{"id":49166,"date":"2018-07-09T17:41:39","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-154\/"},"modified":"2022-09-06T20:48:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T17:48:59","slug":"wall-154","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-154\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Deuteronomy-1"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"154","date":"20260401","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"49259","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Deuteronomy 1 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Deuteronomy 1 - Judy Hammond","slug":"deuteronomy-1-judy-hammond","old_id":"49259","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Deuteronomy 1","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"read by Judy Hammond","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/deuteronomy-chapter-1-read-by-judy-hammond","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"107773","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"The First Person\u2019s First Person ","post_title":"The First Person\u2019s First Person","slug":"the-first-persons-first-person","old_id":"107773","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Moses tells it his way. Why?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The last book of the Torah takes place at the very end of Moses\u2019 life and told from Moses\u2019 perspective. The book begins where Numbers left off. The nation is at the Jordan river poised to enter the land. The entire exodus generation died off except for Moses, Caleb, and Joshua. Moses gathers the people and begins his farewell address. Along with the familiar material, there are some new stories and laws as well. The first chapter has a few examples of the Moses perspective. Some of these fill in the blanks on the earlier stories. An example of this is the story of the scouts: back in Numbers 13, the story opens with God telling Moses \u201cSend for you people to spy out the land.\u201d It was unclear who had asked for the spies. Moses? God? The people? Chapter 1 of Deuteronomy answers: \u201cThen all of you came to me and said, \u201cLet us send spies ahead to reconnoiter the land for us\u2026\u201d (verse 22).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the scouts story also demonstrates how Deuteronomy contains slightly different details of a story. Back in Numbers, when the spies come back with the twisted report, Moses and Aaron fall on their faces. It is Cale\u05e0 that stands up and declares: \u201c\u2018Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it?\u2019\u201d(Numbers 13:30). But here, Moses says he declared: \"have no fear or dread of them; None other than your God, who goes before you, will fight for you\u2026\u201d (verses 29-30). Moses then connects this incident with God\u2019s decree that he is not allowed to enter the land (verses 37-39). There is no mention of the incident at the rock.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So which story is accurate? One could look at this as Moses trying to spin the story so he looks good. The problem with this simplistic approach is that the two people who were very involved in this story- Joshua and Caleb- are the only ones still alive! They could easily have countered Moses\u2019 retelling. The answer is more likely one that concerns the entire book. Like the books of Chronicles, there is an agenda here. Those books are told with the agenda of promoting the house of David. Moses has an agenda here too- preparing the people to enter the land and to have the first leadership handoff in their history. That means that not everything listed is necessarily \u201chistorically accurate.\u201d His message is for this new generation to avoid the pitfalls of the last.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49511,"alt":"","title":"Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","width":524,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses-262x300.jpg","medium-width":262,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","medium_large-width":524,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","large-width":524,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","1536x1536-width":524,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","2048x2048-width":524,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","post_full_size-width":524,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses-367x420.jpg","home_baner-width":367,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The First Person\u2019s First Person","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Moses tells it his way. Why?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49511,"alt":"","title":"Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","width":524,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses-262x300.jpg","medium-width":262,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","medium_large-width":524,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","large-width":524,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","1536x1536-width":524,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","2048x2048-width":524,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses.jpg","post_full_size-width":524,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-The_Death_of_Moses-367x420.jpg","home_baner-width":367,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"721","name":"Text","old_id":"1121"}]},{"order":3,"id":"49323","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Lessons For The End Time On The Fragility Of Existence ","post_title":"Lessons For The End Time On The Fragility Of Existence","slug":"lessons-for-the-end-time-on-the-fragility-of-existence","old_id":"49323","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":48376,"post_title":"Tzvi Novick","slug":"tzvi-novick","old_id":"48376","first_name":"Tzvi ","last_name":"Novick ","description":"Tzvi Novick holds the Abrams College Chair of Jewish Thought and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, where he teaches in the Department of Theology. His research focuses on rabbinic literature and early liturgical poetry.\r\n ","short_description":"Tzvi Novick holds the Abrams College Chair of Jewish Thought and Culture at the University of Notre Dame","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":48377,"alt":"","title":"May 10, 2013; Tzvi Novick..Photo by Matt Cashore\/University of Notre Dame","caption":"May 10, 2013; Tzvi Novick..Photo by Matt Cashore\/University of Notre Dame","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/tzvi-novick-e1548753867386.jpg","width":1416,"height":1812,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/tzvi-novick-e1548753867386-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/tzvi-novick-e1548753867386-234x300.jpg","medium-width":234,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/tzvi-novick-e1548753867386-768x983.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":983,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/tzvi-novick-e1548753867386-800x1024.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/tzvi-novick-e1548753867386.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/tzvi-novick-e1548753867386.jpg","2048x2048-width":1416,"2048x2048-height":1812,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/tzvi-novick-e1548753867386-938x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":938,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/tzvi-novick-e1548753867386-328x420.jpg","home_baner-width":328,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"#1 - No delegating responsibility","post_main_content_content":"

The book of Deuteronomy\u2014Moses\u2019 dying valediction\u2014is framed in space and time by the number eleven: The Israelites are encamped an eleven days\u2019 journey from Horeb (Sinai) (1:2), and Moses begins to speak on the first day of the eleventh (<\/span>ashte asar<\/span><\/i>) month (1:3). \u00a0(Note how ashte asar<\/em> is reinforced by another temporal marker: The speech begins after the conquest at ashterot<\/em>. [1:4]). In a world dominated by the number twelve\u2014the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve spies, the twelve stones of the breastplate, etc.\u2014the number eleven strikes a discordant note. I take it to signify an impending end: If twelve marks completion, summation, then eleven indicates its approach. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Deuteronomy is a book that foresees an imminent end.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the end of what? \u00a0Deuteronomy marks the end of the wilderness wandering, of course, and as such, that end is a happy one, the fulfillment of God\u2019s promise to Abraham to settle his children in the land of Canaan. Yet Deuteronomy is replete with rebuke; indeed, rebuke is arguably the book\u2019s <\/span>raison d\u2019\u00eatre<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the opening chapters of the book, Moses will recall Israel\u2019s sins in the wilderness, and warn throughout of new prospects for sinning in the land. Especially in the latter third of the book, these sins will serve as grounds for imagining a more distant future of foreign invasion and exile. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is the paradox of the book of Deuteronomy: It offers a vision of Jewish life on the land even as it envisions the end of such life. From the perspective of the book of Deuteronomy, national existence in the land of Israel is intrinsically fragile. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

