OUTREACH

Devarim 

The entire book of Deuteronomy, which we begin reading this week, is a 37-day continuing soliloquy of our greatest prophet and first Rebbe/leader of the Jewish people, Moses.

On the first day of the 11th month, Shevat, Moses begins his address to the Jewish people in preparation for their entry into the Holy Land and concludes with his final words on the seventh of the 12th month, Adar, the day of his passing.  Moses begins with a condensed overview of their 40 year experience together, alluding with inferences to the many challenging  events that marked their journey from Egypt to the borders of Jericho.

By re-naming the various locations of negative experiences by words that indicated the particular rebellious act that took place there, Moshe  concealed his criticism and rebuke of his beloved people, not to make it glaring and obvious.  An illustration of that is the location called “Di Zahav” which does not exist anywhere but the name means “a lot of gold” alluding to the sin with the golden calf, and so on with the other locations. It is clear that Moshe is not being overly transparent for good reasons.

Yet in verse 5, Moses teaches and divulges the Torah in the most clear terms in 70 languages, to be easily accessible to anyone, anywhere, without any impediments of language understanding.

In this last will and testament of Moses, as he leaves his leadership position and prepares the Jewish people to cross the Jordan into the Holy Land, he gives them the most succinct and best advice for the most successful outcomes in their eternal sojourn. He synopsizes every one of their serious setbacks and failures, to recognize in clear hindsight the consequence of that behavior, but it is critiqued in a manner that is not discouraging, weakening, self-deprecating or minimizing their great potential. It is alluded to in a concealed language so that the errors  of the past do not become the downfall of the future.

When however he gives them the positive purpose and objective that is the Torah way of life which guarantees the most positivity and blessings, he says it in the most clear, revealed and transparent way.

When directing someone for the proper path of life, we have to also follow the instruction of Moses to minimize the critique and to say it in a way that does not cause consternation or negativity, and then make sure that we teach the proper G-dly directives for maximal life in languages that everyone, anywhere, under any circumstances, can understand and implement in their lives. Today, we live in a time when the Torah is so available to us in every language and in every means of communication. Being in the nine days when the key behavior that is critical for our redemption from exile and the rebuilding of the temple is unity, togetherness, camaraderie, loving each other and supporting each other, we can accomplish this by us minimizing the criticism and maximizing the positive encouragement.

Have a wonderful Shabbos, a meaningful fast, and may we merit the coming of Moshiach now.

Sholom D. Lipskar

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