Parashat Devarim 5784

For Father’s Day this year, my children signed me up with a website called, Storyworth. Every week, they send me a prompt question (chosen by my daughter) to write about. At the end of the year, all the answers are assembled in a book. The first prompt question was, “What was it like learning to drive?”  This is going to be easy, I thought.

I was wrong.

The second week’s question was, “What advice would you give to future generations in your family?’

Imagine trying to answer this question:

o  Who are you addressing?

o  Why should they listen to you?

o  How will you present your advice in a compelling way?

o  What lessons from your life are important enough to pass down?

This week, we commence the Book of Devarim (aka Deuteronomy) – the last of the Five Books of Moses.

The Book of Devarim constitutes Moses’ farewell address to the Children of Israel. It is given over the last 37 days of Moses’ life, as the People stand poised to enter the Land in the 40^th year of the Exodus.  Thus, the Book of Devarim represents Moses’ answer to the question: “What advice would you give to future generations in your family?’

Who is Moses Addressing?

The first verse of the parashah tells us that Moses is speaking to “כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל (Kol Yisrael) – All Israel.”

You would think a phrase like “All Israel.” appears a lot in the Torah, right?

Not so.

Until now, this phrase has only appeared twice, and in neither of those cases did it indicate to whom words were being spoken.[1]  Never before did Moses – or anyone else – address words to “All Israel.” Moses goes on to speak to “All Israel” a total of ten times in the Book of Devarim.[2]

Why would Moses – at this late juncture – adopt this novel phrase?  Later verses from the Book of Devarim may hold a clue. In Deut. 29:1 we read that, “Moses summoned כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל –All Israel – and said to them …You stand this day, all of you, before G-d your G-d – your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials, every householder in Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer – to enter into the covenant of G-d your G-d.” (Deut. 29:1-3, 13-14)

That seems like a pretty extensive list of those present! But then Moses adds, “I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before G-d our G-d and with those who are not with us here this day.”

Didn’t we read that every imaginable person was there? Who are these mysterious ones “who are not with us here this day”? Rashi explains that they are “the generations that will be in future.” (Rashi to Deut. 29:14)

Thus, when Moses addresses “All Israel” in the Book of Devarim he seems to be directing his words to all future generations of the Jewish people … which includes us.

Why Should We Listen to Him?

When Moses commenced his mission at the Burning Bush, G-d instructed him three times to let the People know that he is bringing a message from “the G-d of your ancestors – the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Ex. 3:15-16; Ex. 4:4-5) As Moses begins his farewell address, he likewise reminds us of the family ties that bind us through time.

Past: 
Moses refers back to our ancestors, and reminds us that we are their heirs:

“Go, take possession of the land that G-d swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to assign to them and to their heirs after them. (1:8)

Present:
Moses explains how – after all this time – we are still around:

“Your G-d multiplied you until you are today as numerous as the stars in the sky” (1:10).

Future: 
Finally, Moses assures us that G-d’s blessing remains on us:

“G-d, the G-d of your ancestors, will increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as G-d promised you.” (1:11).

How Does Moses Present His Advice in a Compelling Way?

Moses speaks in the medium that human beings find most compelling. He tells stories. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (z’l) writes: “The great questions – ‘Who are we?’ ‘Why are we here?’ ‘What is our task?’ – are best answered by telling a story.”

In this week’s parashah, Moses tells the story of our ancestors’ journeys through the desert, of the nations they encountered, and the dangers they experienced (Deut. 2:1-23). He retells the sad episode of the spies (Deut. 1:22-46). He recounts the triumphant battles the people fought (Deut. 2:30-3:12). He explains how two and a half tribes came to inhabit lands east of the Jordan, and the promises they made to assist their brethren (Deut. 3:12-20).[3] And finally, he tells the story of the passage of leadership from himself to Joshua (Deut. 3:22).

What Advice Does Moses Offer?