This complex vision has obvious resonance for a Jewish present that counts the State of Israel as its most prominent center. But the book of Deuteronomy, so conceived, should speak likewise to people as such, inhabitants of the Anthropocene. To live in this era is to appreciate that, in the most profound way, \u201cHe has given the earth to human beings\u201d (Ps 115:16).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We are the makers of this world, and its biggest threat. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Let us, then, at the eleventh hour, begin to explicate the Torah of the Anthropocene that is implicit in Deuteronomy. Chapter 1 is a meditation on the relationship between leaders and led. Leadership decisions that in Exodus and Numbers were the result of private conversations among elites\u2014between Jethro and Moses about the appointment of judges (Exodus 19), between God and Moses about the appointment of the spies (Numbers 13)\u2014emerge in Deuteronomy 1 from negotiations between Moses and the people. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Likewise, Moses is barred from entering the land of Canaan not because of his private transgression against God, as in Numbers 20, but because he heads a generation that will itself not inherit the land. \u00a0The very juxtaposition of the judges and the spies\u2014a vital and enduring leadership institution, on the one hand, and a short-lived and disastrous one, on the other\u2014underscores the sense that leadership is an epiphenomenon, and that reality and power lie ultimately in the people.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses opens with a first and fundamental lesson for the end time: There is no delegating responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Image: Planetary boundaries, by Christian Leichsenring<\/a><\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49324,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries.png","width":800,"height":657,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries-300x246.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":246,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries-768x631.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":631,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries.png","large-width":800,"large-height":657,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries.png","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":657,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries.png","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":657,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries.png","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":657,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries-511x420.png","home_baner-width":511,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Reading Deuteronomy In The Anthropocene","tile_main_caption":"Lessons For The End Time On The Fragility Of Existence","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"#1 - No delegating responsibility","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49324,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries.png","width":800,"height":657,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries-300x246.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":246,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries-768x631.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":631,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries.png","large-width":800,"large-height":657,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries.png","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":657,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries.png","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":657,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries.png","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":657,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Novick-Planetary_boundaries-511x420.png","home_baner-width":511,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"393","name":"Crisis","old_id":"793"},{"term_id":"412","name":"Responsibility","old_id":"812"}]},{"order":4,"id":"49300","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Sudden Eloquence ","post_title":"Sudden Eloquence","slug":"sudden-eloquence","old_id":"49300","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34004,"post_title":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg","slug":"avivah-gottlieb-zornberg","old_id":"34004","first_name":"Avivah Gottlieb","last_name":"Zornberg","description":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg lives in Jerusalem where she has been lecturing on Torah since 1980. She reads biblical narratives through the prism of midrash, literature, philosophy and particularly psychoanalysis.\r\nShe was born in London and grew up in Glasgow, where her father was a Rabbi and the head of the Rabbinical Court. She studied Torah with him from childhood. Her PhD in English Literature is from Cambridge University, England. She taught English literature at the Hebrew University before turning to teaching Torah. She now teaches throughout the Jewish world, at synagogues, universities, and psychoanalytic institutes.\r\nShe is the author of five critically acclaimed books. Her latest book, Moses: A Human Life, was published by Yale University Press.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg lives and lectures on Torah in Jerusalem. She is the author of five critically acclaimed books. ","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34006,"alt":"","title":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","width":454,"height":359,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg-300x237.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":237,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","medium_large-width":454,"medium_large-height":359,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","large-width":454,"large-height":359,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","1536x1536-width":454,"1536x1536-height":359,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","2048x2048-width":454,"2048x2048-height":359,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","post_full_size-width":454,"post_full_size-height":359,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","home_baner-width":454,"home_baner-height":359}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Like a spring bursting forth in the wilderness, Moses discovers a primal genius for language","post_main_content_content":"

In Jewish tradition, Moses is known as Moses our Teacher\u2014Moshe rabbenu. The irony is that, from the beginning of the narrative, Moses questions his own ability to transmit God\u2019s messages. When he describes himself as \u201cheavy of mouth, and heavy of tongue,\u201d as \u201cof uncircumcised lips,\u201d he reveals a profoundly personal dimension of his life. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the book of Deuteronomy, he speaks in a new way, reaching out to his listeners \u2014and to his future readers\u2014in the mode of <\/span>teaching<\/span><\/em>. Skeptical of his power to affect them, Moses stages for his students new teaching possibilities that are generated, I suggest, precisely by his inhibition.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The opening to language originates in the wilderness: \"These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan, in the wilderness....\" In fact, says the midrash, it is the wilderness that generates the explosion of language that he experiences in the last months of his life:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\"These are the words...\u201d: [...] Forty years after leaving Egypt, Moses began to interpret the Torah in seventy languages\u2014\"He explained this Torah\" (Deut. 1:5). The mouth that had said, \"I am not a man of words,\" now spoke \"these [are] the words.\" And the prophet cried out: \"Then shall the lame leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute shall sing aloud!\" (Isa. 35:6) Why? \u201cFor waters should burst forth in the desert, streams <\/span>in the wilderness<\/span><\/em>...\" \u00a0(Tanchuma <\/span>Devarim<\/span><\/i> 2) <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Suddenly, it seems, Moses gains that access to language that was so long withheld from him. He can talk to everyone in his own language; he translates God's word into the terms of each human encounter. He discovers a primal genius for language; unprompted, like a spring in the desert, his voice resounds in the many words of Deuteronomy. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The mysterious force of the analogy\u2014language bursting forth like water in the wilderness\u2014becomes more poignant when we consider the context and purpose of many of Moses' final speeches in Deuteronomy. Many of the passages repeat earlier stories or laws; other passages contain new material. But these speeches, which occupy a large portion of the book, are understood, even by some of the traditional commentaries, as bearing an unprecedentedly personal stamp. They are not simply mechanical transmissions of God's words, but the creation, to some extent, of the man Moses in the final months of his life. This assumption lies behind the midrash we have just quoted: the people are quizzically amazed at Moses' sudden eloquence, at the fertility of symbolic resonance that he now generates. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Excerpted from: Bewilderments,<\/em> Schocken Books, 2017, p. <\/span>284-286 <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Ein Bokek, by \u05d9. \u05e9., commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=17935163<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49301,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-AZEinbokek","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek.jpg","width":800,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Sudden Eloquence","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Like a spring bursting forth in the wilderness, Moses discovers a primal genius for language","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49301,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-AZEinbokek","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek.jpg","width":800,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-AZEinbokek-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"729","name":"Teaching","old_id":"1129"},{"term_id":"798","name":"language","old_id":"1198"}]},{"order":5,"id":"49337","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Moses Plays Defense Attorney, Accusing God ","post_title":"Moses Plays Defense Attorney, Accusing God","slug":"moses-plays-defense-attorney-accusing-god","old_id":"49337","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer. Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"After all, who needs gold in the wilderness?","post_main_content_content":"

The first verse of Deuteronomy, the fifth and culminating book of the Torah, sounds prosaic. \u201c<\/span>These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan\u2014in the wilderness, on the plain opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahav.<\/span><\/i>\u201d There is no hint of drama in these words. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the sages of the Talmud found one, and it is life-changing.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>What is odd in the verse is the last place-name: <\/span>Di-zahav<\/span><\/em>. What and where is this place? It hasn\u2019t been mentioned before, nor is it mentioned again anywhere else in Tanakh. But the name is tantalizing. It seems to mean, \u201cEnough gold.\u201d Gold is certainly something we have heard about before. It was the metal of which the calf was made while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Torah from God. This was one of the great sins of the wilderness years. Might the enigmatic mention of a place called \u201cEnough gold\u201d have something to do with it?<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>From these clues and cues, the sages inferred a remarkable drama. This is what they said:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cMoses spoke audaciously [<\/span>hiti\u2019ach devarim<\/span><\/em>] towards Heaven . . . The school of R. Jannai learned this from the words <\/span>Di-zahav<\/span><\/em>. What do these words mean? They said in the school of R. Jannai: Thus spoke Moses before the Holy One, blessed be He: \u201cSovereign of the Universe, the silver and gold [<\/span>zahav<\/span><\/em>] which You showered on Israel until they said, \u2018Enough\u2019 [<\/span>dai<\/span><\/em>], was what caused them to make the calf . . . R. Hiyya bar Abba said: It is like the case of a man who had a son. He bathed him and anointed him and gave him plenty to eat and drink and hung a purse around his neck and set him down at the door of a house of ill-repute. How could he help sinning?\u201d [Talmud Bavli, Berachot 32a]<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses, in this dramatic re-reading, is portrayed as counsel for the defense of the Jewish people. Yes, he admits to God, the people did indeed commit a sin. But it was You who provided them with the opportunity and the temptation. If the Israelites had not had gold in the wilderness, they could not have made a golden calf. Besides which, who needs gold in a wilderness? There was only one reason the Israelites had gold with them: because they were following Your instructions. You said: \u201cTell the people that every man is to ask his neighbor and every woman is to ask her neighbor for objects of silver and gold\u201d (Ex. 11:2). Therefore, do not blame them. Please, instead, forgive them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n


