Parshat Devarim 5784
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in the first pasuk of this week’s parsha, אלה הדברים אשר דבר משה אל כל ישראל בעבר הירדן. The Medrash in Bereishis Rabbah (12,3) teaches that the word אלה always comes to reject that which came before, as opposed to ואלה which adds to what came before. In what way isאלא הדברים אשר דבר משה at the beginning of our parsha coming to replace and reject that which was mentioned previously?
A few pasukim later we read (Chapter 1, Pasuk 5), בעבר הירדן בארץ מואב הואיל משה באר את התורה הזאת לאמר. As Bnei Yisrael stood on the eastern bank of the Yarden about to enter Eretz Yisrael, Moshe Rabbeinu began teaching Torah to Bnei Yisrael. And when he taught them Torah, he felt the effect of Kedushas Eretz Yisrael. According to the Sfas Emes, this is the meaning of the words אלה הדברים; these precisely are the words Moshe began to teach, unlike anything he had taught before. These teachings were the Torah of Eretz Yisrael. And Chazal teach in Vayikra Rabbah (13,5), אין תורה כתורת ארץ ישראל.
Bnei Yisrael received the Torah at Har Sinai. Har Sinai was designated as the place most suited for Kabbalas HaTorah. And the place most suited for teaching and explaining the Torah is Eretz Yisrael. Since Moshe wasn’t allowed to enter Eretz Yisrael, he was only able to begin the process, hence הואיל משה באר את התורה. He was only able to start teaching Toras Eretz Yisrael. And this is why he wanted so badly to enter Eretz Yisrael, as we read in next week’s parsha (Chapter 3, Pasuk 23), ואתחנן אל ד' בעת ההיא. He wanted to feel the full effects of the wellsprings of Torah available in Eretz Yisrael and continue teaching Torah. But he was not granted his wish.
Sefer Devarim is called Mishnah Torah. It is the transition from Torah Shebichsav to Torah Shebe’alpeh. The Gemara in Megillah 31B teaches, משנה תורה משה מפי עצמו אמרן. It is only appropriate that Mishnah Torah, should be given over by Moshe Rabbeinu. The one who was the conduit for Bnei Yisrael receiving Torah Shebichsav at Har Sinai, was also the one who taught and explained the Torah to Clal Yisrael, Torah Shebe’alpeh, at the brink of Eretz Yisrael, the place most suited for Torah Shebe’alpeh.
The words Mishnah Torah mean to repeat the Torah and to teach Torah. And just as Moshe Rabbeinu taught Bnei Yisrael Torah, we are all commanded to teach our children Torah, as the pasuk says (Chapter 6, Pasuk 7), ושננתם לבניך. The Gemara in Kiddushin 30A learns from this pasuk that Divrei Torah should be מחודדין בפיך, sharp and clear in “your mouth” and in your heart, so that you can answer any question in Torah right away. And the אלה הדברים that Moshe Rabbeinu taught were words of rebuke and Mussar, as the pasuk says in Mishlei (Chapter 6, Pasuk 23), כי נר מצוה ותורה אור ודרך חיים תוכחות מוסר. The Sfas Emes teaches that if תורה אור is Torah Shebichsav, then דרך חיים תוכחות מוסר is Torah Shebe’alpeh; absorbing the light of the Torah in our heart as the roadmap for how to live our life.
Parshat Devarim is always read on the Shabbos before Tisha B’Av. The pasuk says in Eichah (Chapter 1, Pasuk 7), זכרה ירושלים...כל מחמדיה אשר היו מימי קדם. The Sfas Emes learns that these words teach us that even in exile, Clal Yisrael still remember all the wonderful gifts, like Shabbos and Yom Tov, that we received from Hashem. It is forever etched in our hearts and our minds, like all the Torah that we were taught. And the words מימי קדם reflect the notion of beyond time; our memory for the mitzvos is supernatural and not subject to forgetting.
This relates to the Beis Hamikdash as well. Though for thousands of years we have been without the Beis Hamikdash, the light of the Beis Hamikdash is still contained within our collective consciousness. The Sfas Emes teaches that every time one would leave the Beis Hamikdash, he would leave filled with brachos. Similarly, when the Beis Hamikdash was taken from us, the light and the bracha of the Beis Hamikdash is still etched in our memory as a nation. And we are a nation of memory; the Torah is meant to be constantly at our disposal, מחודדין בפיך, as are all of the mitzvos of the Torah, מימי קדם, and the Beis Hamikdash as well. May we strengthen ourselves in Torah and mitzvos, and in the way we treat each other, so that the memory of the Beis Hamikdash etched within our souls, move from a memory to a reality with the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash, במהרה בימינו אמן.
Good Shabbos
Print this article
