Devarim: A Higher Level

This week we begin reading the fifth book: Devarim.  We have also begun to enter a new level of consciousness and big changes are coming - some people already know and understand this, others will understand soon enough.  Time for some serious soul-searching and cleaning up the messy parts of your life.

The following is from the writings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe:

The Book of Devarim arose from a different form of prophetic revelation than the previous four Books of Moshe.  For unlike the preceding books which were "dictated" directly by God, the Book of Devarim was a Divine revelation which Moshe phrased in his own words [see Ohr HaChayim and Tosfos].

At first glance, this would appear to be a disadvantage, for words arranged by God Himself are surely superior to those composed by Moshe.   However, in truth, the Book of Devarim has its own advantage: that the words of G-d reached a higher level of compatibility with the human mind.

Moshe's contribution to the Book of Devarim did not detract from the validity of the work, for Devarim remains part of the Chumash just as much as the other four books.  But having passed through the "interface" of a human mind, the words of this book were fashioned in a manner that other human beings would find easier to absorb.  Thus:

The Book of Devarim was said to the generation which was about to enter the Land of Israel, where food would not be provided miraculously, and extensive interaction with the mundane world would be necessary.  As a preparation for this, the Jewish people were given the Book of Devarim which contained Godly wisdom that had been brought more "down to earth" by Moshe.

As a Divinely inspired work of the human mind, the Book of Devarim sets the precedent for later prophetic works.  It is also a form of precursor for Rabbinic law, which is humanly conceived and yet is an expression of the will of God.

A ba'al teshuvah is one who returned to God through his own initiative, but God assists the ba'al teshuvah with Divine revelation to his subconscious soul.  This is similar to the way the Book of Devarim was said: Consciously it was Moshe's own words, but on a deeper level it was a product of Divine revelation.  This similarity between teshuvah and the Book of Devarim is the inner reason why the book is characterized by "rebuke" [see Rashi], a way of helping another to do teshuvah.

Source: Based on Likutei Sichos Lubavitcher Rebbe

The Purpose of Galus

Rav Eliyahu Dessler in Michtav MeiEliyahu [3:207] writes, "It is very important to understand the purpose of each Galus that Am Yisroel went through since we became a nation. Galus - like all things that happen through the ways of Hashem - comes to awaken us, teach us, and bring us to better ourselves. If the purpose of the Galus is not clear to us, we are lacking a fundamental understanding in how to serve Hashem. Certainly we must understand the Galus that we ourselves are in." 

He continues. According to all the signs given by Chazal, our generation is the Ikvisa D'Mishicha. We now stand at the moment in time just before the coming of the Bias Go'el Tzedek. It is a great loss if we don't learn to understand where Hashem is leading the world and why. For if not we won't know how to properly respond at this moment to the specific obligations put on us.

Source: Revach L'Neshama

Kapparah in the death of a Tzaddik

by Rabbi Elchanan Lewis


Question: How can the death of a Tzaddik become a Kapparah [atonement]?

Answer: The Tzadik is not a personal individual that has an impact only on himself, he is a public figure who impacts on all those around him; the loss of a Tzadik is therefore a public loss, not an individual or family one. The Tzadikim are here not for themselves, rather for others - that is how they live their lives and that is how they also die; Just as the death serves as atonement to the deceased himself, so the departure of a Tzadik does to his community.

Torah Codes and Moshiach

Rabbi Glazerson shows how the discovery of the Torah Codes plays a major role before Moshiach: A code which validates the de-coders. ["Bible Code in the Secret of Kabbalah" - video]

Journeys

Written by Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

"These are the journeys of the Children of Israel" [Masei 33:1]

אֵלֶּה מַסְעֵי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

This verse alludes to the four exiles that the Jewish nation would endure:

אֵלֶּה - Eileh - Edom [Rome]

מַסְעֵי - Masei - Madai and Paras [Medes and Persia]

בְנֵי - Bnei - Bavel [Babylonia]

יִשְׂרָאֵל - Yisrael - Yavan [Greece]

Why, asks Rashi, was it necessary to enumerate all of the different journeys?

To answer this question, Rashi quotes the words of the Midrash Tanchuma: "This can be compared to the case of a king whose son was ill and he took him to a distant place to cure him. Once they started back, his father began to enumerate all the stages [of their journey] saying to [his son]: "Here we slept. Here we felt cold. Here you had a headache, etc."

What is the nimshal [the application] of this parable? asked the Imrei Emes [R' Avraham Mordechai of Gur]. Is the Torah merely telling us that the Jews rested or cooled themselves in these places? Isn't it obvious that they had to do these things? What, then, is the Midrash coming to teach us by listing the places where they slept or felt cold?

These verses and Chazal's parable, answered the Rebbe, have deep meaning and contain hidden admonishments.

"Here we slept" - this is an allusion to the time of the Giving of the Torah. For on that monumental morning when the Torah was to be given, the Jewish nation overslept.

"Here we felt cold" - this alludes to when Amalek "cooled down" the Jewish nation's enthusiasm for serving Hashem, as the verse states "That he happened [karcha, "made you cold"] upon you on the way" [Devarim 25:18]

"Here you had a headache [chashasta es roshecha]" - this is an allusion to the sin of the Golden Calf, when the Jewish people had uncertainties [chashashos] regarding the whereabouts of their leader [rosh] Moshe Rabbeinu.

This is why, concluded the Rebbe, the Torah specified each journey, in order that the Jewish nation should remember what transpired at each place and repent wholeheartedly.

Tisha B'Av, Exile and Anti-Semitism

A new video from Rabbi Pinchas Winston:

There is a reason why Tisha B'Av falls out on the same day of the week as Pesach does, and it has everything to do with why the Jewish people are still in exile, and anti-Semitism is increasing.

Obama's Temptation

The Last Laugh

Mann tracht und Gott lacht   -    Men plan and God laughs.

As a result of Yaakov's having taken the blessings, Eisav hated him with an unquenchable hatred that sought revenge. He devised a plan whereby he could dominate the world.

Eisav thought:

Kayin killed his brother Hevel before his father Adam died. That was his mistake. After Hevel was removed, Adam had another son Shais. Therefore I will do better, I will make sure that both my father and my brother are dead.

Pharoah thought:

Eisav waited until Yitzchak died before attempting to kill his brother. Did he not realize that his brother would meanwhile have children? I will be smarter, I will drown all newborn boys in the river.

Haman thought:

Pharoah didn't realize that the girls would marry and bear children. He should have wiped out the girls as well as the boys. I will be the one to wipe out all of them.

At the end of days, Gog and Mogog will say:

Didn't Haman know that they have a Protector in Heaven? We will first overcome their Protector and then destroy them.

But Hashem answers them all: "I have many messengers to frustrate your plans". Then Hashem will go out to wage war against the nations, and on that day Hashem will be the sole King of the Earth.

Source:  The Midrash Says