\r\nFrom: <\/span>The Effective Critic (Covenant & Conversation, Devarim 5778)<\/span><\/em><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49338,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-gold-Sacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Moses Plays Defense Attorney, Accusing God","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"After all, who needs gold in the wilderness?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49338,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-gold-Sacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-gold-Sacks-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"354","name":"Rabbi Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"459","name":"Forgiveness","old_id":"859"}]},{"order":6,"id":"49310","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Sonnet: Deuteronomy 1 ","post_title":"Sonnet: Deuteronomy 1","slug":"sonnet-deuteronomy-1","old_id":"49310","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":39523,"post_title":"Ilana Kurshan","slug":"ilana-kurshan","old_id":"39523","first_name":"Ilana ","last_name":"Kurshan ","description":"Ilana Kurshan is the author of If All the Seas Were Ink, winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39524,"alt":"","title":"ilana kurshan","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ilana-kurshan-e1536180264919.jpg","width":652,"height":715,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ilana-kurshan-e1536180264919-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ilana-kurshan-e1536180264919-274x300.jpg","medium-width":274,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ilana-kurshan-768x679.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":679,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ilana-kurshan-1024x905.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":905,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ilana-kurshan-e1536180264919.jpg","1536x1536-width":652,"1536x1536-height":715,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ilana-kurshan-e1536180264919.jpg","2048x2048-width":652,"2048x2048-height":715,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ilana-kurshan-e1536180264919.jpg","post_full_size-width":652,"post_full_size-height":715,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ilana-kurshan-e1536180264919-383x420.jpg","home_baner-width":383,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

Said God: You\u2019re on this mountain long enough<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The time has come to move and take command<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And though the road ahead, no doubt, is tough<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>You know that I have promised you this land. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Said I: You\u2019re much too much! I fear I\u2019ll drown!<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>I set up chieftains so the burden\u2019s shared.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>I knew, if not, you all would wear me down<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And now at least there\u2019s some of it I\u2019m spared. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

You said: Let us send spies to go ahead<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And see the land we\u2019re meant to make our own.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>You should have seen the fruit was good. Instead \u2013<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>\u201cWe\u2019re way too scared,\u201d you all began to moan. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

So God got mad and said, to my chagrin,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Just two men from amongst you will go in.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":107798,"alt":"","title":"-6318b2146c87f--6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet deut.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Sonnet: Deuteronomy 1","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"You\u2019re on this mountain long enough \/ And though the road ahead, no doubt, is tough...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":107798,"alt":"","title":"-6318b2146c87f--6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet deut.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6318b2146c87f-6318b2146c880Deut1-sonnet-deut.jpg-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"}]},{"order":7,"id":"49303","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"In God\u2019s Promise, Everyone Belongs ","post_title":"In God\u2019s Promise, Everyone Belongs","slug":"in-gods-promise-everyone-belongs","old_id":"49303","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33992,"post_title":"Bradley Shavit Artson","slug":"rabbi-dr-bradley-shavit-artson","old_id":"33992","first_name":"Bradley Shavit ","last_name":"Artson","description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and is professor of philosophy there. Artson is married to Elana Shavit Artson, and they are the parents of twins, Shira and Jacob.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33993,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","width":204,"height":199,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":199,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","large-width":204,"large-height":199,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":199,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":199,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":199,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":199}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Moses addresses \u201call Israel,\u201d and we must do the same","post_main_content_content":"

We are literally standing on a boundary, as we stand on a boundary. The opening of the Book of Deuteronomy, the Torah\u2019s Fifth and ultimate book, is strikingly different from the four that precede it. The cadence of its Hebrew shifts, and its vocabulary is distinctive: it presents itself as the farewell address of Moses, our Rabbi, as he prepares to see the Children of Israel surpass him by entering into the Land of Promise. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

So one boundary is \u00a0the launching of the Torah\u2019s unique final book. The second boundary is that of the Land of Israel, where the Farewell Address is delivered.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

All of these boundaries have me thinking about what it means to draw a line between here and there, between us and them. Boundaries aren\u2019t always natural (think of how photographs of the Earth from space don\u2019t show you were one nation starts and another stops). Boundaries are social conventions we treat as natural, even though they are not.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Another social convention we treat as natural is the way cultures assign level of significance to different people based on status, age, gender, wealth, strength or other aspects of their personal identity. We live with invisible Maps of Mattering (to use Rebecca Goldstein\u2019s fetching phrase) that make it appear that some people matter more than others do. Old photographs of the US Congress revealed several hundred old white men. Those photographs used to look like a collection of powerful people. Times have changed and now they look like a collection of old, white men who are powerful (and excluding everyone else).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Which makes it striking and wonderful that the Book of Deuteronomy begins with a bold statement of radical inclusion: \u201cThese are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel\u2026 (Deut 1:1).\u201d No one is left out of Moses\u2019 grand vision. No one is marginalized or ignored in this great vision of what a beloved community should look like.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Deuteronomy isn\u2019t a statement of what is. It presents Moses\u2019 articulation of God\u2019s vision of what ought to be. And the portal for that great society is one in which everyone feels addressed, in which everyone finds their path, their place. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses addresses \u201call Israel,\u201d and we must do the same.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49304,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-inclusivity - Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson.jpg","width":1920,"height":855,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson-300x134.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":134,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson-768x342.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":342,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson-1024x456.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":456,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":684,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":855,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson-1200x534.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":534,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson-943x420.jpg","home_baner-width":943,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"In God\u2019s Promise, Everyone Belongs","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Moses addresses \u201call Israel,\u201d and we must do the same","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49304,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-inclusivity - Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson.jpg","width":1920,"height":855,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson-300x134.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":134,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson-768x342.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":342,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson-1024x456.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":456,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":684,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":855,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson-1200x534.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":534,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-inclusivity-Artson-943x420.jpg","home_baner-width":943,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"430","name":"Land of Israel","old_id":"830"},{"term_id":"539","name":"Israel","old_id":"939"},{"term_id":"710","name":"Boundaries","old_id":"1110"}]},{"order":8,"id":"49321","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Reprise ","post_title":"Reprise","slug":"reprise","old_id":"49321","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36149,"post_title":"Shai Secunda","slug":"shai-secunda","old_id":"36149","first_name":"Shai ","last_name":"Secunda","description":"Shai Secunda occupies the Jacob Neusner chair in Judaism at Bard College, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions program. He is the author of The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in Sasanian Iran (Philadelphia, 2014), and The Talmud\u2019s Red Fence: Menstruation and Difference in Babylonian Judaism and its Sasanian Context (Oxford, 2020), and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture.","short_description":"Shai Secunda is a professor of Jewish studies at Bard College, and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36150,"alt":"","title":"Shai Secunda","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","width":1202,"height":1287,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-280x300.jpg","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-768x822.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":822,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-956x1024.jpg","large-width":956,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","1536x1536-width":1202,"1536x1536-height":1287,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","2048x2048-width":1202,"2048x2048-height":1287,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-1121x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1121,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-392x420.jpg","home_baner-width":392,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"There are always fresh perspectives to be had in the retelling","post_main_content_content":"

