Parshat Devarim, Deut. 1:1-3:22

This week's parasha has been sponsored in memory of Morris Browns, father of Baruch Sienna, by Wayne Haymer.

"I am not a man of words..."

Words. Words. Words.
I have certainly written a lot of them. Over the last three years, I have been Kolel's weekly parasha columnist, and this week, I write my penultimate column. (This is probably my last opportunity to use that favourite word: penultimate!) Like Moses, I have never considered myself ish d'varim 'a man of words,' and most of the time, am happy to let others do most of the talking (Unless I am the teacher in front of a classroom!). As Tevye remarks, after misquoting the Torah twice to be told that the speaker was in fact Moses, not King David, he says, "Well for someone who stuttered, he sure talked a lot!"

Moses probably had some sort of speech impediment, and although Rashi's commentary popularized the midrashic image of Moshe as 'stutterer', there are cogent interpretations for other possibilities, such the inability to make certain sounds correctly (Ibn Ezra) like a lisp, or perhaps, just being 'stage-shy' and not liking speaking in front of groups. Ironically, the man who reticently took on the role of God's prophet, ends the Torah with his own book, the Book of Words. Moses had a speech impediment, yet he saves the Jewish people with words.

This week of Parashat Devarim, (the first Parasha of a book always has the same name as the book itself- for the same reason- they both are named for the first important word), also always falls in the week before Tisha b'Av. The period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av is a mourning period for the destruction of the Jewish Temples, and this week we begin this month of Av. Much of Jewish culture resides in this month; for many Jews, the themes of loss and mourning are the central pillar of Jewish culture.

The month of 'Av' connects midrashically to the book of D'varim another way: Av is spelled with only two Hebrew letters: aleph-beit. Like in English, (from the Greek), the Hebrew word for alphabet, is made by combining its first two letters: aleph-beit. The month of 'Av' represents the 'alphabet' of the words of D'varim. Aleph is silent. Beit, the first letter of the Torah, means house. We move from aleph to beit. The silence of the wilderness must be transformed into a dwelling place for Torah.

Of course the Torah begins with words too; God's words. Unlike many ancient cosmologies, where the earth is created by the gods copulating, or a god sneezing, the Torah imagines the world being created by God's speech. As we say in the morning liturgy, "Baruch she-amar vehayah ha'olam- Blesed is the One who spoke, and the world came into being." In terms of Kolel's parasha, we can translate it literally: Baruch spoke, and [the Kolel] world [wide web] came into being!

The book of Deuteronomy has little new in it. Moses begins to repeat himself. In fact the Rabbis call the book, Mishneh Torah, (the repetition of the Torah- not to be confused with the Ramban's book of Jewish law by the same name). In this week's parashah, Moses undertakes to "expound this Torah" and then God says to Moses, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain..."(1:6). Like Moses, I have tried to expound the Torah each week, and I don't want to start repeating myself and overstay my welcome. Like Moses, the time has come to pass the torch. The Rabbis say, 'There are seventy facets to the Torah' and in Pirkei Avot, the Sayings of the Sages, Ben Bag Bag says, 'Turn it, turn it, for everything is in it', but I believe that I have said everything there is (for me to say). I have heard from rabbi friends, that a professor of homiletics says that every rabbi gives only one sermon. What that means, is that although the stories and words are different each week, ultimately, every person has a 'life-story' or message that is consistently communicated. That is why I am glad that there will be a new voice with Rabbi Shekel starting after next week. (I have already peaked at her upcoming columns, and they are wonderful: fresh, funny, contemporary and profound.

One more exciting announcement, though. Together with Rabbi Shekel's new authorship, we are also moving (as you can see) to a new blog format for the parasha on the website. Even though thousands of individuals receive and read our parasha, I have always been surprised by how little feedback we receive, even after a particularly controversial topic or radical dvar Torah, and I hope this blog will encourage readers to post their comments. (Make your comments by clicking on the 'comments link' below; in order to minimize vandals and spambots, you must sign in to use this feature).

Next week, I'll sign off, but am continuing on a very significant and exciting web project for Kolel that I will share with you in the coming year. Until then Moses instructs the Israelites to leave the mountain, "Start out and make your way ..." (1:7)

Shabbat Shalom

BDS