Moses focuses on the timeless in rendering his advice:

Establish a just society

Choose capable leaders at all levels of society:
“So I took your tribal leaders, wise and experienced men, and appointed them heads over you: chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens, and officials for your tribes.” (1:15)

Administer justice fairly to everyone, even (especially!) to the stranger:
“Hear out your fellow Israelites, and decide justly between one party and the other—be it a fellow Israelite or a stranger. You shall not be partial in judgment: hear out low and high alike.” (1:16-17)

You need to implement your ideals through actions

Moses tells us that ideas alone are insufficient; they must be accompanied by detailed actions: “Thus I instructed you, at that time, about the various things that you should do.” (1:18)

Don’t wait for someone else to do it

As the People are now entering the “real” world, Moses emphasizes that they cannot sit and await miracles:
“See, your G-d has placed the land at your disposal. Go up, take possession” (1:21)

Don’t be deceived by appearances

Moses reminds us of the error of the spies, who wrongly trusted only their eyes:
“We saw there a people stronger and taller than we, large cities with walls sky-high.” (1:28)

Moses assures us that G-d is with us – even as open miracles have given way to seemingly natural occurrences:
“Your G-d, G-d, Who goes before you, will fight for you, just as [G-d] did for you in Egypt before your very eyes, and in the wilderness, where you saw how your G-d G-d carried you (1:30-31)

Have faith

Moses recalls how lack of faith cost the Generation of the Spies entry into the Land:
“Yet for all that, you have no faith in your G-d” … not one of those involved, this evil generation, shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers” (1:32; 1:35).

Despite the struggles of our lives, have faith in the future and in future generations:
“Your little ones who you said would be carried off, your children who do not yet know good from bad, they shall enter it; to them will I give it and they shall possess it.” (1:39)

Unseen, G-d is with us.
“This day I begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven, so that they shall tremble and quake because of you whenever they hear you mentioned.” (2:25)

Keep your promises; Remember your brothers and sisters.

Moses recounts how he held the two and a half tribes accountable to their promise to fight before their brethren:
“At that time, I charged you [tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh], saying, “Your G-d G-d has given you this country to possess. You must go as shock-troops, warriors all, at the head of your Israelite kin.” (3:18)

Most of all: Do Not Fear!

Five times in this single parashah, Moses exhorts us: “Do not fear!”

o  “You shall not be partial in judgment: hear out low and high alike. Fear neither party, for judgment is G-d’s.” (Deut. 1:17)

o  “Go up, take possession, as G-d, the G-d of your ancestors, promised you. Fear not and be not dismayed.” (Deut. 1:21)

o  [You said:] ‘We saw there a people stronger and taller than we, large cities with walls sky-high, and even Anakites.’” I said to you, “Have no dread or fear of them.” (Deut. 1:29)

o  “G-d said to me: Do not fear him [King Og of Bashan], for I am delivering him and all his troops and his country into your power.” (Deut. 3:2)

o  “Do not fear them [the kings of Canaan], for it is your G-d, G-d, who will battle for you.” (Deut. 3:22)

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How did Moses answer the question, “What advice would you give future generations in your family?”

With the enduring wisdom of the Book of Devarim.

What advice will you give to your descendants?

Shabbat Shalom.

[1] Ex. 18:25 “Moses chose capable individuals out of All Israel” and Num. 16:34 (at Korach’s punishment): “All Israel around them fled.”

[2]This phrase actually appears 13 times in the Book of Devarim, with ten of those usages indicating whom Moses was addressing (Deut. 1:1, 5:1, 11:6, 13:12, 18:6, 21:21, 27:9, 29:1, 31:1, 32:45, 34:12). All reflect the audience of the words, except Deut. 11:6, 18:6 and 31:11.

[3] The tribes of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Menashe had previously requested land on the eastern side of the Jordan, promising they would serve in battle with the other tribes until all the Israelites are in possession of their portion (Num. 32:16-19).                    

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Rabbi Greg Schindler (AJR 2009). While at AJR, he was honored to serve as President of the Student Association. He is a community rabbi in Westport, CT where he conducts classes in Talmud and Tanakh. He has led Children’s High Holiday services for over 20 years. Each year, he writes and directs a new Yom Kippur comedic play based on the Book of Jonah , including “Jonah-gan’s Island”. “Batmensch”, “SpongeJonah SquarePants”, “Horton Hears an Oy” and more.