The fifth book of the Five Books of Moses is commonly known as Deuteronomy, from \u201csecond law\u201d (<\/span>deutero+nomos<\/span><\/i>) in Greek. This name parallels the rabbinic moniker for the book, Mishneh Torah \u2013 \u201csecond Torah\u201d in Hebrew \u2013 which derives from Deuteronomy\u2019s exhortation that the Israelite king \u201cshall have a <\/span>copy of this Teaching<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>mishneh Torah<\/span><\/i>) written for him on a scroll\u201d (Deuteronomy 17:18). Indeed, Deuteronomy reads like a copy \u2013 a repetition \u2013 of many of the stories and laws already encountered in earlier parts of the Torah. Already the very first chapter of the book tells the tragic story of the Israelite spies, after it was previously told in great detail back in Numbers chapters 13 to 14. Another prominent example of Deuteronomy\u2019s retellings is the Ten Commandments related in Exodus 20, and at Deuteronomy 5.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Repetition is, by many accounts, one of the unforgivable sins of communication. TED talks are celebrated precisely because they convey ideas concisely, without meandering and without repetition. Good writing proceeds from one paragraph to the next, perhaps briefly summarizing points along the way, but never retelling what was already told. Likewise, modern art and modernist aesthetics aspire to originality, trying to express that which has never been expressed before. In such a scheme, there is no room for reprise.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Deuteronomy presents us with another model, where repetition is not a bug but a feature. The reprise has, as of late, been celebrated in postmodern writing about art and aesthetics. Sophisticated cultural products, like experimental fiction, edgy film, and contemporary dance, frequently employ the reprise and re-evoke earlier scenes from different perspectives. One of the effects of this strategy is to show how nothing stands sufficiently on its own, and there are always fresh perspectives to be had. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In its very name, Deuteronomy\/Mishneh Torah teaches us the value of repetition and reprise. We may think we know the once-told stories and laws of biblical past, but when Moses retells them, we realize that the familiar is never fully understood, and that there is always more to know.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":54853,"alt":"","title":"jo24-frame story","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story.png","width":800,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story-300x225.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story-768x576.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story.png","large-width":800,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story.png","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story.png","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story.png","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story-560x420.png","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Reprise","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"There are always fresh perspectives to be had in the retelling","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":54853,"alt":"","title":"jo24-frame story","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story.png","width":800,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story-300x225.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story-768x576.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story.png","large-width":800,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story.png","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story.png","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story.png","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo24-frame-story-560x420.png","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"477","name":"Story","old_id":"877"},{"term_id":"831","name":"Repetition","old_id":"1231"}]},{"order":9,"id":"49316","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Differing Accounts ","post_title":"Differing Accounts","slug":"differing-accounts","old_id":"49316","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34235,"post_title":"Marc Gitler","slug":"marc-gitler","old_id":"34235","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Gitler","description":"Rabbi Marc Gitler, a recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and earned an MPA from NYU . The founder of Fast for Feast, he lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Sarah and their four children. He used to work for 929 North America.\r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Marc Gitler, founder of Fast for Feast, lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Sarah and their four children. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34236,"alt":"","title":"Marc Gitler","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","width":407,"height":407,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","medium_large-width":407,"medium_large-height":407,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","large-width":407,"large-height":407,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","1536x1536-width":407,"1536x1536-height":407,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","2048x2048-width":407,"2048x2048-height":407,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","post_full_size-width":407,"post_full_size-height":407,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","home_baner-width":407,"home_baner-height":407}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A question of details, fallible memory - or something else?","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cThese are the words that Moses spoke.\u201d Deuteronomy\/Devarim is unlike the other books of the Torah in that it is not God speaking through Moses to the Israelites, but rather Moses\u2019 words. The aforementioned opening phrase, in Hebrew, \u201celeh hadevarim asher diber Moshe,\u201d doesn\u2019t just clue us in to the authorship, it also allows for divergent perspectives from earlier parts of the Torah and shows Moses\u2019 remarkable personal growth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The phrase \u201cevery excuse in the book\u201d may have been invented when God appeared to Moses at the burning bush. Moses uses every excuse he can think of to refuse God\u2019s request of leading the Israelites. When all else fails, Moses says \u201clo ish devarim anochi\u201d I am not a man of words, not in the past and not now. Some forty years later, in addition to all his other accolades, Moses is a man of words. A commanding orator who brilliantly instructs his people with many many words that endures till today.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Among the \u201cwords of Moses\u201d that diverge from the earlier stories in the Torah is his presentation of the sin of the spies. In Numbers 13 God instructs Moses to send twelve men to scout Canaan. They return with a damning report, and the nation spends the next 40 years wandering. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In our chapter Moses tells the people \u201cAll of you approached me and said let us send men before us to spy out the land.\u201d Moses claims that it wasn\u2019t God who initially requested the spies, it was the nation\u2019s suggestion! The commentaries explain that sometimes all the details are included, and sometimes they are not. This explanation suggests that it was initially the nation\u2019s suggestion, but in the first presentation (for a good reason that I leave for you to ponder) the tale is told from the middle rather than from its true beginning.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

An intriguingly different answer points to the fallibility of memory. William Hirst, a psychology professor at the New School, has written at length about time-splice errors, where people remember facts about significant flashbulb events such as 9\/11, or the JFK assassination, but misremember details about the events, or how the pieces fit together. Over time different memories creep together in our brains, and sometimes create inaccurate, but coherent stories.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps over time Moses\u2019 memory recreated an inaccurate picture of the sin of the spies. A memory that squarely blames not just the critical report, and the Israelites reaction, but the entire spy story, from beginning to end on the nation. A necessary warning with the nation about to enter Canaan. Deuteronomy is the words of the best of all men, but Moses is still a man, with all our limitations including a fallible memory. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":104480,"alt":"","title":"-6270d202d5599--6270d202d559aex13-memory disk.png","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png.png","width":1280,"height":1249,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png-300x293.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":293,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png-768x749.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":749,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png-1024x999.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":999,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1249,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1249,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png-1200x1171.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1171,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png-430x420.png","home_baner-width":430,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Differing Accounts","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A question of details, fallible memory - or something else?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":104480,"alt":"","title":"-6270d202d5599--6270d202d559aex13-memory disk.png","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png.png","width":1280,"height":1249,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png-300x293.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":293,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png-768x749.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":749,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png-1024x999.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":999,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1249,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1249,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png-1200x1171.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1171,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6270d202d5599-6270d202d559aex13-memory-disk.png-430x420.png","home_baner-width":430,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"405","name":"Memory","old_id":"805"},{"term_id":"444","name":"History","old_id":"844"}]},{"order":10,"id":"49327","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Time To Move On ","post_title":"Time To Move On","slug":"time-to-move-on","old_id":"49327","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":39363,"post_title":"Sara Cohen","slug":"sara-cohen","old_id":"39363","first_name":"Sara ","last_name":"Cohen ","description":"Sara Cohen is a member of Kibbutz Ketura and serves as a regional rabbi in the Eilot region in the southern Arava valley of Israel. ","short_description":"Sara Cohen is a member of Kibbutz Ketura and serves as a regional rabbi in the Eilot region in the southern Arava valley of Israel. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39364,"alt":"","title":"sara cohen","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/sara-cohen-e1536047435864.jpg","width":2338,"height":2253,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/sara-cohen-e1536047435864-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/sara-cohen-e1536047435864-300x289.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":289,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/sara-cohen-e1536047435864-768x740.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":740,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/sara-cohen-e1536047435864-1024x987.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":987,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/sara-cohen-e1536047435864.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1480,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/sara-cohen-e1536047435864.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1974,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/sara-cohen-e1536047435864-1200x1156.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1156,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/sara-cohen-e1536047435864-436x420.jpg","home_baner-width":436,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But the discomfort of the unknown causes the People of Israel to allow fear to guide their actions","post_main_content_content":"

