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 with them... [in order that your days may increase, 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 eaten your fill, and have built fine houses to live in... and your heart grows haughty and you forget the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage... and you say in your heart: "My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me." Remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you the 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 that they took the land, their arm did not give them the victory, but Your right hand, Your arm, and Your goodwill, for You favored them.

(RaMBaN, Devarim 8:18)

 

It is written When you enter the land of Canaan that I give you as a possession - It was not by 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 shall devour all the peoples... Your eye is not to take pity upon them": 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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