Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan - Parashat Devarim

welcome we are starting the new book of the Five Books of Moses and that is the book of Deuteronomy and the first Parsha is we are on page 939 of the article of chapter one the verse one these are the words that Moshe spoke to all Israel now in verse 3 we are going to find out when did this happen and let's read verse 3 right away it was in the 40th year in the 11th month on the first of the month now 40th 40th year means the Jewish people are about to go into the land of Israel they have already spent 40 years in the desert was a long trip and it's the 11th month if you remember the Jewish year starts in Nissan Nissan is the first month and Adar is the last month 12th month is Adar the month before Adara is and 11th month is and it's on the first of the month so parashat de varim begins on the first of shivad and if you remember died on the 7th of Adar the following month on the 7th of the month that we know from the story of Purim and that means that we are now five weeks before moshe's death and it says these are the words that Moshe spoke to all Israel for the next five weeks Moshe is going to span speaking to the Jewish people teaching them one last time reviewing with them the history until now and preparing them for the future that lies ahead a difficult future until our times these are the words that Moshe spoke to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan River concerning the Wilderness he recounted for them all the things that happened to them in the desert concerning the aravan opposite this sea of reeds between Paran and TOEFL and Lavan and Khat now the commentary say that some of these places don't exist we never mentioned these places so uh how is it that Moshe is telling the Jewish people about these places so they say really what's happening is Moshe is not mentioning the names of places that they visited alone rather he calls the names of places by the events that took place for example the the name diza have means concerning gold which means whatever happened with gold and and with that he reminds them of what happened with the golden calf that they collected gold that they got from Egyptians and they built golden calf and he reminds them with the word Lavan of man that they complained about man is white and he tells them remember that place where we had trouble with the white thing and so on and TOEFL and Paran each one reminds them of another mistake that they made so this way Moshe is teaching us two important lessons that when you want to to rebuke someone try to give him a a metaphor try to teach him a lesson indirectly don't say you did this and this you shouldn't have done it rather tell him a story and in the middle of the story mention an event and let them figure it out themselves they might say oh you know what I remember I did the same thing I behave the same way and they will change and they will be so grateful they'll say I'm so happy that he didn't point out my mistakes I hope he doesn't know but it's good that he mentioned my mistakes because I realized what my mistake is and I will fix it because people are good and they want to do good and all they need is just education and reminder so that's what Moshi is doing the second thing Moshe is teaching us is that when you want to rebuke someone make sure you rebuke them at a time when they will listen and that is right before Moshe is about to leave them so people pay more attention a number two benefit of this is that you shouldn't rebuke someone and then continue seeing them and rebuking them more and reminding them of the unpleasant conversation so Moshe says I will rebuke them right before I leave this way I will accomplish sorry I will accomplish two things number one that they will pay more attention to me because they know I'm about to leave and number two they will not be embarrassed for long soon I will die they will not feel that the one that rebuked them is still around and still looking at them and therefore it's important not to cause more embarrassment than is absolutely necessary and therefore don't rebuke a person and then stay next to him rebuke in a in a gentle secret way that you should understand it himself without openly rebuking him and Lee stop the conversation leave let him think about it let it absorb don't dwell on it and don't pester him now verse 2 11 days from way of Mount seir to Kadesh barnea surprisingly they left mount seir which is another name or I'm sorry they left Mount Sinai which is a has another name horev 38 years ago 38 years ago they left Mount Sinai and it says that they're only 11 days away from it it took them 38 years to walk 11 days and it also teaches us that if after the event with the spies they would go into the land they would be in the eres Israel within 11 days but because they sent the spies and because they waited another 40 days and they they complained because of it they stayed in the desert for extra 38 years now verse 3 it was in the 40th year in the 11th month on the first of the month the first of all when Moshe spoke to the children of Israel according to everything that Hashem commanded him to them after he had won the war against sihon king of Amorite who dwelled in OG king of Bashan who dwelt in ashtarod in Android on the other side of Jordan River in the land of Moab Moshe began explaining this Torah same so that is why it's called Deuteronomy means the second exposition of the Torah the second review of the Torah because Moshe is again explaining this storm and although the book of Deuteronomy has 200 myths vote one third almost