Va'etchanan Vol.29 No.45.Qxp Layout 1
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5 August 2017 13 Av 5777 Shabbat ends London 9.37pm Jerusalem 8.12pm Volume 29 No. 45 Va’etchanan Shabbat Nachamu Artscroll p.958 | Hertz p.755 | Soncino p.1008 In memory of Gershon ben Chaim (Gerald Hyer) 17th Av 5752 - 16th August 1992 A close-up photo of the Shema inscription on the Knesset Menorah in Jerusalem “Moshe called all of Israel, and said to them: Hear, O Yisrael, the decrees and the ordinances that I speak in your ears today; learn them, and be careful to perform them” (Devarim 5:1). 1 Sidrah Summary: Va’etchanan 1st Aliya (Kohen) – Devarim 3:23-4:4 4. Keeping Shabbat 5. Honouring one’s parents; Moshe recalls that after defeating Sichon and Og Prohibition of: 6. Murder; 7. Adultery; 8. Stealing; in battle (see Devarim 2:31-3:11), he prayed to be 9. Bearing false testimony; 10. Coveting what allowed to enter the Land of Cana’an (see Rashi). others have. God refused Moshe’s request, allowing him only Point to Consider: what is the difference to see the Land from afar. Moshe tells the people between the Commandments as listed here and to observe the mitzvot, which will allow them to when they were first given? (compare Devarim inherit the Land and he reminds them of the 5:12 to Shemot 20:8) punishments they witnessed when the nation strayed with the idol of Pe’or (see Bemidbar 25:3). 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 5:19-6:3 Moshe recalls that the heads of the tribes and the 2nd Aliya (Levi) – 4:5-40 elders asked him to relate God’s commandments Moshe tells the people that studying Torah to them directly; they feared they would die if they and keeping the mitzvot will raise their stature in continued to hear directly from God. God agreed the eyes of the other nations. He warns them to their request. not to forget the historic revelation at Mount Sinai, in which God Himself spoke the Ten 6th Aliya (Shishi) – 6:4-25 Commandments from the midst of the fire. Moshe The paragraph of Shema Yisrael is stated, in which adds that they must not fashion any idols, the Jewish people are enjoined to believe in the including the sun, moon and stars, lest they be Oneness of God, to love Him, to teach Torah to tempted to worship them. He warns them that their children, to wear tefilin and to affix mezuzot failure to heed this will result in exile from the to their doorposts. Moshe warns the people not Land. However, God will never abandon His to allow the material attractions of the Land to nation; they will always be able to return to Him. cause them to neglect their service of God, nor to test Him like they did in the desert. 3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 4:41-49 Moshe sets aside three cities to the east of the 7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – 7:1-11 Jordan River. These cities are to provide refuge When the Israelites will come into the Land of for a person who has killed accidentally and is Cana’an, they will successfully overcome seven fleeing from the relatives of the deceased. great and mighty nations. Moshe warns them not Question: what were the names of these three to enter into a covenant with these nations, nor cities? Answer on bottom of page 6. to intermarry with them. Israel is God’s chosen nation, whom He lovingly brought out of Egypt. 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 5:1-5:18 Haftarah Moshe again stresses that the people stood “face Taken from the book of Yeshaya, this is the first of to face” with God at the time of the giving of the the seven ‘haftarot of consolation’ read after Tisha Torah at Mount Sinai. B’Av. It starts with God’s declaration “Comfort, Moshe recalls the Ten Commandments: 1. Faith comfort My nation” and goes on to prophesy that in God’s existence 2. Prohibition of idol worship God will return to Jerusalem and bring an end to 3. Prohibition of taking God’s Name in vain the exile. United Synagogue Daf Hashavua Produced by US Living & Learning together with the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue Editor: Rabbi Chaim Gross Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis Editorial Team: Ilana Epstein, Michael Laitner, Sharon Radley Available also via email US website www.theus.org.uk ©United Synagogue To sponsor Daf Hashavua please contact Loraine Young on 020 8343 5653, or [email protected] If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email [email protected] 2 Connecting to the Land by Rabbi Chaim Gross, Editor, Daf Hashavua After recalling his punishment This seems problematic. Surely silence is not a for striking the rock, Moshe