Rabbis' Blog

Stuff happens. Kids misbehave, partners make careless mistakes and neighbors can be a nuisance. If you can keep the peace without making a commotion, that’s great but at one point the time will come for an honest conversation.

Devarim, the fifth book of the Torah, is an account of Moshe’s final conversation with the Jewish people. After leading them for forty years, he gathered them thirty seven days before his passing and communicated a divine monologue containing law, history and inspiration.

But first came the honest conversation. The opening words of Devarim are a brief yet intense recap of all the times the Jewish people rebelled against G-d. They complained when there was a lack of water and whined about the substance of the heavenly bread they received every morning. Standing at the Red Sea they railed against G-d for taking them out of Egypt to die and after miraculously crossing on dry land they got distracted with collecting the Egyptian treasures that had washed ashore instead of marching on to Sinai.

The Korach uprising was a disaster and the rebellion of the spies delayed their entrance to Israel by forty years. Many thousands succumbed to promiscuity with the Midianites and Moabites and the sin of the Golden Calf haunts us until today. 

You would never see this list just by reading the opening verses of Devarim because Moshe implied these events in code. The famed Torah interpreter Rashi decodes the words and clarifies that Moshe did so in order to preserve the dignity of our people. Furthermore, the chosen codes actually imply a defense for the Jews in each scenario.

They complained about water because they were stranded in a parched desert and under appreciated the heavenly bread because it was a transcendent type of nutrition. Trapped between a raging sea and the murderous Egyptians would scare anyone to death and they got so distracted with the Egyptian treasures because one week earlier G-d had told them they must sack Egypt clean of all its wealth.

Korach was a manipulative charlatan who sweet-talked them into rebellion and there was no way they could have known that their handpicked spies would seek to bar them from inheriting the Promised Land unless there was a very good reason for doing so. Moav was a nation with a legacy of promiscuity and living in close proximity to them certainly had an impact on them. And about the Golden Calf, G-d was the one who provided them with all that overabundance of gold and it is no wonder they did foolish things with it.

This is a valuable lesson in discipline and rebuke. Even when the proverbial rod is necessary, be clear that you understand the misbehavior is not chronic or malicious and that your love and devotion is still very strong.

This week Thursday we observe Tisha B’av, the anniversary of the destruction of both Holy Temples and the beginning of our long and terrible exile. Although all the pain and suffering resulted from our misbehavior, we know this is all temporary and very soon, through our increased mitzvot, we will merit to usher in the final redemption when there will be peace and tranquility for all.

(Adapted from Likkutei Sichos vol 14 pages 1-7.) 

Free will is the foundation of human relationship with G-d. Noone is born knowing how to fulfill mitzvot and Tefillin, Matzos and Shofars don’t fall from heaven. We must make a conscious decision to invest the time and effort to do Mitzvos properly.

So while mitzvah observance may seem to be a one sided investment on our part, a usually overlooked detail in the story of this week’s parsha reveals how G-d is very much involved in the mitzvos we do all the time.

As the Jewish nation prepared to conquer and inherit the Land of Israel, many of the surrounding nations, blinded by their irrational anti-semitism, tried to stop the Jews from advancing. The Emorites battled them and lost, the Moabites hired Bilaam the prophet to curse them and failed, but the Midianites orchestrated an elaborate scheme to seduce the Jews to sin and successfully caused the death of 22,000 men.

G-d instructed the Jews to retaliate and after a brief and miraculous battle Midian was conquered. The amount of people and livestock that were captured as spoils of war was astounding and G-d instructed Moshe to divide the plunder equally between the soldiers that went out to battle and the rest of the nation.

A special tax was to be taken from the spoils and dedicated to G-d. From the soldiers Moshe was to take one five hundredth of the people, cattle, donkeys and sheep and give them to Elazar the High Priest. From the rest of the people Moshe was to take one fiftieth of the people, cattle, donkeys and sheep and give them to the Levites. Since the Priests and Levites served G-d in the Holy Temple, giving them the tax elevated and sanctified the rest of the spoils as well.

