Devarim Archives | Academy for Jewish Religion

13 07, 2026

Parashat Devarim – 5786

Marisa Amith2026-07-13T11:19:04-04:00

A D’var Torah for Parashat Devarim

By Rabbi Dr. Matthew Goldstone

July 13, 2026

“These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel” (Deut. 1:1). The final book of the Torah begins by emphasizing that what follows (“these”) are the words of Moses to the people of Israel. But Moses says many things to the Israelites, what makes these words different and worthy of note? The Midrash in Sifrei Devarim answers this question by suggesting that Moses’s words at the beginning of Deuteronomy are specifically words of rebuke. This theme is echoed in the haftarah for this week from the beginning of Isaiah in which the prophet channels God’s chastisement of the people for their wrongdoing.

Rebuke can easily provoke anger and other negative feelings. A midrash in Sifra (on the Book of Leviticus) recognizes the way in which rebuke can be tied up with hatred, cursing, hitting, and slapping. Such charged Read More >

Parashat Devarim – 5786Marisa Amith2026-07-13T11:19:04-04:00

30 07, 2025

Parashat Devarim – 5785

Marisa Amith2025-07-30T12:17:09-04:00

Words of Questioning and Lamenting

A D’var Torah for Parashat Devarim

By Rabbi Susan Elkodsi (AJR ’15)

HaZaL, our Sages of Blessed Memory, knew exactly what they were doing when they manipulated the weekly Torah reading schedule to make sure that Parashat Devarim would be read on the Shabbat immediately preceding Tisha B’Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar.

Tisha B’Av is a day of collective national mourning for a time, place, and way of life that no longer exist. Devarim, Moses’ final address to the Israelites during the last month of his life is similar; by looking back on what has transpired over 40 years, he is lamenting missed opportunities on an often frustrating journey and mourning the loss of a future he won’t be physically part of.

The connection between this reading and Eikha, the Book of Lamentations, is more than the fact that the two share the word, eikha, translated simply as “how?” or “Alas!”.

In Devarim 1:12

Parashat Devarim 5784

Linda Ripps2024-08-05T14:35:31-04:00

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.

Parashat Devarim 5784Linda Ripps2024-08-05T14:35:31-04:00

17 07, 2023

Parashat Devarim 5783

jackielebwohl2023-07-28T10:47:21-04:00

There’s a lot in our tradition that is difficult to accept.

One of the concepts that seems especially not to square with our lived experience is the theology of Divine reward and punishment. It’s hard to reconcile for me, for many in the Jewish community, and for many of the students I work with. The haftarah that we’ll read on this Shabbat Hazon sums it up well:

אִם־ תֹּאב֖וּ וּשְׁמַעְתֶּ֑ם ט֥וּב הָאָ֖רֶץ תֹּאכֵֽלוּ׃

וְאִם ־תְּמָאֲנ֖וּ וּמְרִיתֶ֑ם חֶ֣רֶב תְּאֻכְּל֔וּ כִּ֛י פִּ֥י יְ-הֹוָ֖ה דִּבֵּֽר

If you are willing and obey, you will eat the best of the land.

But if you refuse and disobey, you will be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of G-d spoke. (Isaiah 1:19-20)

This is just not true. It’s hard to imagine, frankly, that it was ever true. But in the decades after the Holocaust, it seems especially impossible to believe. Worse, it’s offensive. Because the argument for it to be true would be that Read More >

Parashat Devarim 5783jackielebwohl2023-07-28T10:47:21-04:00

5 08, 2022

Parashat Devarim 5782

Linda Ripps2022-11-09T14:53:20-05:00

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Do You Believe In Miracles?
A D’var Torah for Parashat Devarim
By Rabbi Marc Rudolph (’04)

In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses assembles the Israelites on the plains of Moab, poised to enter the Land promised to our ancestors. In a series of three speeches, Moses recounts the history of the past forty years, reviews old laws and imparts new ones, exhorts the people to follow the commandments and castigates them for their failure to do so in the past. He recalls the miracles of the plagues in Egypt and the miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea. He reminds the Israelites how God cared for them in the wilderness, “as a man carries his son, all the way that you traveled until you came to this place” (Deuteronomy 1:31). God even personally guides the Jewish people on their Read More >

Parashat Devarim 5782Linda Ripps2022-11-09T14:53:20-05:00

16 07, 2021

Parashat Devarim 5781

Rabbi Michael Rothbaum2022-07-29T11:24:19-04:00

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Devarim
By Rabbi Michael Rothbaum (’06)

There’s a profound meaning in the practice of Yiddishkayt, a beauty and depth that’s hard to describe if you haven’t lived it. That beauty explains why rabbis and cantors do what we do. In the words of the old saying, nothing worth doing is easy.