of all the Mitzvah then the Torah are found in the book of Deuteronomy which means there are many new mitzvot mentioned but still they are just written down in the book of the varim but the Jewish people have already received it and learned about it throughout their time in the desert therefore for us it may be new but for the Jewish people it is review verse 6 Hashem so now these are words of Moshe Hashem our God spoke to us in horv which is harsinai saying enough of your dwelling by this mountain after more than a year of Jewish people dwelling or almost a year a year Jewish people dwelling by harsinai Hashem said to them it's time to go home turn yourselves around and journey and come to the Amorite mountain and to all its neighbors this is where the Jewish people are now like it says he had Smith and shiron King of the Amorite and that's where Hashem directed them right after harsinai in the Arava on the mountain and in the Low Land and in the South and at the Seacoast Hashem is telling them go into the land and occupy all these places the Arava the Flatland the mountain the lowland the South the Seacoast the land of the Canaanite and the Lebanon the modern day country of Lebanon is in the original boundaries of the land of Israel it that North of Israel the entire Lebanon really belongs to us and it used to belong to the Kingdom of Yehuda and Israel see oh one second until the Great River the Euphrates River Moshe is here giving prediction Prophecy from Hashem that eventually the Jewish people will possess the land that now is occupied by Syria all the way till the Euphrates River that is the land that Hashem promised avraham verse 8 see I have given the land before you come and possess the land that Hashem swore to your forefathers to give them and their children after them Hashem was expecting the Jewish people to go in and just take the land he used the word see I have given the land before you come and possess the land verse 9 I said to you at that time now Moshe is saying his own words saying I cannot carry you alone Hashem your God has multiplied you and behold you are like the stars of the heaven in abundance this is the time when Moshe complained that the Jewish people are too difficult for one person to supervise and guard guide and Moshe asked Hashem for help and Hashem told him to appoint um the 70 elders and the judges now that Moshe reminded the Jewish people of the blessing they received many children that were born to them behold you are like the stars of heaven and abundance Moshe gives Jewish people a blessing and thereby he teaches us that when you praise someone you have to give them a blessing as well because when you praise someone you might invoke what's called Ayan Haram prosecution that Hashem may say oh somebody is praising someone let me check if he really deserves what he has and in order to prevent it from happening you have to give a blessing and say Hashem thank you for everything you gave them give them even more verse 11 May Hashem the god of your forefathers add to you a thousand times yourselves and bless you as he has spoken to you and this time there are about 3 million um Jewish people and Moshe says you should be another thousand times more which is possible uh three billion people and in fact if we look at history the number of Chinese three thousand years ago was about the same as the number of Jews and within that time they grew to 1.5 billion people and we could have done the same we are more advanced more sophisticated plus we have Hashem on our side and for sure we would have been three million three billion people right now but the Torah predicts that the Jewish people will always be small in number until mashiach comes because Hashem does not want people to be impressed by our numbers rather Hashem wants the nations of the world to analyze the Jews and see the truth of Torah and realize that they only survived because God is protecting them if we had three billion people and people would say of course they're powerful because they are the majority they just physically powerful there's no proof that there is any spiritual being that is protecting them they're only so powerful because there are many of them not because of their wisdom and not because Hashem protects them and so Hashem said I'm Gonna Make You smaller number and I'm Gonna Give You difficult history everyone will hate you and try to suppress you and Despite All Odds You Will Survive and Thrive and be the most famous Nation on the planet and then everyone will say we know why the Jews are so successful it's because they are the nation of God they're the people the chosen people of Hashem verse 12 how can I alone carry your contentiousness your burdens and your quarrels provide for yourselves distinguished man who are wise understanding and well known to your tribes and I shall appoint them as your heads and people happily accept the proposal of Moshe they like to have more people on top of them because if they don't like one they can go to a different judge they can go to a different leader and they can get their way if Moshe is the one in control of everything then there's no appeal and you answered me and said the thing that you propose to do is good so I took the heads of your tribes distinguished man who were wise and well known and I appointed them as heads over you leaders of thousands leaders of hundreds leaders of 50s and leaders of tens and officers for your tribes like policemen we see here that the Jewish people do not live like a democracy we don't have votes for our leaders the Jewish people are a democracy on a government level which