Instead of concluding this chapter of the story by simply recording that Moshe followed G-d’s instructions, the Torah, which serves as a guide for eternity, records in minute detail the exact amount of people, cattle, donkeys and sheep the Jews plundered from the Midianites and how much the respective taxes were. Why must we know all these details today?

Reading through the detailed counting of the spoils, something astounding emerges: the hundreds of thousands of individual units of plunder were counted up in even numbers of groups of five hundred and groups of fifty! There were absolutely no extras! Although this phenomenon is definitely not nature defying like Avraham miraculously coming out of a fiery furnace unscathed - it is so unusual  that it could be classified as close to impossible.

G-d set up the Midianite economy in such a way that when the Jews would ultimately defeat them they would have this specific number of people, cattle, donkeys and sheep so that the tax would represent every unit of plunder. Even one extra cow or sheep would render the entire mitzvah insufficient.

The Torah enumerates all this in over one hundred seemingly extra words in order to teach us today to never be daunted when facing challenges in observing Mitzvos. G-d has it all set up for us, and we just need to make the right choices.

Adapted from Likkutei Sichos vol. 13 pages 110-113.

Today I attended a Covid era Bris. You’d think that being limited to having just the parents, mohel and sandek in attendance would dampen the celebration. Not so. Dozens of friends and family participated via Zoom and the celebratory air and emotion in the room when the child was inducted into the covenant of Abraham was as powerful and intense as any Bris I attended

The secret to our ability to infuse even the most toned down celebration of this important milestone is rooted in the fact that our heritage transcends all limitations of time and space. From the beginning of our nationhood we were told that the Torah and all of its 613 mitzvos are the heritage of every Jew no matter where they may be or how much they know. And this tiny Bris was no different.

It reminded me of a story about Rambam, the famed 12th century Jewish sage known as Maimonides. As the personal physician of the Egyptian sultan he enjoyed much honor in the royal court and his anti-semitic colleagues sought ways to get rid of him and finally one of the king’s closest confidants spun a convincing liable accusing Rambam of treason and the king agreed that he needed to be executed.

However, due to his great love and admiration for his wise physician he sought to find a roundabout way to arrange Rambam’s death. The same confidant suggested that the attendant of the royal lime pit be told that the first person to approach him with the message “Have carried out the king’s orders” should be thrown into the lime pit immediately. The king will then send Rambam to deliver the message to the lime pit attendant and Rambam will meet his end without a public scandal.

The king agreed to the plan and sent the Rambam on the suicide mission the next day. As the Rambam made his way on foot towards the lime pit which was a fair distance from the palace he was approached by a Jew who desperately needed a Mohel to perform a bris on his eight-day old son. The sun would soon set and he was not able to reach the other Mohelim in town.

Rambam reasoned that although he was on a mission from the sultan, surely the commandment of G-d the King of all Kings was more important and he detoured to the Jew’s house where there was a small crowd assembled. After performing the Bris the host insisted he stay for the joyous feast and honored him with reciting the grace after meals on a large glass of wine. The wine had its effect and as he hurried to the limepit he was overcome with exhaustion and laid down to rest for a while.

Meanwhile the antisemitic minister was overjoyed at having signed Rambam’s death sentence he wanted to see the burning embers of his nemesis. Calculating that Rambam had sufficient time to reach the lime pit he himself went to the limepit and innocently asked the attendant if he had fulfilled the king’s orders. To his horror, the man lifted him up and thrust him to his death on the spot.

When Rambam finally reached the lime pit, he realized the great miracle that had occurred in the merit of performing the Bris.

Rambam's greatest contribution to Judaism was  to make every mitzvah in the Torah accessible to every Jew. He authored a digest of all the 613 mitzvot called Sefer Hamitzvot. In 1984, the Rebbe introduced a novel study cycle of Maimonides’ great work on Jewish law and incorporated an easy to follow system of learning all 613 mitzvot in under a year. Yesterday, millions of Jews around the world completed the 39th cycle and today begins the 40th cycle.

You can join the movement and take hold of your heritage by committing a few minutes each day to study and by next summer you will be familiar with all 613 mitzvot!

There are many resources available in numerous languages. Easy-to-read overviews, audio and video classes and a daily email straight to your inbox. There is even an app for it! Click here to find the best way for you to join.