Devarim 5770

The Set Table – Devarim 5770

Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22
Isaiah 1:1–27
John 19:17–41

What is the connection between Shabbat Chazon and Tisha b’Av?

This shabbat, we start a new book of the Chumash, Devarim “the words” or, according to the sages, “the warnings” of Moses to the children of Israel. The Shabbat before Tisha b’Av, which we will commemorate in fasting and prayer on Tuesday, August 20, is called Shabbat Chazon. It reminds us of the Chazon “vision” of the prophet Isaiah ben Amoz and the destruction of the Temple that he sees happening (Isaiah 1:1–27). He saw the impending destruction in this vision. It was a picture of a disaster that was approaching, but not inevitable. Today, we need to remember not just the destruction of the past, but to search how it applies to our present reality as a people. Can we divert harm to our people, can we be vessels of teshuva “repentance”?

What will our reality look like today if we can encourage and live to see the complete teshuva of our people and our re-gathering fully into our land of promise? What will this age of Tikkun Olam look like, Romans 11:15 speaks of a reality similar to “Life from the Dead”? That should give us some perspective on what we have seen in the past 2000 years . . . that the church has seen as a great outbreak of hope, but this seems like a precursor of something so much greater. This is the vision for a new generation. We have the opportunity to take our part in working towards this teshuva, return to God, his Land, and his tikkun “repair” of the creation that we have corrupted.

In Deuteronomy 1:5, Moses “makes (be’er) clear the Torah.” This word (be’er) speaks of making bare, clear or fully explaining the Torah. He is more than just repeating the Torah, he is making it applicable to the people. It is clear that this generation is going to go into the Land without his leadership, he is leaving them a legacy. Moses gives clarity and explanation to the importance of love and obedience of God. It is fascinating that he then connects this with the sin of spies that kept the previous generation from taking the Land. Traditionally Tisha b’Av is the date that the spies returned with this evil report.

In Psalm 106:24–27, it says that there was a blatant sin of scorning the Land.

Moreover, they scorned the desirable land, they believed not His word; and they murmured in their tents, they hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord. Therefore he swore concerning them, that he would overthrow them in the wilderness; and that he would cast out their seed among the nations, and scatter them in the lands.

It seems amazing that in Deut 1:2, the Torah emphasizes that it is only 11 days journey from Chorev to Kadesh Barnea, this being the edge of the Promised Land. The children of Israel were so close to entering the Land, only to be kept out by the evil report of the spies and the fear of the people that God would allow them to be destroyed in the taking of the Land. They would now be destined to journey in the vicinity of the Land for decades, without entering in.

How awesome Moses’ call to this new generation not to be limited by the frailties and scornfulness of their ancestors. Let us as a younger generation not despise our elders, but let us also not be limited by the extent of the restoration of our people in previous generations. We are living in times of great opportunity.

The chain reaction of generations of exiles that has plagued our people from the generation of the spies is one that needs to remind us as we approach Tisha b’Av of the need to draw near corporately as well as individually in true teshuva. It is time for the chain of destruction to be broken. We live in a generation that again is being allowed to enter into the Land of Promise after generations in which it was barred. Can we dare imagine scorning this inheritance. What would the consequences of this be on us as individuals and corporately on our people. While there is a place to help Jewish people find the Messiah in the Golah (Exile), it is time that we show them as well the path to a Land of Restoration. What will that Land of Hope be if it is detached from the physical land of blessing that has been promised us?

We need to beware that none of us in our own personal lives, whether in the land of Israel or in the Exile, do not allow for there to arise areas of our life that would lead us into years of wandering in a spiritual desert away from the fullness of God’s design for our lives. I contend that while there are many challenges to our lives in the land of Israel, there is a also a special element of shekhina that is part of the “local call effect” that we can make from Israel to the throne room, from these hills of our homeland.

What is the primary focus of Moses’ speech in Parashat Devarim? How do we apply this lesson on a personal level?

There is a well accepted principle involved in Torah study known as ma’aseh avot siman lebanim – “the acts of the forefathers are a sign for their descendants.” Shaul ties this idea to Israel’s journey through the dessert: “These things happened to them . . .  [and] were written down as a warning to us who are living in the last days” (1 Corinthians 10:11). The Baal Shem Tov applies this to the life of every individual: “The forty-two ‘stations’ from Egypt to the Promised Land are replayed in the life of every individual Jew.” How are we to relate this concept to this week’s Torah portion?