means within the government itself they function as a democracy but then but not the Democracy of people what it means is that when the 70 elders get together what we now call Sanhedrin the high court and they try to decide which law to follow how to lead the nation they vote and and and they follow the majority however we cannot expect that asking a commoner asking masses who do not know what's going on who might not be educated who might be easily swayed by the campaign money with with um our national security we do not ask the masses how to lead the country but we see the the terrible state that we are in now because of this rather it is called Educated expert democracy we only ask the experts just like when you want to decide should I take this medicine or not or should I do the operation the surgery or not you don't ask um your neighbors you don't do a poll you collect the votes who is in favor of me doing the surgery who is against no that would be foolish you ask the experts you ask one doctor another doctor another doctor and then you see what do the majority of experts say and that is why who appointed the leaders Moshe himself and once he appointed the leaders they can decide in a democratic Way by voting what path to take and I instructed your judges at that time saying listen among your brethren and judge righteously between a man and his brother or his litigant and now some laws for the judges you shall not show favoritism in judgment you should not treat one party with more respect or compassion than the other small and great alike shall you hear whether the person is great or small you have to give them the same opportunity to talk and defend themselves not not only that the words small and great can also be interpreted a small case and a big case you should hear equally you shouldn't say oh this is a a juicier case this is a bigger case let me hear it first no whoever comes first that's the one you listen to you shall not tremble before any man if a judge sees a powerful litigant and he's scared then he has to recuse himself he has to say I cannot judge this person let me appoint someone who is greater than me more powerful than me I cannot judge while in fear for the judgment is God's you are just a placeholder the judge just like any human being should not take the power in their own hands should not think that I can decide rather they should connect to Hashem and say Hashem please guide me please inspire me to make the right decision the judgment is God's any matter that is difficult for you you shall bring to me and I shall hear it Moshe tells them that although now you are going to be in charge of the people but don't worry I'm still here if there's anything that is too difficult for you bring it to me I'll listen and now motion reviews with them the events of the last 38 years verse 19 we journeyed from from harsinai and we went through that entire great and awesome Wilderness that you saw by way of the Amorite Mountain as Hashem Our God commanded us and we came until Kadesh barnea then I said to you you have come until the Amorite Mountain they were right on the border with the land of Israel that that Hashem Our God gives us see Hashem your God has placed the land before you go up and possess it as Hashem God of your forefathers has spoken to you do not fear and do not lose resolve now the incident of the spies begins all of you approached me and said let us send man ahead of us and let them spy out the land and bring word back to us here already the Jewish people miss the opportunity instead of going happily into the land they said not so fast this was in stark contrast to what they said when Hashem offered them Torah they said Ishmael Hashem we know you love us we know you only want the best for us if you are giving us something we know it's the best of course we're going to take it Hashem said would you like the Torah the Jewish people didn't say what's in it let us check it out give us a sample a preview no of course we're going to take it we'll hear later but when Hashem gave them the land of Israel they said let us check it out and that is one of the reasons that we still have the Torah and we're still very strong in it and we hold on to it dearly but we have a hard time with the land of Israel we didn't have it for two thousand years and even now we have to fight for it why because we didn't accept it with love we didn't enthusiastically embrace it verse 23 the idea was good in my eyes so I took from you 12 men one man from each tribe they ascended the mountain and spied spied it out they took their hands from the fruit of the land and brought it down to us they brought back word to us and said good is the land that Hashem Our God gives us but you didn't wish because sand and you rebelled against the word of God you slandered in your tents and said now when the people hear the the bad report what are they saying they're all of a sudden changing their mind until now they thought Hashem loves them but all of a sudden so quickly they change and they say because of hashem's hatred for us did he take us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorite to destroy us that is the secret of life if you know who loves you then you have to judge them favorably and accept whatever they're saying with love if your spouse who you married out of love says something you should listen to them if your spouse rebukes you don't think they're doing it out of hatred they're doing it out of love just like a parent who rebukes his children children don't like it but if the parents shows the children that he loves them children will accept it much