{"id":3939,"date":"2018-07-16T16:49:06","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T16:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/batkol.info\/?p=3939"},"modified":"2018-07-16T16:49:06","modified_gmt":"2018-07-16T16:49:06","slug":"parashat-devarim-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/2018\/07\/16\/parashat-devarim-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Parashat Devarim"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shabbat Table Talk<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Parashat Devarim <\/em><\/strong>\u2013 Erev Shabbat 20 July 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

Week of 15-21 January 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

Torah portion<\/em><\/strong>: Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Haftarah<\/em><\/strong>: Isaiah 1:1-27<\/em><\/p>\n

Theme<\/em><\/strong>: To listen or not to listen \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

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Download<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"D<\/em><\/strong>evarim is the Hebrew title for the whole book of Deuteronomy and for this particular parashah and it means, among other things, \u2018words\u2019. Although written after Moses was alive, the book contains various speeches attributed to him, spoken in the final stages of his life as he looks back over the years since leaving Egypt. Devarim recounts, with some variations, much of what has happened in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, and revisits the commandments of God and the importance of obeying them.<\/p>\n

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The title, Devarim, forms an interesting thread around which this parashah might be explored. It begins, \u2018These are the words which Moses spoke\u2019 (Dt. 1:1) and his words are fluent and determined. Yet, Moses had previously indicated to God, \u201cO my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.\u201d\u2019 (Ex. 4:10) Rabbinic sources suggest that Moses himself may be slow of speech but when God speaks through him he develops a new fluency and eloquence. For example, Rabbi Jacob Emden, commenting on BT Sanhedrin 99a says, \u2018It is certain that all of the Book of Deuteronomy is Moses\u2019 words, as he clearly explained at the beginning of the book. But the Shekhinah spoke from within his voice box, as we shall clearly see from several passages, including even the book\u2019s admonitions, such as, \u2018in forsaking Me\u2019 (Dt 28:20), and many other instances.\u2019 (Heschel, p474)<\/p>\n

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Much of what Moses says is God\u2019s command and the people indicate that they have heard God\u2019s word by obeying it. However, throughout our parashah, we have people listening and not listening. We have Moses listening to the people (e.g. 1:22, 23), the people listening to Moses (e.g. 1:9-14) and God listening to the people (e.g. 1:34). We also have the people not listening to Moses who is speaking God\u2019s word (1:43) and God refusing to listen to Moses\u2019 wish to enter the promised land (3:25-26). People seem ambivalent towards the words of others. In our haftarah, Isaiah 1:1-27, we find a reason for this. Here we have a link between words and actions as behaviours \u2018tell\u2019 whether or not a person listens to God\u2019s word. If they do not listen to God, then God will not listen to them because they do not obey God\u2019s word (Is. 1:15). Listening has consequences but not listening clearly has consequences also.<\/p>\n

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Moses reminds the people that they were frightened when faced with the Amorites and so they did not obey God\u2019s words and Moses had asked them to trust God in this situation (1:26-33). Trust lies at the heart of every relationship and the words which offer opportunities to trust contain within them the seeds of the actions required to further build trust. In Isaiah 1:21, \u2018righteousness\u2019 no longer dwells in city as it is no longer \u2018faithful\u2019 (from the root \u05d0\u05de\u05df \u00a0also meaning trusty, reliable). This situation can only be changed when God returns their judges (Is. 1:26)\u2019. \u2018Righteousness\u2019 (from the root \u05e6\u05d3\u05e7) contains layers of meaning including justice, charity, integrity, equity and fairness. A people who want to have such judges are a people who wish to hear and obey God\u2019s word.\u00a0 In Dt. 1:16-18, a clear link is made between how we \u2018hear\u2019 and the quality of our \u2018judgement\u2019. \u2018Judges must exhibit seven qualities: they must be wise, discerning, and experienced (verse 13); they must be capable, fear God, be trustworthy, and spurn ill-gotten gain (Exod 18:21). Maimonides [9]\u2019 (Plaut p1324) An interesting frame of reference for any of us today.<\/p>\n

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For Reflection and Discussion<\/em><\/strong>: [1] <\/strong>Listening and not listening may be familiar in our own lives. Why might it be difficult to listen? [2] <\/strong>What would support me in hearing God\u2019s word more clearly? [3]<\/strong> How does my hearing affect my judgement of others?<\/p>\n

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Bibliography<\/em><\/strong>: \u00a0Heschel, Heavenly Torah<\/em> (New York, 2006); BT Talmud in sefaria.org; Plaut, The Torah: A Modern Commentary<\/em> (New York, 1981)<\/p>\n

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This week\u2019s teaching commentary is by<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Th<\/strong>\u00e9r\u00e8se Fitzgerald nds<\/strong>, Ireland, Bat Kol alum 2015
\nEmail address:<\/strong>theresefitzgerald7@gmail.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

[Copyright \u00a9 2018]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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PLEASE NOTE<\/em><\/strong>: The weekly Parashah commentaries represent the research and creative thought of their authors, and are meant to stimulate deeper thinking about the meaning of the Scriptures. While they draw upon the study methods and sources employed by the Bat Kol Institute, the views and conclusions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of their authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Bat Kol.\u00a0\u00a0 The commentaries, along with all materials published on the Bat Kol website, are copyrighted by the writers, and are made available for personal and group study, and local church purposes. Permission needed for other purposes.\u00a0 Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome.<\/em><\/p>\n

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~~<\/em><\/strong>1983<\/em><\/strong>–2018<\/strong><\/em>~~<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Shabbat Table Talk Parashat Devarim \u2013 Erev Shabbat 20 July 2018 Week of 15-21 January 2018 Torah portion: Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22 \u00a0\u00a0Haftarah: Isaiah 1:1-27 Theme: To listen or not to listen \u2026   Download   Devarim is the Hebrew title for the whole book of Deuteronomy and for this particular parashah and it means, among other…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":3941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}