Re’eh: the place that will be chosen

A significant theme in the parsha is “ the place that Gd will choose.” A strange future tense in an ancient story, and we (think we) know the conclusion....Jerusalem (Shilo, Nov, Givon [Utah])
It almost asks the 6-year-old’s question: “are we there yet?”
This chosen place is to be the location of all great Barbecues (once the people get there). There will be no more regional BaalBeques.
When our ancestors wondered through Europe or North Africa or the Ameicas,they knew that they were not in the chosen place.
The gemarrah in Chulin (60b) [ daf yomi] says :every one of the nations of the world went and built for itself a large city naming it after a mountain of the land of Israel, thus teaching you that even the mountains of the land of Israel are dear to the nations of the world.

The parsha begins with Mounts Grizim and Eyvel. But these are not the chosen place. Don’t marry the first girl/boy you meet.

Are we there yet?

Ve’ethchanan: unity

One of the main themes of this oft quoted parsha is the unity of Gd.
One really should have only one meaning ( that would make it non-Richardian#), but it doesn’t.
One is the unit of increase for addition and it is the identity element for multiplication.
1+1=2 but 2X1=2.

One stands between fractions and addenda.
לֹא תֹסִפוּ, עַל-הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם, וְלֹא תִגְרְעוּ, מִמֶּנּוּ

The fractional gd leaves a corner of the universe unobserved. Multiple gds let a person appeal to their conflicts. The one Gd is all encompassing.

Ultimately, you know what it means. When you feel it with all your heart, and every breath, and you do it with all your might.

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#A Richardian number is a number that does not exemplify itself. For example, if one said that 3 represents even-ness, it would be Richardian, if it represented oddness it would be non Richardian Goedel’s theorem, which proves the incompleteness (and/or inconsistency) of mathematical proofs is based on such a concept. Consider the number that represents Richardianism.

Devarim: apology

The parsha gives reasons, causes.
Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years because of the spies and their reaction to them. The people failed the faith test. And when they wanted to repent the next day, it was too late! This is the story, but the strictness of the sentence is hard to understand. Is that what Gd is like?
Maybe the spy thing was just the straw, piled atop the golden calf and the constant rebellions, that made keeping the promise of the land impossible. Maybe it was just too much for the people to say that they did not want togo into the land.

The wandering is portrayed as a series of mountains that are circled. Some of the mountains are lands promised to other peoples: the descendents of Esau and Lot. these are untouchable lands, promised to others. But invaders, Sichon and Og, are fair game and they are enticed into wars that leave Israel victorious (with Gd on their side).

Nations had conquered other nations before, Israels’s conquests was not a new policy. This is the way of the world. The apology is welcomed, but the concept is distasteful.