Deuteronomy opens with the preamble to Moses’ twenty-one chapter speech (chapters 5–26) exhorting Israel as they are poised to enter into the Land of Canaan. The theme of this preamble (chapters 1–4) centers on Israel’s inability to “possess the land.” Moses uses the verb yirash “to posses” eleven times in this week’s parasha alone (1:8, 21, 39; 2:12, 21, 22, 24; 3:12, 18, 20). Moses states that this was Israel’s entire mission and purpose, tying it to the covenant of the forefathers (1:8). The 11^th century French commentator, Rashi explains that so resolved was this mission that if Israel had not sent the spies they would not have even had to go to war at all (Rashi on 1:8).

After reminding Israel of her mission, Moses retraces the stages throughout her journey in the desert. The first “stop” was the incident in Parashat Yitro (Exodus 18), where Israel was supplied with a civil and criminal court system to enable unity and resolve theological and civil disputes. Moses noticeably conveys that Israel clearly understood their mission: “I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do” (Deuteronomy 1:18). Later, Israel responded in disbelief after the evil report of the spies, and became “broken” (1:22–27) at the thought of facing their enemies even in the face of Moses’ reassurance that God would literally “fight for Israel” (see 1:29–33). The genereation of the wilderness had been disqualified from their mission.

Israel’s turning point came when this generation died out (2:16–17), although the Ralbag (or Gersonides; 1288-1344) makes an interesting observation:

Toward the end of the [forty years] many [of Israel’s men of war] were still relatively young, for those who were twenty at the time of the spies’ mission were only now fifty-eight . . . God [therefore] caused those survivors to die before their natural time so that they would not delay the new generation  (Ralbag on Deuteronomy 2:15)

Ralbag’s comment carries with it a sobering idea: those who didn’t live up to their mission were disqualified and taken from life “prematurely.” To be sure, God honored their acceptance of the covenant at Sinai (“God’s callings are irrevocable;” Romans 11:29); yet one wonders how different those Israelites’ lives might have turned out – not to mention the implications of their potential loss of reward in the World to Come. The Brit Chadasha is replete with references to the believer’s klesis “calling” (e.g., 1 Corinthians 1:26, 7:20; Ephesians 1:18, etc.), and we are enjoined to “press forward” in the “high calling of God in Messiah Yeshua” (Philippians 3:14). May God bless us all with the knowledge of our unique mission in life and give us the strength to fulfill it in our lifetimes.

Chayyei Yeshua: John 19:17–41 -  A Personal Churban

This week we focus on the crucifixion and burial of Yeshua. The retelling of this tragic event is meant to invoke a sense of mourning and cause us to identify with the humiliation, suffering, and abuse our Messiah took upon himself on our behalf.

It is no accident we are reading this section at this particular time. For we are currently in a period known throughout the Jewish community as the “Three Weeks” – an allusion to the three week period of mourning between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av which recalls the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 c.e. During this time period, many observant Jews refrain from participating in celebrations and observe other customs of mourning.

Tisha B’Av is also associated with many other tragic events in the history of the Jewish people – the ill-report of the 12 spies, the destruction of both temples, the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, the first deportations of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto – and the list goes on!

And it is not just our current time frame that connects these two tragic events, Yeshua does as well:

Yeshua answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.” The Judeans said, “It took 46 years to build this Temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the “temple” he had spoken of was his body.

John 2:19–20

Yeshua identifies his own crucifixion with the Churban, the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. What is even more interesting is that Yeshua makes this statement BEFORE the Temple was actually destroyed almost 40 years later. In some sort of way, Yeshua may have also been prophetically alluding to the coming destruction in addition to his own death.

Our rabbis teach us that everything is connected to Mashiach. This is just one more way in which we see Yeshua as One Man Israel – where Yeshua’s life perfectly parallels the joys, experiences, and sufferings of the Jewish people. The sacrificial death of Yeshua is deeply connected to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Yeshua’s death is a personal Churban, a personal destruction of cosmic proportions.

But the parallels do not end there, for although we are currently in mourning and yearning for redemption – our hope is not lost. As we prepare for Tisha B’Av, let us not only mourn the tragic history of our people and the loss of the Temple – the location where God’s manifest presence resided on earth – but let us also identify with the death and crucifixion of our Suffering Servant.

For although we mourn now, both of these tragic events will eventually bring about a fullness of redemption, and one day we will experience the complete manifest presence of God once again. May that time come speedily and in our day!

Next Week:  Va’etchanan

Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11
Isaiah 40:1–26
John 20:1–18