AND YOU SHALL TEACH

THEM TO YOUR SONS TO SPEAK WITH THEM, WHEN YOU SIT IN YOUR HOUSE AND WHEN YOU

WALK ON THE WAY AND WHEN YOU LIE DOWN AND WHEN YOU RISE.

(Devarim

11:19)

And you

shall teach them to your sons,] to

speak with them – From the moment your son knows how to speak, teach him, Moses

commanded us the Torah (Devarim 33:4). Let him learn speech through this (Sukkah

42a). From this, our Rabbis taught: When the infant begins to talk, his father

should speak to him in the Holy Tongue, and should teach him the Torah. If he

does not do this, it is as though he buries him, as it is stated [here], And you shall teach them to your sons to speak

and the days of your children].

(Judaica

Press translation)

R.Yehudah said in the name of Rav: That man should be remembered for the good. His name

was Yehushua ben

Gamla, and if not for him, Torah would have been

forgotten in Israel. At first, he who had a father

– his father would teach him Torah; he who did not have a father – would not

learn Torah. From which verse did they learn this? And you shall teach them [i.e., your sons] (Devarim 11).

[The

vocalization of the word otam – them

can be changed to atem, giving:] And you

shall teach – you! They decreed that teachers should be instituted for

children in Jerusalem.

From what verse did they learn this? Torah shall come

forth from Zion (Isaiah 2). And yet – he who had a father,

his father would take him up to Jerusalem and he would study; but he who

had no father would not go up and study. They decreed that [teachers] be

established in each county. They would bring them in [to study] at age sixteen

or seventeen, and if someone's teacher became angry with him – he would kick

him out. So it was until Yehoshua ben

Gamla came and made a decree that teachers of

children be established in each city and town, and that they [the students] be

brought [to study] at age six or seven.

(Bava Batra 21a)

And The Glory Of The Lord Was Not Seen

Daniel Rohrlich

for my

dear daughter Talia, as you come of age

In the scriptural portion Ekev,

which we have studied separately and together, Moshe Rabenu

reviews trials and challenges in the past, present and future of the

Israelites:

Remember the long way that the LORD your God

has made you travel in the wilderness these past 40 years, in order to afflict

you, as a way of testing you to learn what was in your hearts: whether you

would keep His commandments or not. (Deut. 8:2)

Despite the use of the word "afflict,

not all of the trials and challenges were afflictions. The heavenly manna is

mentioned as a trial: Moshe warns the Israelites not to forget the LORD their

God, "… who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers

never knew, in order to afflict you and in order to test you, only to benefit

you in the end…"

(Deut. 8:16).

In what sense was the manna

a trial?

Nehama Leibowitz, in her book Studies

in Deuteronomy, cites answers of the biblical commentators and commends the

comment of the author of Habi'ur

on Ex. 16:4:

It means that as they look to Me every day for their food, they will learn to accustom

themselves to trust in Me, until belief and trust in the LORD become second

nature to them.

That is, the trial is to recognize the

absolute dependence of each creature on his Creator.

Another trial awaits the Israelites in the

Promised Land. After praising the land (Deut. 8:7-10), Moshe warns the Israelites:

Take care lest you forget the LORD your God

and fail to keep His commandments, His rules, and His laws… when you have

eaten your fill, and have built fine houses to live in… and

you say to yourselves, "My own power and the might of my own hand have won

this wealth for me." (Deut.

8:11-17)

Here, by contrast, the trial is to live amid

abundance, both natural and man-made, without forgetting the Source of all

abundance.

But most of the trials were severe: the war

with Amalek and debacle of the spies are two

examples.

Another trial that is not mentioned as such

by Moshe, but that looms throughout Deuteronomy (and

even Numbers, starting with the portion Hukkat) is

the fact that Moshe will not lead the Israelites into the Holy Land.

This fact is clear and understood by all the

Israelites. Yet the reason for it is obscure. What actually happened at the

waters of Meriva that kept Moshe from entering the

land he so longed to see?

The biblical commentators offered various

explanations for this fact, but their explanations are not convincing (as your

friend and classmate Shira Berk

argued skillfully in her bat-mitsva talk). Rashi points out that God told Moshe to speak to the rock,

not to hit it. Other commentators take exception to Moshe's choice of words in

speaking to the Israelites. But even if Moshe offended in action or speech,

what did Aharon do? God passes the same judgment on

Moshe and Aharon:

Because you did not believe in Me enough to hallow Me before the Israelites, you shall not

lead this congregation into the land that I have given them. (Num. 20:12)

Hence the offense of Aharon

and Moshe must lie in something they didn't

do, and not in anything that they did.

The Torah recognizes the great destructive

power of a mob. In several confrontations with a mob, Moshe and Aharon fall on their faces – an act signifying deep

humility and appeasement, and the total opposite of violence.

When they fall on their faces in response to

the subversive report of the spies (Num. 14:5), the whole congregation sees the glory of the LORD. (Num. 14:10) When

Moshe falls on his face in response to Korah (Num. 16:4), they

again see the LORD's glory. (Num. 16:19) Later, when Moshe and Aharon respond to a mob by turning towards the Tent of

Meeting, the LORD's glory is again revealed. (Num. 17:7)

At Meriva, too, Moshe and Aharon

fall on their faces, but with a remarkable difference:

Moshe and Aharon

came away from the congregation to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and

fell on their faces. The glory of the LORD appeared to them. (Num. 20:6)

To them

the glory of the LORD appeared, but not to the whole congregation, because they

did not fall on their faces before the congregation – on

the contrary, they separated themselves from the congregation! And when they

returned, it was not with deep humility. Maimonides

claims that Moshe raged at the community without taking into account its needs;

in any case, humility and appeasement were lacking. In their absence, mutual

honor was lacking as well, and the honor and glory of the LORD were not seen.

