Re'eh: Community

The Parsha deals with a central location for the people. This becomes Jerusalem. The idea seems to be that there be a unifying structure for the people of Israel and that it be distinct from the customs of the people who are dispossessed from the land.

There is a new description of the tithing process ( maaser sheni) and a new description of the Passover Sacrifice ( that now includes cattle). Is this the McCain Moshe contrasting with his Obama days (when he was only 82)?

Some interactions with the daf yomi:

The gemarrah (Gittin 47a) talks about not redeeming a man who had sold himself and his children to cannibals ( Luddai: N.B. the meeting place for the decisions re: which circumstances are to die for ( Sanhedrin 74a) was in Lud . the gemmarah says that they identified the man as an apostate ( mumar) because he ate Neviloth and treifoth.

Taking a vow is equivalent to building and unauthorized, non-central alter ( bamma). Keeping the vow is equated to bringing the burnt offering on it. ( gittin 46B)

Eikev: (the) Big Deal

Eikev is interpreted by Rashi ( quoting Chazal) as the mitzvoth that get trampled underfoot, the minor details that Gd won't care about.

The Parsha goes on to write the contract for the big deal: If you will carefully heed the mitzvoth, you will have an easy and long life. As in any contract, the devil is in the details, the eikev.

The middle of the parsha tells us not to forget the contract and remind us that the contract had been broken before.

Is this consciousness of the importance of the details the motivation behind the black hat?

Throw away the details and you are reform, emphasize the details and you are Haredi.

I think, just enjoy the details... and be very afraid lest you violate an important one. ( and who knows which are the important ones?)

There is an answer, but it is so deep in your heart that you may be afraid to go there.

Ve'eschana

What is grace

Moshe reports the failure of his prayer (וָאֶתְחַנַּן (3:3). He then spends most of the chapter reviewing the covenant and exhorting that people to follow commandments. Although Moses follow the commandments to an extent that no other person could, his prayer to enter the land is denied. What does that mean for my prayers and yours?

It is interesting that when he speaks about the inhabitants of the Land, the same word is used וְלֹא תְחָנֵּם( 7:2) . Rashi implies that the word may be related to settling of the Land. The word does seem to have a connotation of the plea for acceptance.

The Land his tough.

Devarim:in the shadddow of Jethro

There are some things that recall previous passages. Moses talks about the appointment of a system of judges . Jethro suggested it. ( Shemos 18:כא וְאַתָּה תֶחֱזֶה מִכָּל-הָעָם אַנְשֵׁי-חַיִל יִרְאֵי אֱלֹהִים אַנְשֵׁי אֱמֶת שֹׂנְאֵי בָצַע וְשַׂמְתָּ עֲלֵהֶם שָׂרֵי אֲלָפִים שָׂרֵי מֵאוֹת שָׂרֵי חֲמִשִּׁים וְשָׂרֵי עֲשָׂרֹת. כב וְשָׁפְטוּ אֶת-הָעָם בְּכָל-עֵת וְהָיָה כָּל-הַדָּבָר הַגָּדֹל יָבִיאוּ אֵלֶיךָ וְכָל-הַדָּבָר הַקָּטֹן יִשְׁפְּטוּ-הֵם וְהָקֵל מֵעָלֶיךָ וְנָשְׂאוּ אִתָּךְ.

Moses talks about sending out spies to guide the entry into the land, similar to a role that Jethro rejected.

The spies described the cities fortifed to the sky. Had the Canaanites succeeded in building the tower of Babel?

There is that evil word "hava" Bereshith 11:3,4 וַיֹּאמְרוּ הָבָה נִבְנֶה-לָּנוּ עִיר וּמִגְדָּל וְרֹאשׁוֹ בַשָּׁמַיִם וְנַעֲשֶׂה-לָּנוּ שֵׁם פֶּן-נָפוּץ עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ

The nations and their lands:

what is the point of Darwin: the species most suitable to the space occupies it. Relate this to the subtitle of his most famous book: Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Who is the most favored race in the Torah? Why does Darwin posit a concept of the favored race? Does he get it from Devorim?

compare with Rashi in Masai on Zoth Haaretz: Israel was suited to the land and the land was suited to Israel.

The first Rashi in Bereshith says that we are told that El-him is the creater of the world so that we understand ( or accept) that it is the creators perrogative to apportion the territory as He sees fit! In Devarim, we see that apportionment and there are favored an non-favored races, and there is ascendency and decline. Does this justify Zionism?

Change is the only constant. The populations that occupy the variious parcels of land are replaced by new populations ( allowing the FAvored Race to annex them). The leader of Israel must also change and that constitutes a change in Israel itself.

No more zoomzoomim

last years: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=d4hmw97_137fgdwb2&hl=en