Or, as we say in Yiddish, Shver tsu zayn a Yid. It’s hard to be a Jew.

In a 1973 review of the Sholom Aleichem play that took its title from that Yiddish saying, Richard P. Shepard wrote that “ ‘It’s Hard to Be a Jew’ is a phrase that may not quite go back to Moses’ scaling of Mount Sinai, but it is venerable and often verifiable.”[1]

Recent events have only served to help that verification process. We’re still Jews, and it’s still hard.

The challenge of Jewish life starts, of course, Read More >

Parashat Devarim 5781Rabbi Michael Rothbaum2022-07-29T11:24:19-04:00

24 07, 2020

Parashat Devarim 5780

Rabbi David Evan Markus2022-07-29T11:24:25-04:00

Into and Through Tisha b’Av: Our Fragile Alchemy of “Why”
A D’var Torah for Parashat Devarim
By Rabbi David Markus

There’s gotta be a reason. What’s happening now must be a reaction to something that came before. Someone must be responsible: maybe me, maybe you, maybe all of us. Any God that is good and fair must have some purpose in all this – right?

We sense this yearning for “why” just under the surface. After all, there’s lots to explain, and mere natural explanations don’t always suffice. That’s why so many people, of all faiths, might seek and see divine purpose in most everything from covid to tornadoes.

The human psyche – that sacred alchemy of supernal light and stardust – naturally seeks explanation for life’s twists and turns. For every fairness or unfairness, victory or defeat, comfort or suffering, we’re wired to connect the dots of causation with some coherence. If we’re deeply honest, Read More >

Parashat Devarim 5780Rabbi David Evan Markus2022-07-29T11:24:25-04:00

9 08, 2019

Parashat Devarim 5779

Rabbi Heidi Hoover2022-07-29T11:24:33-04:00

A D’var Torah for Parashat Devarim
By Rabbi Heidi Hoover (’11)

Devarim is the first significant word of this week’s Torah portion, and therefore it gives the Torah portion its name. Because this week is the first portion in the fifth book of the Torah, Devarim is also the name of the whole book, which is called Deuteronomy in English, from the Greek. Devarim means “words,” and it’s an appropriate name for the book, because Moses spends the whole book of Deuteronomy making his last speech to the Israelites. At the end of it he dies and they prepare to go forward into the Promised Land.

In Judaism, words are very important. We are called the “People of the Book”—a book (books, really) full of words that give us the best information we have about what God wants from us. Words can create and destroy reputations. According to our tradition, God used words to create Read More >

Parashat Devarim 5779Rabbi Heidi Hoover2022-07-29T11:24:33-04:00

15 08, 2018

Parashat Shoftim

Rabbi Irwin Huberman2018-08-15T13:26:04-04:00

Our Lips as Gates of Justice
A D’var Torah for Parashat Shoftim
by Rabbi Irwin Huberman ’10

I’ve often wondered why the Torah devotes so much effort towards commanding the Jewish people to establish judges and officers within its communal structure.

Agreed, it is vital that within any just and free society, a legal system be established under which issues and conflicts are adjudicated in a fair and unbiased manner.

The foundation of justice is so important, that twice within the Torah, including this week’s Parashah, we are instructed – Tzedek, Tzedek, Tirdof – “Justice, Justice shall you pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20).

Furthermore, the Torah insists that this precious commodity – “justice, justice” – mentioned twice — be administered fairly — regardless of the class, financial status and social standing of its subjects.

It is why perhaps why this week’s Torah portion, Shoftim (Judges) has assumed such a high priority within both Jewish Read More >

Parashat ShoftimRabbi Irwin Huberman2018-08-15T13:26:04-04:00

19 07, 2018

Devarim 5778

Rabbi Len Levin2018-07-19T13:37:42-04:00

Call for Spiritual Rebirth
A Dvar Torah for Devarim
By Len Levin

“How [eikhah] can I bear alone your trouble, your burden, your quarrel?” (Deut. 1:12)

A paradox. Deuteronomy is the sunniest, most radiant and optimistic book of the Torah. “And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the Lord your God, to walk only in His paths, to love him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul” (10:12). “The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land…where you will lack nothing” (8:7-8). “The Lord your God will bless you in all you do” (15:18). “For you will do what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God (12:28).

But it also contains dark passages. There is the historical recollection of the Golden Calf (9:8-21). There are the Read More >

Devarim 5778Rabbi Len Levin2018-07-19T13:37:42-04:00

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

Programs of Study

Learn more about…

Programs of Study

Learn more about…

Devarim

ABOUT

LIBRARY

JOIN US

PROGRAMS OF STUDY