D’var Torah For Friday, July 28, 2023

The Israelites are all gathered at the edge of the Promised Land, ready to enter, ready to continue their journey of Jewish Peoplehood into the future, ready to move forward – just as soon as Moses…stops…talking… Moses – the one guy remaining who will, in fact, be remaining – in the very literal sense of the word.

Some say that Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land because of the incident with the rock and the water. God told Moses to ask the rock for water; however, Moses yelled at the rock and beat it with a stick instead. Moses and the people did get their water, but Moses was punished by not being allowed to continue along with the Israelites…

Some say that Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land because the people pressured him into arranging for scouts to cross into the Land in order to see what they would be facing once they would all enter the Land together. Clearly, it’s not a good thing to show lack of faith in God.

Some say that Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land because he killed the Egyptian, who was attacking the Israelite, way back in Egypt, while he was still being raised in Pharoah’s home. Imagine – even before Moses left Egypt in the first place, before Moses was even chosen to be the Israelites’ leader, it was already determined that he would not be able to see his leadership responsibility through to completion.

Regardless of the reason, Moses doesn’t get to go; however, he sure has a lot of thoughts to send on over without him. Moses spends the entire Book of Deuteronomy reminding the Israelites of all the things that he hopes they have learned along the way – all of the Commandments, all the rules and laws regarding living a Jewish life and so much more. Moses also makes a very interesting statement:

“And now, O Israel, give heed to the laws and rules that I am instructing you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that Adonai, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, but keep the commandments of your God Adonai that I enjoin upon you.” Deuteronomy 4:1-2

Anybody out there making up their own new commandments? The general consensus of the commentators is that we ought to be doing our best to understand the commandments that we have, and to bring out the essence – the very meaning at its core – of each commandment given to us, as a way of informing how we live our lives Jewishly in the world.

It is incumbent upon us to know and understand well, what is expected of us – something relatively uncomplicated for us to do, if we put our minds to it. Perhaps you have participated in our regularly scheduled Taste of Torah on Shabbat morning? Perhaps you have participated in our regularly scheduled Torah Potpourri on Thursdays? Perhaps you’re still planning to drop in for one or more of those sessions at some point in the future…?! There are myriad opportunities for Torah Study here at RTR – Shabbat mornings, Thursday afternoons, Shabbat Services, or just reach out to say that you’d like to sit and study a bit – I would love to join you!

Whether I see you at any of the “regularly scheduled” sessions, or we arrange to study together at some other time during the week, I look forward to spending time studying Torah with you soon! Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Eric J. Lazar