Daphne Lazar Price focuses on the opening promise: “And when you listen to these laws, God will keep the Covenant with you.” The cause and effect of the verse seems straightforward, except for the “eikev” – heel, the lowest and most overlooked part of the body. She references Rashi who compares it to mitzvot that people “tread underfoot.” Yet in God’s eyes, even small, seemingly trivial commandments matter just as much.
DetailsBenjamin Mann writes about Deuteronomy 8:10, which is incorporated into the birkat Hamazon: When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the ETERNAL your God for the good land given to you. He references his students, who question the need for reciting the Birkat Amazon. The answer is in 8:12-14, wherein Moses cautions the people to beware of becoming haughty and forgetting God.
DetailsRabbi Sacks writes about the juxtaposition of 2 verses; one about God’s supremacy, and the other about God’s care for the low and lonely. This juxtaposition is incorporated into the concluding service for Shabbat, reminding us that as we return to our weekday concerns, we should not be so caught up in our own interests that we forget others less favorably situated.
DetailsNaomi Graetz observes that Shabbat Nachamu very quickly follows Tisha B’Av, moving us rapidly from devastation to consolation, yet the rapid shift doesn’t quite work. She states that Lamentations emphasizes that “there is no comforter”. This is the defining condition. The lack of a neat resolution is reflected in Moses’ situation: he pleads to enter the land and is refused, without compromise or opportunity for appeal. He does not achieve fulfillment.
DetailsRebecca Good considers Moses at the time when he becomes aware that he will not enter the Promised Land. She writes that when Moses struck the rock, he did what he wanted to do, instead of what God told him to do. Although he had faith in God, he lacked the confidence that God would deliver.
DetailsRabbi Sacks writes about the divergence between the interpretations of Judah Halevi and Maimonides. For Maimonides, the basic principle is faith; a realization that there is a “First Being” who brought everything into existence. According to Halevi, the statement “I am the Lord your God…” is preliminary to the commands, explaining why the Israelites should be bound by the will of God.
DetailsRabbi Mack comments on the tendency to retell events based on how we felt about them, including Moshe. She observes that for many of the events that Moshe recalls, God was originally in charge. How else do we account for the variations between Moshe’s recollection and the original narrative?
DetailsJake Nussbaum writes about Masechet Avodah Zara 25a, which attributes 2 biblical verses to the Sefer haYashar. The question that the sages raise is: what exactly is the Sefer haYashar? Rabbi Elazar wrote that it is Devarim, because of verse 6:18 – “so what is upright and good in the sigh of the Lord…”.
DetailsRabbi Sacks observes that tzedek and its derivate tzedakah appear 16 times in Genesis and 18 times in Deuteronomy, and only a few times in the other books. The root has so many shades of meaning that it is practically impossible to translate. It demonstrates the wide range of meaning between legal justice and the right thing to do.
DetailsRabbi Ruskay considers the challenging text that stipulates that a woman’s vow can be nullified by her father or husband; otherwise, if she breaks it then he is culpable. Rather than skipping over it, she “leans into the text”, considering contemporary contexts. For instance, she quotes the question “what happens to our bodies when we encounter a text that challenges us because of who we are”. She observes, “our tradition is bigger than any single passage.”
DetailsSam Berrin Shonkoff tackles the multiple challenges of this double parashah; the sexism of men nullifying women’s promises, genocide of the Midianites, ethnic cleansing of the current inhabitants of Canaan, and questions how we can meaningfully engage with such texts. He writes that we cannot evade, ignore, or whitewash the narrative, but must approach the Torah in its entirety, cultivating true shalem—wholeness in the world.
DetailsRabbi Sacks writes about the tribes of Reuben and Gad, who will be permitted to return to their land on the east side of the Jordan river after the land is conquered, and they will be free of any obligation before God and Israel. Rabbi Sacks’ concern is that instead of being innocent before God, they must also be innocent before Israel. This enhancement has become an ethical axiom of Judaism. Appearances matter.
DetailsRabbi Altshuler considers the narrative of the Israelites cohabiting with the Moabite women: He questions why non-Jewish women are blamed for leading Jewish men into idolatry and why God sees this as something punishable by death. For comparison, he references the writings of Charles Arthaud, of the French colony that would later become Haiti. Dr. Arthaud wrote that all people have a relationship with the Divine, yet he owned a plantation with slaves.
DetailsDr. Sinclair comments on the lack of feminine push-back against the male domination, and the remarkable narrative of the 5 daughters of Tzlofechad. She observes that they are identified by their names, and not by their relationships to men. Secondly, they challenge the accepted social order, and the law of the land. Dr. Sinclair then analyzes the meaning of the root “g-r-ah” — to subtract, to derive meaning from the text.
DetailsRabbi Sacks writes of the poignancy of Moses’ prayer to God to appoint a successor to lead the Jewish people. God then informs Moses that he will also be “gathered to his people as was his brother Aaron.” Rashi interprets this to mean that Moses was somewhat envious of how Aaron died. Rabbi Sacks cites Ktav Sofer, who observed that Aaron knew that his children would follow in his footsteps, yet Moses’ sons would not follow in his own.
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