And God says: \u201cGet out of here! Move on! Scat!\u201d \u00a0The Children of Israel have made themselves comfortable and safe in their temporary mountain home at Horeb, but it is time for them to move on. They need to leave their comfort zone. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Leaving our comfort zones, stepping out of safe spaces we have created for ourselves physically and emotionally, creates anxiety and stress. Yet entering the non-routine can spark creativity. Because he is forced out of the routine of Horeb, Moses develops a new kind of leadership that is more effective in the new circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But not everyone is Moses, and many people cannot harness the exhilaration of leaving the known in order to create something new. \u00a0Thus, the discomfort of the unknown causes the People of Israel to allow fear to guide their actions. Moses says to the people, \u201cyou have empirical evidence that God is on your side. You have firsthand knowledge of God\u2019s ability to care of you\u2014of all of us\u2014on this journey from slavery to freedom. You see the fire by night and the cloud by day that physically guides us, allowing us to be secure that we are on the right path. How can you let fear contradict your own first- hand experience!?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Human beings do need fear in order to survive. If we didn\u2019t have fear we would walk into traffic, burn ourselves by touching a hot flame, or walk off of a high building. \u00a0But for many of us, like for the children of Israel when they leave Horeb, there is no direct correlation between clear and obvious danger and a fearful response.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Children of Israel have been here before, standing at the edge of the Promised Land, deciding what to do. Have they learned anything in the 40 years since that first chance? When we leave our comfort zones to take on new challenges, the transition should be easier if we take what we have learned from past similar situations into the new ones. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

But in the case of the Children of Israel, the lesson they choose to take with them is the fear of the unknown, rather than the possibility of trusting in themselves, in Moses, and in God to help them succeed in the new situation. Perhaps Moses\u2019 anger, and God\u2019s anger and subsequent punishment of the Children of Israel is born out of fear too. Perhaps God is afraid that human beings do not have the power to distinguish between situations in which fear is justified and situations in which we take false comfort in fear, because it is easier to fear than to trust.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Image: By Benjamin West\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49328,"alt":"","title":"Dt1- Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant.jpg","width":1024,"height":698,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant-300x204.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":204,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant-768x524.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":524,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant-1024x698.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":698,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":698,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":698,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":698,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant-616x420.jpg","home_baner-width":616,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Time To Move On","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But the discomfort of the unknown causes the People of Israel to allow fear to guide their actions","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49328,"alt":"","title":"Dt1- Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant.jpg","width":1024,"height":698,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant-300x204.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":204,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant-768x524.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":524,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant-1024x698.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":698,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":698,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":698,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":698,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-Benjamin_West_-_Passing_the_River_Jordan_with_the_Ark_of_the_Covenant-616x420.jpg","home_baner-width":616,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"502","name":"Fear","old_id":"902"},{"term_id":"527","name":"Anger","old_id":"927"},{"term_id":"607","name":"Comfort","old_id":"1007"}]},{"order":11,"id":"49306","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Understanding Moses\u2019 Address ","post_title":"Understanding Moses\u2019 Address","slug":"understanding-moses-address","old_id":"49306","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":49307,"post_title":"Elisha Ancselovits","slug":"elisha-ancselovits","old_id":"49307","first_name":"Elisha ","last_name":"Ancselovits ","description":"Elisha Ancselovits teaches Halakha as Practical Philosophy at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and in Yeshivat Maale Gilboa. He is currently a fellow at Emory University\u2019s Center for the Study of Law and Religion. Elisha, who holds rabbinic and judicial ordination, has a Ph.D. on the history of Jewish Law, and most recently, he has advanced his mentoring of men and women sages at Bet Midrash Hukkim Hakhamim.","short_description":"Elisha Ancselovits teaches Halakha as Practical Philosophy at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and in Yeshivat Maale Gilboa","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":49308,"alt":"","title":"Elisha Ancselovits","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Elisha-Ancselovits.jpg","width":225,"height":225,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Elisha-Ancselovits-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Elisha-Ancselovits.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Elisha-Ancselovits.jpg","medium_large-width":225,"medium_large-height":225,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Elisha-Ancselovits.jpg","large-width":225,"large-height":225,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Elisha-Ancselovits.jpg","1536x1536-width":225,"1536x1536-height":225,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Elisha-Ancselovits.jpg","2048x2048-width":225,"2048x2048-height":225,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Elisha-Ancselovits.jpg","post_full_size-width":225,"post_full_size-height":225,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Elisha-Ancselovits.jpg","home_baner-width":225,"home_baner-height":225}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"People must take responsibility and make hard realistic choices, rather than reacting fearfully","post_main_content_content":"

Today we begin Deuteronomy\u2019s account of Moses' address to the people at the closing end of their journey. One could imagine focusing on Moses' retelling of the laws. In that case, one would read at most to the middle of verse 1:5 and would then skip to a later chapter - 4 or 5 - \u00a0that begins discussing the laws. One could also imagine following the model that we saw in Exodus. One could precede the repetition of the laws with an account of setting up honest and righteous courts that would enforce the good laws. In that case, one would also read 1:12-18. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

One could even imagine preceding and supplementing that account by explaining why laws and courts are needed. One could speak of how the people cannot always be in direct dialogue with God as it was at Horeb, especially since they will increase and spread out over a larger area. In that case, one would further include the second half of 1:5 through 1:11 and then would skip from 1:18 to chapters 2-3. As we will see, those chapters present a history of the boundaries of the country and some of its critical internal arrangements. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, 1:19-46 seems out of place. Why insert the story of the Israelites\u2019 refusal to obey God\u2019s directive to enter the land and subsequent refusal to obey God\u2019s directive to desist from trying to enter the land? One could include that story in later chapters, as are other stories of the Israelites sinning in the desert.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One explanation for this insertion is that it completes the picture of establishing a good society. In the opening words of this chapter, we saw that we must have good laws. Subsequently, we saw that we cannot live in an ideal of God\u2019s direct revelation and must compromise by having as good a judiciary as possible. This insertion now shows that we cannot function if we are reactive rather than responsibly active. \u00a0It shows that the Israelites failed to set up a stable country because they feared losing their lives. It shows that the Israelites then recklessly sacrificed their lives because they feared being stranded to die in the desert while preparing the next generation to set up the country. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We now see that people must make hard realistic choices rather than act reactively. If we do so, we can hear Moses' address.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":52059,"alt":"","title":"dt30-choice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Understanding Moses\u2019 Address","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"People must take responsibility and make hard realistic choices, rather than reacting fearfully","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":52059,"alt":"","title":"dt30-choice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-choice-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"376","name":"Choice","old_id":"776"},{"term_id":"813","name":"Rebellion","old_id":"1213"}]},{"order":12,"id":"49318","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Moses & Claude ","post_title":"Moses & Claude","slug":"moses-claude","old_id":"49318","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42746,"post_title":"Michal Kohane","slug":"michal-kohane","old_id":"42746","first_name":"Michal ","last_name":"Kohane ","description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. She holds degrees in Israel studies , education and psychology, and has been a leader and educator in Northern California for over 25 years. Her first novel, Hachug (\"Extracurricular\") was published in Israel in 2016 and her weekly blog can be found at http:\/\/www.miko284.com\r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42747,"alt":"","title":"michal kohane","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","width":214,"height":226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium-width":214,"medium-height":226,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium_large-width":214,"medium_large-height":226,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","large-width":214,"large-height":226,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","1536x1536-width":214,"1536x1536-height":226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","2048x2048-width":214,"2048x2048-height":226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","post_full_size-width":214,"post_full_size-height":226,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","home_baner-width":214,"home_baner-height":226}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What is the meaning of speech in our life, and how we use it?","post_main_content_content":"

