Judaism
Parashah of the week: Devarim
“When all the warriors among the people had died off, Hashem spoke to me” Deuteronomy 2:16-17
August 8, 2024 10:39
“When all the warriors among the people had died off, Hashem spoke to me” Deuteronomy 2:16-17
August 8, 2024 10:39This week’s parashah is the first of a new book of the Torah, Devarim (Words) or Deuteronomy. The Book of Devarim mostly consists of Moses's long farewell speeches to the people, in which Moses offers us the guidance he thinks we will need in the Promised Land.
He is talking to a generation who either left Egypt as children, or were born in the wilderness. Their parents, who left Egypt as adults, died during the 38 years of wandering, as a result of the sin of the Twelve Spies, in Parashat Shelach Lecha.
The retelling of that episode occupies the latter half of the first chapter of our parashah. As he does throughout the entire Book of Devarim, Moses recounts what happened during the journey through the wilderness, aiming to warn the people not to repeat their parents’ mistakes.
The above verse briefly mentions the passing of that generation. On the surface, it seems an unremarkable verse: after the men of fighting age died off, God speaks to Moses. However, our ancient rabbis detected something significant in the Hebrew word for “He spoke”, vayedaber.
Rashi, the great medieval commentator, explains. He writes that from the time that the spies were sent, God had not spoken to Moses with dibbur, which denotes affection and intimacy. However now, 38 years later, that the generation guilty of listening to the spies had died out, Hashem once again spoke to Moses with affection and intimacy.
Rashi goes further and offers us an explanation of this sequence of events, which suggests a radical model of relationship between leaders and those they serve. He writes that the absence of Divine intimacy with Moses during the 38 years of wandering teaches us that “the Divine Presence (Shechinah) rests on the prophets only for the sake of Israel”.
In other words, no matter how great a leader – and Moses is traditionally viewed as our greatest one ever – their relationship with the Divine and with life itself, is dependent on, and proportional to, the condition of the people.
We might have imagined that the spiritual life of the leader was a private, personal matter, but we learn here that in fact, it depends on their dedication to, and the condition of, those they serve. May we be blessed with leaders who understand this principle and act accordingly.
Rabbi Silverstein runs Applied Jewish Spirituality