Av 8, 5776/August 13, 2016
This week we begin the fifth and final book of Torah, the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is a Greek term which reflects the coinage of the sages of Israel, who refer to the book as the Mishna Torah, meaning "a second teaching of the Law," as many previously stated commandments and events are re-articulated throughout the book. The Hebrew name of the book is simply Devarim - words - taken from the opening verse, "These are the words of Moshe...," (Deut.1:1) which is, in fact, an exquisitely appropriate title, as the entire book, (unlike the four books which preceded it and record the word of G-d ), is comprised of the words spoken by Moshe to the children of Israel during the course of the thirty-seven final days of his life.
The children of Israel are ready to enter the land promised them by G-d . Having brought them here, Moshe's mission has ended. He knows that he will not be entering the land with them, and even though he has pleaded with G-d , (unsuccessfully, as we shall read later in the book of Deuteronomy), that He rescind his decree, Moshe has not delayed or hesitated for an instant to do all he needs to do to get Israel into the land, even though their entry will only follow his death. So why, then, does Moshe now stop the clock, as it were, and keep Israel and G-d on a holding pattern for thirty-seven full days? Are we not instructed to fulfill all commandments as quickly as possible, without delay? Is not Avraham praised for the swiftness with which he fulfilled G-d 's word to take his son Yitzchak to Mount Moriah, where G-d commanded him to make of Yitzchakan offering unto Him? Is Moshe, the deliverer of Israel from Egypt, and the deliverer of G-d 's Torah to Israel at Sinai, any less 'pious' than Avraham? Why stand before Israel and talk when Yehoshua could already be leading the people into the land?
While Israel was physically ready to cross the Jordan and enter the land, she was nevertheless in need of a last minute boost of spirits and determination and a last minute review of where she was coming from and all she had been through, and a last minute recap of all she would need to know to be prepared to be a sovereign Torah-based nation inside the land of Israel. In fact, Moshe's thirty-seven day delivery would mark just the beginning of a four millenia tradition of teaching and reviewing and revisiting the Torah with which G-d blessed Israel. It is this tradition which informs this very newsletter.
Today, after a two thousand year interruption, Israel again dwells sovereign within her borders. But one place, more integral to Israel's identity, more integral to Israel's reason for being, and more integral to Israel's eternal bond with G-d than any other , stands outside of Israel's sovereignty. Not for thirty-seven days, but for forty-nine years, Israel has been physically in position to impose its sovereignty on the Temple Mount, to liberate it from its occupiers and to reinstate G-d 's dominion in the place which He has chosen for His Presence and His Name to dwell. For forty nine years Israel has been patiently waiting to hear the words of inspiration and redoubled determination, of lofty dreams and ideals, a reminder of all all we have been through and why G-d has brought us to this point with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud of glory by day. Israel waits to be reminded of the words of the prophet Haggai that "In this place I will establish peace," and of the prophet Isaiah that, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."
-The Temple Institute
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