Indeed, the glory of the LORD is not seen again in the Torah after Meriva.

Thus the Israelites leave Meriva

doubly challenged: Moshe will not lead them into the Holy Land,

and they will not see the glory of the LORD again.

Dear Talia, the

trials and challenges facing you are great, beyond those facing every child

growing up in Israel.

The loss, only two months ago, of your dear mother, Elisabeth Nehama Warschawski, one of "the

humble of the world", is an great trial for you and

me, for her parents, her brothers and sisters, and for all who loved her. How

she longed to be present at this occasion, which she planned with such

dedication and in such detail, and at future happy occasions! You come of age

without her, but – with her and like

her –  you

have a strong character, a generous heart, a clear mind, grace, refinement and

rare skills. And you are surrounded by family and friends who dote on you and

will help you in every possible way. May you be blessed with her memory and

with success in your every effort.

Daniel Rohrlich

is a physicist living in Jerusalem.

Elisabeth Warschawski, his wife, was General

Secretary of the Centre de la Recherche Française à Jérusalem, a French Government office supporting

research by French and Israeli archeologists, historians and social scientists.

When you have

the land of Egypt from the house of bondage… and you say in

power to get wealth…

 (Devarim 8)

It was not by

their sword that they took the land; their arm did not give them the victory.

(Psalms 44:4)

Remember that it is the Lord your God who

gives you the power to get wealth – It is known that

the Israelites are brave, courageous in battle, for they have been compared to

lions and to rapacious wolves, and they vanquished the kings of Canaan in war,

therefore He said, if you think My

own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me,

remember that it was God who took you out of Egypt, and there you had no

strength and power what-so-ever. Remember further that you lacked the

wherewithal to live in the wilderness and there He provided you with all your

needs. So too, this wealth which you made with your strength, it is God who

gave you the strength to produce it. If you forget God, your strength and might

will wither and you will be lost just like them, for all who abandon God will

be lost… and this is what David said (Psalms

44:4) It was not by their sword

right hand, Your arm, and Your goodwill, for You favored them.

(RaMBaN, Devarim 8:18)

It is written When

their sword that they took the land, their arm did not give them the victory but

rather the right hand of Lord is exalted in order to give them the

inheritance of nations, and it is out of place for the begrudging to say My

own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me, because

it is God who gives you strength and this [wealth], therefore it is proper that

you give of His to the poor of His people. And if you disobey his word, and

become one of those begrudging people who credit themselves for their

possessions, then I will inflict an eruptive plague upon a house in the land

you possess, meaning: In that place where you attribute the possession to

yourself as if you are holding onto it with the strength of your hand…

(Kli Yakar, Vayikra

14:34)

The temptation

mentioned here (Devarim

8:12-17) is

not one that could trap Israel in its net immediately upon their arrival in

the land and during their first acquaintance with its landscape. Rather, it is

a temptation that comes later, after the land is well in their control and they

have settled it, after they become rooted in the land and reap success in

productive work. It is a temptation that springs from a feeling of My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me. It

is a temptation which replaces the worship of the Creator of the world not with

nature and the worship of nature-gods, but with man and his pride. The Torah opposes man's confidence in his own

powers with the memory of the great and terrible wilderness with its seraf serpents and scorpions, a parched land with no water

in it, the sojourn through the wilderness in which man sustained his own

existence.

(Prof. Nehama

Leibowitz z"l, Iyyunim b'Sefer Devarim pg. 95)

"You

The Commandment and Its Implementation

Initially the king is to wage only a

war of commandment, and what is a war of commandment? It is the war

against the seven nations, etc…

(RaMBaM, Laws of

Kings, 5:1)

It is a commandment to devote

the seven nations to destruction, as

is written: You are to devote them to destruction, yes, destruction. Whoever

has the opportunity to kill one of them but does not do so transgresses a negative

precept, as is written: You are not leave alive any breath – and their memory is no more.

(RaMBaM,

ibid. 5:4)

"He will hear

the cry of the poor and save him"

Who does

justice:

Although He is lofty, He does justice for the orphan and the widow for

there is none who aids them,

as in the expression Father of orphans (Psalms 68:6). And so too regarding the stranger

– He provides

for him when he depends on Him; and since the Lord loves the stranger, you

are [also] required to love him.

(Ibn Ezra Devarim 10:18)

So are you to love the stranger, for

you were strangers in the land of Egypt– the lessons

to be learned from the exile.

So are you to love the stranger – Resemble God in love of

the stranger who accompanies you from alien lands; by your acceptance of the

stranger you will realize that pure humanity is the supreme quality in your

view. Equality before the law and the love with which Israel

relates to the stranger characterize the nation and the Land as the Nation of

God and the Land of God.

In other circles, man's status depends upon his ancestry and his property; in

the Nation of God and the Land of God

only pure humanity, subservient to God, determines the status of man.

(Rabbi

S.R. Hirsch, Devarim 10:19)

For you were strangers – All of your misfortune in Egypt was that you were strangers there; as

such, local custom denied you land, birthplace, livelihood; the natives were

free to do with you as they saw fit. As strangers, you were denied rights in Egypt, and this was the root of the servitude and the

persecution you underwent. Therefore, watch yourselves – this is the

terminology of the admonition – lest you establish human rights in your state

on any foundation other than pure humanitarianism, which rests in the heart of

every man as a man. Any depravation of human rights will open the door to

arbitrariness and to abuse of man – this is the root of the abomination of Egypt.

(Rabbi S. R. Hirsch, Shemot

22:20)

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