BS’’D
Parashat Devarim- Make a YOU-Turn
א. אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר
מֹשֶׁה אֶל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל....
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I have absolutely no sense of
direction, everyone knows this. I feel bad for the people I gives rides to (consider
this a public apology). If my life depended on it, I probably wouldn’t be able
to get to my destination without circling the place three times-even if I’ve
been there fifty times before (sadly I’m not exaggerating). GPS is my best
friend. But for most normal people, directions are simple ‘Oh, I’ve been there before! I know how to get
there, it’s easy!’
Sefer Devarim is referred to as Mishneh Torah- the Second Torah. In a
basic understanding, it is a repetition of many Missvot and experiences that
have been recorded in the previous Four Sefarim of the Torah HaKedoshah. One must
ask, if we heard it all before, why does HaKadosh Barukh Hu see it as
imperative to include an entire Sefer
in the Torah as mere repetition?
Before we answer any questions, you
should know, repetition is a good thing- it’s really a gift.
During the nine months that a
fetus spends in its mother’s womb, there is a Malakh, an angel, that teaches this
child the Torah in its entirety. When the child is born, an angel touches the
top of the child’s lip, and he forgets everything he learned in the past nine
months. (This is why we have that indent on top of our upper lip- it’s called
the ‘philtrum’). Wait a second, what was the point of teaching this child the
entire Torah in the first place if he was going to have it forgotten anyways? How
does this make sense? And what is this whole business with indenting my upper
lip with his finger?
HaShem does such a thing so that
when during our lives we learn a piece of Torah, it will seem familiar to us
because we technically already learned it once before. This second time that we
learn it is now just a repetition,
and so, Torah learning (and implementing what we learn) is made more feasible
for us to do.
One of my favorite Pesukim (it’s
in Sefer Hoshea) is ‘Kehu Imakhem Devarim, ve’Shuvu el HaShem’- Take with you ‘Devarim’ and return to HaShem.
‘Devarim’ can mean a few things here- ‘Things’ and ‘Words’. Take your ‘actions’
and do Teshuvah with them, return to HaShem! With our actions, we are capable
of doing full Teshuvah- doing Missvot, giving Sedaka. At the same time, we
could also take our ‘words’ and do Teshuvah with them- Tefillah, Shirah, Shemirat
haLashon. Everyone has a different way of connecting to HaKadosh Barukh Hu, and
everyone has something different that they must work on, so whether it’s your
actions or your words, use them as a way of returning to HaShem. (This is maybe
why an angel’s finger touches our lips- the hand representing actions and lips
resembling words).
With the framework we have just
set, we could understand this Pasuk yet another way. ‘Kehu Imakhem Devarim’-
Take with you Sefer Devarim, ‘ve’Shuvu
el HaShem’- and return to HaShem. Take with you everything that Sefer Devarim
stands for, take everything it encapsulates, and do Teshuvah this way.
Sefer Devarim represents
repetition, right? Let’s apply this.
What does ‘Teshuvah’ mean
literally? It means to ‘Return’; not ‘visit’, not ‘approach’, not ‘direct
ourselves’, and not ‘walk towards’. It means ‘Return’. If we are returning somewhere, it means we have been there
before. If we have been somewhere before, going back there should be easier for
us. Like with directions, this path should seem familiar to us already. Doing Teshuvah
isn’t as hard as we think it to be. As far away as we may be, we’ve been way closer
to HaShem before, all we have to do is retrace our steps back.
Some people however, like me, could
sometimes find retracing steps to be difficult and confusing still, even if
they have been there before. For that there is GPS- G-d’s Personalized
Solution. HaShem helps you each step along the way, along your own personal
path.
-Like the satellite GPS that we
are familiar with, it knows exactly where you are located now, and directs you
exactly towards your destination. HaShem does the same with us.
-The GPS gives us step by step
directions how to get to our destination, simplifying it for us and guides us
every step if the way, ‘In one mile, make a right’, ‘Continue straight for 2.8
miles’, ‘Take Exit 36’. This is exactly how HaShem guides us as well, step by
step.
-Should we ever make a mistake,
should we ever come off the path we’re meant to be going along, the GPS reads ‘Recalculating’
and puts us back on the correct direction. It does this every time we make a mistake. The GPS never gives up. Doesn’t
HaKadosh Barukh Hu do the same?
-Most of all, the GPS is patient
and kind with us. When it feeds us directions, it doesn’t yell at us or criticize
us. Just imagine, ‘I told you fifty times to make a right here! Are you blind??
I had enough of you today! Go ask someone else for directions, I’m done. You could
walk for all I care!’ and then under its breath, ‘Gosh, somebody give me an
Advil… or three…’ HaShem Yerahem. In the most soothing and calm voice, the GPS
directs us where we need to go. It is our best companion.
Understandably, we each have
different ways to get to the same destination- some of us better with words and
some of us with actions. The GPS that accompanies all of us is specifically
geared for each user, as we all tend to take different streets to get to the
same place. But nevertheless, we all have one thing in common. We take ‘Devarim’
to return to HaKadosh Barukh Hu- we use what Devarim represents in order to do
Teshuvah- we us the gift of repetition.
Teshuvah isn’t a one way path. It
is a giant U-turn. We start at the top, and inevitably, in life we can
experience moving downward at times, but we use this momentum to move upward
again using the same path we were once on and end up where we once stood- right
besides HaKadosh Barukh Hu.
As confusing as this may sound,
these are the only directions I know I will never mess up on.
Be’Ezrat HaShem Yitbarakh, may we
be zokhim to internalize the precepts of Sefer Devarim and what it represents. In
the next few months, we will be preparing ourselves for Rosh HaShanah and Yom
Kippur. The Teshuvah process begins now. We should all be zokhim to do Teshuvah
Shelemah in front of HaShem and in this merit, may we personally experience the
building of the Beit HaMikdash beKarov, making this Tisha’a be’Av a joyous day
for all of Kelal Yisrael!
Wishing every special Yid a
Shabbat Shalom uMevorakh!
