Here, Rashi alludes to a tradition recorded in Midrash Tanchuma (Parashat Devarim 2):
. . . Come and see: when the Blessed Holy One said to Moses, "Go and I will send you to Pharaoh" (Exodus 3:10). Moses said to God . . . "I am not a man of words" (Exodus 4:10). He [Moses] said to him, "People speaking seventy languages stand in the palace of Pharaoh; for if one man comes from another place, they speak with him in his language. I am going as your ambassador, and they will examine me. For I am an ambassador of the Omnipresent, and it will be revealed before them that I do not know how to converse with them" . . . at the end of forty years, Israel went out from Egypt, [Moses] began interpreting the Torah in seventy languages, as it is written "He expounded this Torah." The mouth which said "I am not a man of words" said "these are the words."
This midrash suggests that Moses acquired the ability to speak in seventy languages because of his station as God's emissary (shaliach) to the court of Pharaoh. To declare God's demand for the release of the Israelites and his judgment upon Egypt, Moses needed to speak all of the languages which were used among the members of Pharaoh's court.
In this week's parasha, Moses is not addressing the court of Pharaoh but rather the people of Israel. Why is necessary for him to expound the Torah in seventy languages as Midrash Tanchuma and Rashi maintain? First, the Torah which Moses expounds in this parasha declares God's activity of redeeming Israel. Moses' expounding of the Torah in seventy languages brings honor to God as it makes clear to all the nations God's faithfulness to Israel. Second, though the Torah and its precepts are ultimately the inheritance of Israel, God ultimately desires for all the nations of the world to partake of the salvation which God works for Israel through Messiah Yeshua. As Moses expounds the Torah to Israel in seventy languages here, so also the Ruach HaQodesh enabled all of our people who were in Jerusalem for Shavuot in the year Yeshua died to hear the message of the besora (good news). As it says in Ma‘ase haSheluchim (Acts) 2:5-6:
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
Hearing the message of the besora in their languages enables them not only to receive the message but also become bearers of it to the ends of the earth.
Learning 