Although set back in Oklahoma, those last minutes between father and son in the quiet foggy early morning, awaiting for the rickety bus to appear around the corner - you can feel the chill through the screen as the letters \u201cHair\u201d with the familiar tune appear - always remind me of Moses in this chapter:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2013 You got all your stuff?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2013 Oh yeh<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2013 When you get there, be sure to give us a call so we know where you are<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2013 Fine (silence, except the sound of their footsteps echoing as they walk to the nearby junction, the son flags the approaching bus to stop)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2013 Let me give you some money<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2013 Oh, I\u2019m ok<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2013 Just take it, in case you run into sum\u2019 amount of trouble; you never know what can happen<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2013 Thank you<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2013 Well boy (slap on shoulder) It\u2019s just the smart people who got to worry; the Lord will take care of them idiots (a chuckle, a semi-very awkward hug) well, see you.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And off he goes to a world his parents know not.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Unlike Claude Hooper Bukowski\u2019s dad, who maybe can\u2019t find his words, Moses has lots to say; so much so, that his book is called in Hebrew \u201cDvarim,\u201d meaning \u201cthings\u201d but also \u201cwords\u201d, reminding us that we don\u2019t believe in the \u201csticks and stones will break your bones but words will never hurt you\u201d phrase. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We tell a story in which the whole world was created through words, and Moses here, as if in a magical spiral, connects us back to that very Beginning in Genesis. There, the human being at the moment of transformation to a living soul was called in the Aramaic translation \u201c<\/span>Ru\u2019ach Milela<\/span><\/em>\u201d, a speaking soul (Genesis 2:7). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The same Torah now ends with the person who had a speech challenge, giving a full book of \u201cwords\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

What is the meaning of speech in our life, and how we use it?<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49319,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-hair","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","width":552,"height":226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair-300x123.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":123,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","medium_large-width":552,"medium_large-height":226,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","large-width":552,"large-height":226,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","1536x1536-width":552,"1536x1536-height":226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","2048x2048-width":552,"2048x2048-height":226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","post_full_size-width":552,"post_full_size-height":226,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","home_baner-width":552,"home_baner-height":226}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Moses & Claude","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What is the meaning of speech in our life, and how we use it?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49319,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-hair","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","width":552,"height":226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair-300x123.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":123,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","medium_large-width":552,"medium_large-height":226,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","large-width":552,"large-height":226,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","1536x1536-width":552,"1536x1536-height":226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","2048x2048-width":552,"2048x2048-height":226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","post_full_size-width":552,"post_full_size-height":226,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-hair.jpg","home_baner-width":552,"home_baner-height":226}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"377","name":"Speech\/words","old_id":"777"}]},{"order":13,"id":"49350","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Devarim - The Discourse of Moses ","post_title":"Devarim - The Discourse of Moses","slug":"devarim-the-discourse-of-moses","old_id":"49350","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46171,"post_title":"Avner Moriah","slug":"avner-moriah","old_id":"46171","first_name":"Avner ","last_name":"Moriah ","description":"Avner Moriah is a prolific Israel artist who has addressed a wide range of Jewish and Israeli themes during the four decades of his artistic journey. Currently, Avner is completing a singular artistic and spiritual feat of illuminating the entire Chumash. The unique illuminated books contain hundreds of original drawings that offer a profound, provocative and humorous perspective. \r\nFor the entire weekly portion series, visit: https:\/\/avnermoriahprints.com\/collections\/parasha\r\nFor more of his work visit: https:\/\/avnermoriah.com\/\r\n","short_description":"Avner Moriah is a prolific Israel artist who is illuminating the entire Chumash.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":46173,"alt":"","title":"avner moriah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679.jpg","width":1387,"height":1425,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-292x300.jpg","medium-width":292,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-768x789.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":789,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-997x1024.jpg","large-width":997,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679.jpg","1536x1536-width":1387,"1536x1536-height":1425,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679.jpg","2048x2048-width":1387,"2048x2048-height":1425,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-1168x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1168,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-409x420.jpg","home_baner-width":409,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Success lies not in military strength","post_main_content_content":"

Parashat Devarim<\/span><\/i>, which opens the Book of Deuteronomy, relates Moses\u2019 discourse to the Israelites just before they enter the Promised Land: \u201cIt was in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month that Moses addressed the Israelites in accordance with the instructions that the Lord had given him for them\u201d (Deut. 1: 3). The younger generations were to be told about events that had occurred before they were born. Moses spoke about some historical episodes and not others. What is the significance of the selected episodes? What can we learn from the way \u201cMoses undertook to expound this teaching\u201d (Deut. 1:5)?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Avner Moriah\u2019s picture for this <\/span>parasha<\/span><\/i> is a three-part painting framed on top by a range of red hills rising beyond a blue strip of sea, alluding to the Dead Sea and to the land of Canaan beyond it. On the right a weary Moses, holding his staff, is looking across at a group of Israelites in green garments with ornate white decorations figured on the far left. In the rectangular space in the center are three registers of schematically drawn illustrations detailing some of the episodes in their forty-year history.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From right to left the top register shows the people after God \u201chad defeated Sihon king of the Amorites\u2026and King Og of Bashan\u201d (Deut. 1:4). Next we see the Israelites standing in front of a flaming Mount Horeb. To the left is a battle scene marked by the spiral image of the <\/span>spirit of God, <\/span>depicting the victories God gave the Israelites on their way to Canaan. In the second register the judges named by Moses are standing near the bench of judgment and listening: \u201cYou shall not be partial in judgment, hear out low and high alike. Fear no man for judgment is God\u2019s\u201d (Deut. 1:17). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Next we see a rendering of the story of the spies that were sent to Canaan. Two of them, holding a branch with a single cluster of grapes, are agitating against Moses and Aaron. The third register figures the cloud of God leading the Israelites: \u201cWho goes before your journeys \u2013 to scout the place where you are to encamp \u2013 in fire by night and in cloud by day, in order to guide you on the route you are to follow\u201d (Deut. 1:33). Although aware of God\u2019s constant presence the Israelites manifested a lack of faith in Him and so were punished. To the left of the third register we see them being defeated by the Amorites when they went into battle without God\u2019s sanction. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses\u2019 teaching here clearly emphasizes that success in the future, as in the past, would lie not in military strength but in an unbroken covenantal relationship with the Lord, Who alone could bring victories.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Artwork by: Avner Moriah, by courtesy of the artist<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Text by: Dr. Shulamit Laderman, PhD in Art History, publications on Jewish and Christian influences on biblical interpretive illustration.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For the entire weekly portion series, please visit:<\/span> https:\/\/avnermoriahprints.com\/collections\/parasha<\/span><\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49351,"alt":"","title":"44 Devarim","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim.jpg","width":2500,"height":1599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim-300x192.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":192,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim-768x491.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":491,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim-1024x655.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":655,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":982,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1310,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim-1200x768.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":768,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim-657x420.jpg","home_baner-width":657,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Devarim - The Discourse of Moses","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Success lies not in military strength","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49351,"alt":"","title":"44 Devarim","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim.jpg","width":2500,"height":1599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim-300x192.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":192,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim-768x491.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":491,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim-1024x655.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":655,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":982,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1310,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim-1200x768.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":768,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/44-Devarim-657x420.jpg","home_baner-width":657,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"368","name":"Parasha","old_id":"768"},{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":14,"id":"49330","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Hearing, Considering, Agreeing, Acting ","post_title":"Hearing, Considering, Agreeing, Acting","slug":"hearing-considering-agreeing-acting","old_id":"49330","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46656,"post_title":"Molly Morris","slug":"molly-morris","old_id":"46656","first_name":"Molly ","last_name":"Morris ","description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Her particular area of interest is biblical leadership. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":92561,"alt":"","title":"molly morris","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","width":2192,"height":2488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-264x300.jpg","medium-width":264,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-768x872.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":872,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-902x1024.jpg","large-width":902,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","1536x1536-width":1353,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","2048x2048-width":1804,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-1057x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1057,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-370x420.jpg","home_baner-width":370,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Moses emphasizes the need for judicious self-determination as a condition of new-found freedom","post_main_content_content":"

