B"H

Tuesday, Menachem Av 2, 5777 / July 25, 2017

With this week’s Parsha, Devarim, we begin the fifth book of the Torah, the Book of Deuteronomy.

The book of Devarim covers a period of five weeks. It ends with Moshe blessing the people before his passing.

The first word of the Parsha, “Aileh,” has a numerical value of 36. This alludes to the amount of days Moshe was to still spend with his people.

In this book of the Torah are Moshe’s parting words to the Jewish people, before his passing. By now Moshe had already led the Jewish nation for a period of forty years. They were now on the east side of the Jordan River, about to enter into the Promised Land. Because Moshe was barred from entering into the land of Canaan, he said his farewell to the people, before he was going to pass on the leadership to Joshua.

He reminds them of all their mistakes over the forty years he led them through the desert.  He reminds them about their sin with the Golden Calf; their rebellion when they wanted to return to Egypt; their complaining about the manna from heaven and their sin of sending the spies to scout the Promised Land, which resulted in their staying in the desert for forty years.

Moshe warns them, as they are about to enter into the Promised Land, that if they want to stay in the land forever, they must adhere to G-d’s words and not repeat their mistakes of the past.

Parshat Devarim is read every year on the Shabbat before the ninth of Av(Tisha B’Av) when we fast and mourn the destruction of the two Holy Temples.

Q.  What is the connection between this Parsha and the destruction of the Holy Temples?

A.   In this Parsha Moshe reviews the unfortunate story of the "spies" who were sent to scout the land of Israel.  But, as a result of the negative report they brought back, the Torah tells us that, "the people cried that night" and refused to go into Israel, which resulted in their staying in the desert 40 years.

The night which the Jews "cried" was the 9th of Av(Tisha B'Av).  G-d said, "You cried this night in vain refusing to enter the land which I promised to give to you, as a result this night will become a night of crying in the future." 

It was on this very same date, on the 9th of Av, a thousand years later that the First Temple was destroyed and later also the Second Temple.  May we merit the coming of Moshiach speedily in our days and the rebuilding of the Temple.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY & SUCCESSFUL DAY