easier so the Jewish people knew that Hashem loves them but they chose to find the easy way out and say you know why we are scared you know we have fear but instead of blaming us ourselves and saying because I don't trust Hashem because I'm weak instead of that they blame Hashem you know why I'm scared because I can't trust Hashem hashem's fault it's not my fault because why don't I trust him now I have to explain why he's not trustworthy because he is he hates me why does he hate you I don't have a reason but I'm gonna take the greatest event that shows the love of Hashem and I'm gonna use it as a proof that he hates me how do I know he hates me because he took me out of Egypt imagine I was a slave I was tortured and he saved me and I call that an act of hatred that is uh called in in commentaries hatred twists the mind of a person and similarly the sages say love twist the mind of the person but in the right way when a person hates someone his mind stops working straight so that's what happened to the Jewish people they they started calling that which is good bad the one that loves them the one that hates them and the people continue complaining verse 28 to where shall we Ascend you want us to ascend to the land that the Hashem wants to give us what's there for us our brothers have melted our hearts saying a people greater and taller than we that land has stronger Army we can't conquer it where should we go city is great and fortified to the heavens and they start exaggerating till the heaven the walls of the city there's no such thing but again in their fear and and attempt to explain and become and and remain righteous they have to exaggerate and even children of Giants have we seen there verse 29 Moshe tells them do not be broken and do not fear them Hashem your God who goes before you he shall make war for you like everything he did for you in Egypt remember Egypt was not a a Garden of Eden Hashem took you out of Egypt from the land of Oppression like everything he did for you in Egypt before your eyes he did great Miracles and in the wilderness as you have seen the Hashem your God carried you as a man carries his son on the entire way that you travel until you arrive to this place Jewish people couldn't say anything yes for sure but again the fear took over and they couldn't think straight yet in this matter you do not believe in Hashem your God who goes before you on the way to seek out for you a place for you to encamp with fire by night and A Cloud by day verse 34. Hashem heard the sound of your words and he was angered and he swore saying if even one man of these people this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your forefathers this is an open-ended both that starts with if and doesn't finish it leaves it up to our imagination as to what is going to happen to us to to these people except for Khalif one of the spies he shall see it and to him shall I give the land on which he walked and to his children because he followed Hashem wholeheartedly and and of course um Joshua as well explains to them why he himself will not be able to go into the land with me as well Hashem became angry because of you saying you two shall not come there rather yahushua son of noon shall come there strengthen him for he shall cause Israel to inherit it verse 41. the rebellion of the people right after they heard the decree then you spoke up and said to me we have sent to Hashem we shall go up and do battle according to everything the Hashem has commanded us every man of you girded his weapons of war and you were ready to ascend the mountain instead of listening to Hashem and saying okay fine we sin we're gonna stay here in the wilderness until Hashem allows us to go they say no I'm gonna go like a child who you tell him to do something and he says no and then you give him a punishment and he hears the punch and say okay okay I'm gonna do it don't give me the punishment that's it it's too late and that's how Hashem treats us I'm happy that you are you that you regret what you did but the punishment still has to stay Hashem said to me tell them do not Ascend and do not do battle for I am not among you anymore so that you not be struck down before your enemies but you didn't listen you rebelled against the word of Hashem and you willfully climbed the mountain and of course the Amorite who dwelt in on that mountain went out and pursued you as the bees would do and struck you in seed until Karma then you retreated and wept before Hashem but Hashem didn't listen to your voice and he did not hearken to you and you dwelt in Kadesh for many days and Rashi tells us that the Jewish people stayed in in this one place called Kadesh for 19 years with this Rashi explains that even though the Jewish people traveled for 38 years really most of the time they were settled it's only for small periods of time that they would move from Camp to camp for 19 years they were in one place they would move from one location to the next in a short period of time spending few days in each but majority of time majority of 38 years they spend long time in one place long time in another few places um so their their life in the desert was not one continuous travel the actual traveling maybe was for uh 20 days 30 days out of 38 years now chapter two describes how the Jewish people finally finished their travels and how they approached the land again and try to enter and they were not allowed and they had to walk around it until they came from the Eastern side of the Jordan we turned and journeyed to the Wilderness toward the Sea of reeds as Hashem spoke to me and we circled Mount sea for many days