Devarim: Timing

Devarim: Timing

Devarim opens with an introduction: "These are the words that Moshe spoke to all Israel" We extrapolate this introduction to the last bool of the Torah to the entire Torah.  The explicit statement here  raises a question: Why state the traditionally obvious? 

The first half of the parsha deals with the failure to enter the land immediately after the revelation at Sinai, with the resultant 38 year delay of  traveling in the wilderness.  The mistake was sending the spies.  Moshe reminds us of the role of democracy in this series of  errors.  The people endorsed the decision to send the spies.  Then they interpreted the reports for themselves, they did not wait for the official interpretation,and they rejected it.  These people who live entirely by miracle and grace cannot put their faith in the source of their daily sustenance and direction this time. 

Gd announces the punishment: remain in the wilderness When they decide to join the battle, they are told it is too late,  They go anyway and are defeated. 

I have heard the idea: that the new world  has different rules It can justify anything. It is not a winning strategy

My friend and patient wandered through metastatic cancer for 20 years.  She lived by the grace of Gd. We knew that it could not last.  But she took that as a motivation and a mission: to do everything now, to live with beauty and dignity while she could  The wandering can be an inspiration. You will find everything in the struggle. She did not shy away from the struggle. She will be bound with the living. 

The second half of the parsha talks about the end of the journey.  It introduces a Divine political geography, respecting the descendants of  Esau and Lot,  celebrating the  replacement of aboriginal peoples. It tells us that no people in this region are really the first people of the land, justifying the conquest by   the Israelites,

A place for courage.  A place for conscience.  A place for democracy.  A place for obedience

Go figure it out.