Rabbi's Drash

Va'Echannan- I Pleaded

jnxtav July 24 2010 13 Av 5770

This parashah begins with the word va’etchanan jnxtav which means pleaded from the root chanan jnx - grace. Moshe was looking for G-d’s gracious acceptance of his plea. He never asked G-d for anything for himself but this time he was begging to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land but he was turned down. In reading Moshe’s words, it looks like he is blaming the people for the fact that he couldn’t go but in actuality, he is simply giving them the facts—if he hadn’t lost his temper, he wouldn’t have been in this situation. However, if G-d had allowed Moshe to continue as leader, the people would never have followed Joshua and it was Joshua’s time to take over. In any organization the old leader needs to leave before the new one can be accepted.

Moshe like a loving father was so anxious that the children would learn from the mistakes of their fathers and that this generation would succeed. However, they turn out even worse than the preceding generation sadly enough. Things have not changed since those days. Even though we live in an age when technology has advanced beyond our imagination and knowledge is increasing as lightning speed, the heart of man has not changed. We do not learn from the past. We are a social animal and we can be extremely self-centered and selfish. In order to live in society, we develop religions instead of relationships with G-d. We try to protect ourselves by limiting the rights of others. Most of our laws are made to limit man by building fences of protection but our nature is to try to jump these fences.

Devarim

oyrbd (Words) July 17 2010 6 Av 5770

The name Deuteronomy means “second law”. Our sages called this book Mishnei Torah or the repetition of the Torah from the term in Devarim 17:18 but for me this is a misnomer since it is only a review or a reminder by Moshe to the people before his departure to join his forefathers. According to the sages it was written in the period of 36 days before his death. It is ha Sefer ha Devarim – the book of the words Moshe spoke to the people. It differs from the first 4 books both in style and in person where here he is talking directly to his people, Israel while the others were dictated by G-d Himself. In this farewell Moshe is telling them that he is leaving, that they will face many difficult things ahead and that they would do well to learn from the mistakes of their elders or the consequences would be very grave.

This has not changed today. The wise learn from the mistakes of others and theory is worthless unless it can be applied. Young people often think that they know everything. Uneducated people often act as if they know it all. Yet people who really have amassed much knowledge when they reach the end of their lives, like Socrates, admit that they know nothing at all.

Mattot Maasei

yicm tvum July 10 2010 21 Tamuz 5770

With Mattot Maasei we have reached the end of Bamidbar and according to our sages the Torah has finished with this book. The last book Devarim is also known as the Mishnei Torah (Devarim 17:18) or the second Torah. In Devarim (Deuteronomy) Moshe will no longer speak directly from G-d’s Words but in his own words retelling the Torah to the children of the generation that left Egypt.

Bamidbar encompasses the entire 40 year journey of the people from Egypt to the Land with all their struggles and how they have grown into a nation. They have been through very difficult times where G-d’s discipline was at times very harsh and the only two of that entire generation to enter the Promised Land would be Joshua, from Ephraim, an Israelite and Caleb, a Kenizzite, who is Ger, a foreigner among us now part of Judah.

This portion gives us a panoramic vision of the last days in a very prophetic and spectacular way. Our people had to go through many changes before they would be ready to enter the Land — it was a process of purging and cleansing for them.

Pinchas

oxnyp July 3 2010 21 Tamuz 5770

Pinchas is replete with Sod pointing to Mashiach. Sod is the part of the method of interpretation known as PaRDeS which is an acronym for Pshat, the direct meaning, Remez or hint, Drash or teaching for application and Sod for Mystery or mystical. For example, the name Pinchas can be broken down into—Peh meaning face and Chas meaning pious- face of pity or even bolt of piety and also peh and nachash—face of the serpent. These point to Messiah referring back to the verses in Torah— the bronze serpent being lifted up on the pole by Moses pointing to our healing as we look up to Messiah and the passage in Genesis 3:15 after the serpent deceived Eve and was cursed, having been defeated by Mashiach.

The action that Pinchas took bothers our sages. They argue that Pinchas took matters into his own hands by killing the Zimri, a prince of the tribe of Simeon and Cozbi, a Midianite princess. In our traditions they equate Pinchas with Eliyahu to the point that they say that he too never died; that his deed was committed out of a sense of righteousness. He is given the same seat as Eliyahu, the seat of Cohen Gadol at the Brit Mila. When we understand Pinchas we can see how Yeshua has fulfilled every minute detail.

Balak

qlb June 26 2010 14 Tamuz 5770 Bamidbar (Num) 22:2-25:9

This parashah is one of the most questionable parashot by our sages beginning with the name of the parashah itself— Balak; questionable because he was a pagan king who hated Israel and here we see the use of spiritual powers to defeat Israel.

Balak called for Bilam, an Aramean sorcerer to curse Israel. Bilam knew the true G-d of Israel and had received the gift of prophecy from G-d. From this account we draw several very important spiritual teachings. The first idea that comes to mind is the universalism of the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob which includes the revelation of G-d to people outside of Israel. Bilam was a gentile prophet chosen by the G-d of Israel for a specific task while he was not from Israel. G-d can chose whomever He wishes for good or for evil.