Hashem said to me saying enough of you Circle in this mountain enough going in circles turn yourselves northward towards the land of Israel you shall not um you shall command the people saying you're passing through the boundary of your brothers the children of asab who dwell in seed they will fear you but you should be very careful you shall not provoke them for I shall not give you of their land even the right to set food for as an inheritance to ASAP have I given Mount CEO Hashem is very careful to give each land to the nation that he chooses and he tells other nations not to encroach on their boundaries so when you come to the people of esav a country of Edom you shall purchase food from them for money so that you may eat and the water shall you buy from them for money so that you may drink even though you have your own well of medium while you are in their land buy from them give them business and even though you have man to eat buy food from them to give them business for Hashem your God has blessed you in all your handiwork now he explains why should you pay for something that you already have for free because Hashem your God has blessed you in all your hand you are you have money when you come to them show them that Hashem is taking care of you show them that you can afford it this is a um it's it a teaching for us that in front of the nations of the world we should not look poor we should not look lowly because if we do if we pretend that we are poor and needy the Nations will say what's going on why isn't Hashem protecting them that is why Hashem tells them I gave you the wealth don't be cheap buy food and water from them and now he continues explaining all the blessings that Hashem gave us he knew your way in this Great Wilderness this 40-year period Hashem your God was with you you did not lack a thing so we passed from our brothers the children of ASAP who didn't allow them to pass through their land into our land from the way of rabba from a lot and it's young governor and we turned and passed on the way to the mohabbai desert the next country on the way was more of Hashem said to me you shall not distress Moab as well and you shall not provoke war with them for I shall not give you an inheritance from their land for to the children of the Lord have I given r as an inheritance the land of Moab Hashem gave to one child of Moab to to lot called Moab and the land of um Amon Hashem gave to another child of lot the ammonites and we were not allowed to take their land however the a meme dwelled there previously a great and populist people as tall as Giants they too were considered refaim like the Giants and the moabites called them a meme a meme comes from the word the fearful one fear the one that instills fear in us because they were so great this explains to us that even though this belonged to Moab however there was a war against Moab and their land was conquered part of their land that is why the Jewish people were able to take it because they were not taking it from Moab anymore verse 12 and in seir the Horizon dwelled previously and the children of Asaf drove them drove them away from before themselves and dwelled in their place as Israel did to the land of its inheritance this is a prophecy about what is going to happen verse 13. now rise up and get yourselves across zedded Brook so we crossed the Red Brook verse 14 is the summary of all the travels in the desert the days that we travel from Kadesh barnea from when they send the spies until we crossed zedded Brook where 38 years until the end of the entire generation the man of war from the midst of the camp as Hashem swore to them because they had to wait patiently until that entire generation dies out even the hand of Hashem was on them to confound them from the midst of the camp until their end so it was when the men of War finished dying from amidst the people now that the generation was renewed Hashem spoke to me saying this day you shall cross the border of Moab at our and you shall approach opposite the children of Ammon you shall not distress them and you shall not provoke them the land of Amon is considered the land of refaim the refaim dwelt in it previously and the ammonites called them a great and populist people they were the zamzumi as tall as Giants and Hashem destroyed them before them and they drove them out and dwelt in their place and now we just we speak about the history of another Nation avim verse 23 as for the who dwelt in the Open Cities until Gaza who went out of kaftur destroyed them and dwelt in their place and now verse 24 Hashem gives us a command to conquer the lands of OG and sihon rise up and cross our non-brook sea in your hand have I delivered siron the king of hesbon the Amorite and his land begin to drive him out and provoke war with him this day I shall begin to place dread and fear of you on the peoples under the entire heaven when they hear of your reputation and they will tremble and be anxious before you however Moshe behaved with peace and he first sent a message to sihon verse 26 I send Messengers from the Wilderness of kedemoto siron king of words of Peace saying let me pass through your land I'm not interested in your land I just want to go to my land only on the road shall I go I will not stray right or left you will sell food to me for money and I shall eat and you will give me water for money and I shall drink only let me pass on food as the children of Israel who dwell in Seer did for me means they they sold the food to them and the moabites who dwell in odd they didn't let them go through but they sold food for them until I cross the Jordan River