This first chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy begins with Moses\u2019 retelling of all that has transpired for the Israelites. Until know we most often read of Moses\u2019 speaking to the people prefaced with \u201cGod spoke to Moses saying\u2026\u201d, followed by Moses relaying the message. But in this instance the chapter begins simply with \u201cThese are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel.\u201d We are led to understand that now we are going to hear from Moses directly - his take on what is most relevant for the Israelites to hear again as they embark on their new life, and challenges, in the land of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And where does Moses begin? With the reminder that God gave them this land to possess (v. 6-8), and a reminder of their journey to reach the land. But this recollection is interrupted with Moses recalling the instructions to the people about setting up a judicial system comprised of a hierarchy of leaders and judges (v. 9-18). Moses goes into some detail about how the judging is to be carried out. The first step of the judicial process is to \u201chear your brothers\u201d (v. 16) and judge righteously between them. This admonition to hear is further broken down in the next verse with \u201csmall and great alike shall you hear.\u201d The Ohr ha-Hayim suggests the importance of that first step in litigation - that of \u201chearing\u201d is to remind us of the patience required by judges to hear out the litigants in order to ensure they get at the truth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Daniel Elazar, from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, writes about the book of Deuteronomy, describing it as essentially the first constitution of the Jewish people, and refers directly to this word \u201chear\u201d, defining it as an \u201cact of hearing, considering, agreeing and then acting...a sign of human freedom.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Could this have been Moses\u2019 intention: to remind the Israelites of their obligation of judicious self-determination as a condition of their new-found freedom?<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49331,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-ear","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear-300x200.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear-768x512.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear-1024x683.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear-1200x800.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear-630x420.png","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Hearing, Considering, Agreeing, Acting","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Moses emphasizes the need for judicious self-determination as a condition of new-found freedom","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49331,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-ear","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear-300x200.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear-768x512.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear-1024x683.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear-1200x800.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-ear-630x420.png","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"413","name":"Freedom","old_id":"813"},{"term_id":"578","name":"Listening","old_id":"978"}]},{"order":15,"id":"49297","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Pardes ","post_title":"Pardes","slug":"pardes","old_id":"49297","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36669,"post_title":"Yakov Azriel","slug":"yakov-azriel","old_id":"36669","first_name":"Yakov ","last_name":"Azriel","description":"Yakov Azriel, who lives in Israel, has published five books of poetry in the USA and hundreds of poems in journals and magazines. His poems have won twenty-two prizes in international poetry competitions, and he has twice been awarded fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.","short_description":"Yakov Azriel is an English language poet who lives in Israel","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36670,"alt":"","title":"Yakov.Azriel.Photo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","width":1099,"height":1519,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-217x300.jpg","medium-width":217,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":741,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","large-width":741,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","1536x1536-width":1099,"1536x1536-height":1519,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","2048x2048-width":1099,"2048x2048-height":1519,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-868x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":868,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-304x420.jpg","home_baner-width":304,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Anyone who eats the fruit \u2014 believes","post_main_content_content":"

\"On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began expounding \u00a0this Torah \u2026\"<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>(Deuteronomy 1:5)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Despite the winter's cold, do you believe?<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Despite the blizzard winds, the hail, the sleet,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The snow, do you believe that summer's heat<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Can melt the stubborn icicles which cleave<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

To us like mourners' tears when mourners grieve?<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Despite the growing numbness in our feet,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Do you believe the winter may retreat<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>If summer comes and grants us a reprieve?<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

Although our eyes are scratched by ice, we see \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The scrolls that Moses wrote, which stand like trees<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Inside a verdant orchard spring conceives,<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Untouched by autumn's chill. \u00a0Each leafy tree<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Bears fruit, to which we crawl on hands and knees,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>For anyone who eats their fruit \u2014 believes.<\/span>
\r\n
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

II<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Do you believe, despite the summer's heat<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Which makes us pant like dogs, do you believe<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>That soothing coolness can return, retrieve<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Lost memories of rain, and then defeat<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

The sun? \u00a0Despite the fact that we entreat<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The clouds in vain, despite the fact we grieve<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>For green, do you believe we can achieve<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>A vision where the spring and autumn meet?<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

Although our eyes are scorched and burned, we see \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The scrolls that Moses wrote, which stand like trees<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Inside a distant orchard spring perceives,<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For which the autumn waits. \u00a0Each stately tree<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Bears fruit, to which we crawl on hands and knees,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>For anyone who eats their fruit \u2014 believes.<\/span>
\r\n
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

III<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Despite the winter's cold and summer's heat,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The hidden orchard grows. \u00a0Despite extremes<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Of fluctuating temperatures, it seems<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The orchard flourishes, lush and complete,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

While in the orchard's shade, small pebbles greet \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Each other as the orchard's tranquil streams<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Discreetly flow to irrigate our dreams,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>In which we pluck the orchard's fruit and eat.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

Although the weather changes constantly,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The orchard does not change. \u00a0It will not freeze<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>In winter, nor will summer sear its leaves,<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Its branches or its roots. \u00a0But who can be<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Its gardener, or claim he climbs its trees?<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>For he who boasts he owns its all \u2014 deceives.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":101673,"alt":"","title":"-62010ba7b90a9--62010ba7b90aagen2-apples garden fruit.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg.jpg","width":1920,"height":1226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg-300x192.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":192,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg-768x490.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":490,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg-1024x654.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":654,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":981,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg-1200x766.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":766,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg-658x420.jpg","home_baner-width":658,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"Pardes","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Anyone who eats the fruit \u2014 believes","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":101673,"alt":"","title":"-62010ba7b90a9--62010ba7b90aagen2-apples garden fruit.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg.jpg","width":1920,"height":1226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg-300x192.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":192,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg-768x490.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":490,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg-1024x654.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":654,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":981,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg-1200x766.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":766,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg-658x420.jpg","home_baner-width":658,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"}]},{"order":16,"id":"49247","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Bible in the Backyard: Devarim\/Deuteronomy - What's In A Name? ","post_title":"Bible in the Backyard: Devarim\/Deuteronomy - What's In A Name?","slug":"bible-in-the-backyard-devarim-deuteronomy-whats-in-a-name","old_id":"49247","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/gaOy8d1dVjE","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Bible in the Backyard","tile_main_caption":"Deuteronomy 1: Devarim\/Deuteronomy - What's In A Name?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"with Shira Hecht-Koller and special guest Aaron Koller","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/gaOy8d1dVjE","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":17,"id":"49313","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Procreation \u2013 Then and Now ","post_title":"Procreation \u2013 Then And Now","slug":"procreation-then-and-now","old_id":"49313","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Blessings of a thousandfold...","post_main_content_content":"