punishable offence. Moreover, why are Yosef’s reiterates that he will not be words considered meritorious? entering Israel, a Divine decree that even his most sincere It seems, explains Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz prayers could not rescind: (d.1979), that the issue here is not reward or “For I will die in this land; I am punishment, rather connection. The Land of not crossing over the Jordan Israel offers endless potential for personal growth [river] …” (Devarim 4:22). and spiritual development. It is the only place where prophecy flourished, the only place where Rashi (ibid) quotes a question on this verse a Temple was built. To tap into that potential, one posed by the Talmudic Sages. If Moshe will needs to be connected to the Land. die in the desert (‘this land’), is it not obvious that he will not be ‘crossing over the Jordan’? On a subtle level, through his remaining Why did he add this second, seemingly silent, Moshe, unlike Yosef, failed to establish superfluous phrase? a connection. Once that was the case, burial in the Land was simply not possible. The answer is that there was another issue at stake – the location of Moshe’s burial place. That This also explains why the sin of the spies too, the verse is hinting, would not be in Israel. (Bemidbar chapters 13 and 14) resulted in Indeed, Moshe was eventually buried in the an entire generation dying in the desert and plains of Moab, east of the Jordan River. being denied entry to the Land of Israel, whereas the sin of the golden calf, seemingly a more Yet why was Moshe not allowed a burial in Israel, severe transgression, did not result in the same a merit that great people over centuries of Jewish punishment. Once the spies had slandered the history would seek? In fact, at that very point in Land of Israel and their words had been publicly time, the Jewish people had been carrying accepted, their connection to the Land was Yosef’s bones (salvaged from Egypt) for 40 years severed, making it impossible for them to enter. so as to bring them into Israel for burial. Why was Moshe denied a right that Yosef was granted? For those of us who holiday in Israel, or even live there, it’s worth taking a few moments to ponder A fascinating Midrash (Devarim Rabbah 2:8) how we can use our time there to make lasting sheds light on this. Yosef was publically insulted personal connections that allow us to tap into the by his master’s wife as being a slave from the great spiritual potential that the Land offers. land of the Hebrews. Languishing in prison, Yosef openly referred to the fact that he came from the ‘land of the Hebrews’ (Bereishit 40:15). In contrast, when Yitro’s (Jethro’s) daughters referred to Moshe as an ‘Egyptian man’, Moshe remained silent, not stating that he was actually a descendant of Ya’akov, from the Land of Cana’an (Shemot 2:19). This silence, explains the Midrash, was the reason that Moshe was denied a burial in Israel. In loving memory of Marilyn Newman z"l on her Yartzeit 3 Bein Adam Lechaveiro Part 8: Judging People Favourably: Applications by Rabbi Daniel Fine, Community Rabbi, Stanmore & Canons Park United Synagogue We have noted previously 3. In your student house, you notice that your that the mitzvah of judging shampoo has depleted recently; you hear one others favourably depends of your house mates saying that he has not on the person and situation bought any shampoo for a while. This seems in question. A righteous more of a 70-30 situation i.e. lending itself to a person should always be positive interpretation; there are many ways judged favourably, whilst the shampoo can go down, including you making a mitzvah does not apply to mistake as to how much was left in the first someone who acts in a wicked way. An ‘in- place. Therefore as long as your house mate is between’ person is judged favourably if the not someone who acts in a wicked way, there is action appears to lend itself equally to positive a mitzvah to judge his actions favourably – or negative interpretation. In addition, there is assume someone else took the shampoo. no technical obligation to judge someone favourably, if you do not know them. With these We see from these guidelines and examples that guidelines in mind, let us return to consider the mitzvah of judging favourably does not call some of the scenarios we have mentioned: for us to create an imaginary utopian world in which we believe that everyone only does good 1. You lost your watch yesterday and your the whole time. We take into account what friend 'suddenly' starts wearing the same would be considered normal behaviour for the watch you had lost.