to the Lander Hashem Our God gives us we have no interest in your land but sihon king of hashborn was not willing to let us pass through it for Hashem your God hardened his spirit and made his heart stubborn in order to give him into your hand like this very day verse 32 the battle is described sihon went out toward us he and his entire people for battle in yahats Hashem Our God gave him before us and we smote him and his sons and his entire people were captured all his cities at that time and we destroyed every populated city with the women and small children we did not leave a survival and now they had a reason for it because after asking siron for peace he attacked them only the animals did we elude for ourselves and the beauty of the cities that we captured there was no city that was too strong for us Hashem Our God gave everything before us only the chill the the land of the children of Amon did you not draw near of course because Hashem forbade them chapter 3 now the conquest of OG and his land we turned and ascended by way of Bashan and king of Bashan went out toward us he and his entire people for war at address Hashem said to me do not fear Him for in your hand have I given him and his entire people and his land Hashem Our God gave into our hand also King also OG king of Bashan and his entire people and we smote him until no Survivor was left of him we captured all the cities at that time there was no City that we did not take from them 60 cities the entire region of argov the kingdom of OG in the Bashan all these were fortified cities with a high wall doors and bars aside from Open Cities very many we destroy them verse 8. at that time we took the land from the hand of the two kings of Amorite that were on the other side of the Jordan from Arnon Brook to Mount Hermon the the Mount Hermon is a famous mount mountain that the Jewish people still use for skiing it it has uh snow on snow on top sidonians would refer to German as Sirion and amorites would call it senir senir is snow in their language they would call it a Snowy Mountain all the cities of the plain the entire gilad and the entire Bashan until Salah the cities of the kingdom of org and the Bashan for only OG King of the Bashan was left of the remaining refaim behold his now we describe how big org was we were mentioned already that he was a giant behold his bed in fact in Hebrew it says which means his crib a bed of a baby was an iron bed he was so huge that they needed to construct a crib of iron it is in a museum in a rabba of the children of Amon because they captured it nine qubits which is 15 feet was its length and four qubits six feet was its width so imagine a crib for a baby that is 15 feet already when he was a baby he was already 15 feet uh two and a half times taller than a grown-up man verse 12 and we possess that land at that time from Arrow air which is by Arnon Brook and half of the mountain of gilad and its cities that I give to the tribe of Ruben and the tribe of God the rest of the gilad the second half of gilad and the entire Bashan the kingdom of OG I gave to half the tribe of minashin the entire region of argov and the entire Bashan that is called the land of refine and yair Son of minase took the entire region of argov until the border of the gishurite and the mahatite and he named it until himself after himself and to Mahir son of minasa I gave gilad to the tribe of ruven and God I gave from gilad until Arnon Brook until ya book the border of the children of Ammon now on the last page page 957 Moshe describes other areas that he gave to the tribes of God and ruven and the Arava the plane and the Jordan River and its burden border from the kinet to the Arava sea the salt seed the Dead Sea so that whole Eastern Bank of Jordan River from the kinet till the Dead Sea Moshe gave to the children of God and revenge verse 19. I commanded you at that time saying Hashem your God gave you this land for possession armed shall you cross over before your brethren meaning children of ruven and God even though they received the land on the Eastern Bank they had to go in to the land of Israel proper on the Western West Bank and help the Jewish people conquered only your wives small children and livestock shall dwell in the cities in your cities that I have given you until Hashem shall give rest to your brethren like yourselves and they too shall possess the land that Hashem your God gives them on the other side of Jordan then you shall return every man to his inheritance that I have given you and it took them seven years to conquer the land and another seven years to divide it and the children of God and ruvan kept their promise and stayed even longer than they were required mosho wanted them to stay only for seven years but they stayed for 14 years verse 21. I commended Yeshua at that time saying your eyes have seen everything that Hashem your God has done to these two kings so will Hashem do to all the kings where you cross over Hashem allowed Moshe to conquer these two kingdoms so that the Jewish people already witnessed the Victory and they are more secure they already see that the conquest has started and the last verse of the Parsha Moshe tells yahushua you shall not fear them these nations for Hashem your God he shall wage war for you this was true then and it has remained always true that Hashem fights our Wars this concludes parashad devarim everyone should have an easy fast if we have to and may we all come back to our land conquer it again the entire land dwell securely and peacefully in it together with mashiach and rebuild yerushalayim and betamic dash thank you for listening