The last of the five books of the Pentateuch consists, nearly in its entirety (Chapters 1-33), of what turns out to be Moses\u2019 parting address to Israel. Shortly after the beginning of this extended oration, Moses speaks about the extent of the Israelite population spread out before him: \u201cThe Lord your God has multiplied you until you are today as numerous as the stars in the sky. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as He promised you\u201d (verses 10-11, see God\u2019s promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:5). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Midrash (Deuteronomy Rabbah, 1:15 to Deuteronomy 1:10) elaborates on this biblical passage by creatively imagining how the Israelites managed so successfully to increase their numbers during their enslavement in Egypt despite the brutal attempts of the Egyptians to reduce the Israelite population (see Exodus 1:7-22).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

First the Egyptians tried having the Israelites include in their brickmaking tasks the physically exhausting labor of plowing straw, to reduce their desire and ability to have sexual relations. When this failed the Egyptians ordered the Israelite men to sleep where they worked, rather than returning home at night to their wives. But, a creative way was employed that enabled the Israelites to continue to have children. When the Israelite women would go to draw water, God would have fish swim into their pitchers. The women would exchange some of the fish for oil and wine with which to prepare food for their menfolk. The women would then take appetizing meals to their husbands where they were required to stay. While the men would be eating and drinking, their wives would look in their hand mirrors and say to their husbands: Take a look to see who of us is the most attractive, thus arousing their sexual appetite. God saw to it that the ensuing sexual relations immediately resulted in each of the Israelite women bearing up to ten babies at one time!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In modern times, the core Jewish population grew to its historical peak of 17 million in 1939. The Holocaust tragically reduced this number to 11 million in 1945. By the 1970\u2019s this number grew to around 13 million. Until 2005, Jewish population growth was near zero due to low fertility rates and assimilation. But, from then until 2013, this began again to increase to an annual rate of almost one percent annually. Current world Jewish population is estimated to be approximately 15 million. In November 2017, it was announced that women in Israel have 3.1 children on average, compared to fewer than 2 in most OECD countries. Perhaps we can still hear today Moses addressing us: \u201cMay the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as He promised you\u201d.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49314,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920.jpg","width":1920,"height":1079,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920-1024x575.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":575,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":863,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1079,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920-1200x674.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":674,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Procreation \u2013 Then and Now","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Blessings of a thousandfold...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49314,"alt":"","title":"Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920.jpg","width":1920,"height":1079,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920-1024x575.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":575,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":863,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1079,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920-1200x674.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":674,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"529","name":"Children","old_id":"929"},{"term_id":"754","name":"Childbirth","old_id":"1154"},{"term_id":"830","name":"Population","old_id":"1230"}]},{"order":18,"id":"49260","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Deuteronomy 1 ","post_title":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Deuteronomy 1","slug":"a-lesson-on-the-daily-chapter-deuteronomy-1","old_id":"49260","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":40936,"post_title":"David Silber","slug":"david-silber-2","old_id":"40936","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Silber ","description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. He received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He received the Covenant Award in 2000. He is the author of APassover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn, published by JPS in 2011, and the newly released For Such a Time as This: Biblical Reflections in the Book of Esther, published by Koren Publishing in 2017 (Hebrew). ","short_description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":40937,"alt":"","title":"david-Silber-2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","width":151,"height":175,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","medium-width":151,"medium-height":175,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","medium_large-width":151,"medium_large-height":175,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","large-width":151,"large-height":175,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":151,"1536x1536-height":175,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":151,"2048x2048-height":175,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":151,"post_full_size-height":175,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","home_baner-width":151,"home_baner-height":175}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Audio","tile_main_caption":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Deuteronomy 1","tile_main_caption_size":"2","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/rabbi-david-silber-a-lesson-on-deuteronomy-chapter-1","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"2","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":19,"id":"49253","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Deuteronomy 1 ","post_title":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Deuteronomy 1","slug":"sefaria-source-sheets-deuteronomy-1","old_id":"49253","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42228,"post_title":"Sefaria","slug":"sefaria","old_id":"42228","first_name":"","last_name":"Sefaria","description":"Sefaria is a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. We are assembling a free living library of Jewish texts and their interconnections, in Hebrew and in translation. With these digital texts, we can create new, interactive interfaces for Web, tablet and mobile, allowing more people to engage with the textual treasures of our tradition.","short_description":"Sefaria is a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42230,"alt":"","title":"Sefaria Logo2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","width":1200,"height":1200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":1200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":1200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cD'varim - Learning from Our Mistakes\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Marina Yergin: What does this book teach us about our relationship to error?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cListening to Moses\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Rabbi Ruti Regan: Exploring the ways Moses communicated. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Go deeper into the chapter....","tile_main_caption":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Deuteronomy 1","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Click to get links to learning resources","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42232,"alt":"","title":"sefaria-words-sunburst","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","width":608,"height":395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","medium_large-width":608,"medium_large-height":395,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","large-width":608,"large-height":395,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","1536x1536-width":608,"1536x1536-height":395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","2048x2048-width":608,"2048x2048-height":395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","post_full_size-width":608,"post_full_size-height":395,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","home_baner-width":608,"home_baner-height":395}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Sefaria word sunburst visualization","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":20,"id":"107706","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points To Ponder: Deuteronomy 1 ","post_title":"Points To Ponder: Deuteronomy 1","slug":"points-to-ponder-numbers-35-2","old_id":"107706","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":false,"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

    \r\n\t
  1. Places, and reminders<\/em>. Verses 1-5 are a very succinct list of the stations of the journey in the wilderness, with some hints as to what transpired along the way. To decipher the hints - see the commentaries.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Spot the differences-1<\/em>. In Ex. 18, Yitro initiated the reforms that changed the judiciary from one supreme judge (Moses) to an organized hierarchical system. Here - Yitro is not even mentioned. Moses is presented as the originator of the idea.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. Spot the differences-2.<\/em> Who initiated the delegation of scouts? Who were the people nominated for this mission? Compare and contrast with Numbers 13-14, and you\u2019ll see some intriguing differences.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. Why doesn\u2019t Moses enter the Land?<\/em> A surprising reason is given in verse 37.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  5. A painful image<\/em>. \u201cThen the Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you like so many bees and chased you, and they crushed you at Hormah in Seir\u201d (verse 44).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  6. On a more personal note<\/em>. Tucked in between the heritage of the past and instructions for the future is the more personal voice of Moses. Find it for instance in the contrast between the blessing of verse 11 sandwiched in between the complaints of 10 and 12.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Daily Summary","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder: Deuteronomy 1","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"154","date":"20260401","wall_id":"154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/49166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}