Monday, August 19, 2019

Va'Eschanan -- the parsha of nechama

Rambam (Tefilah 13:2):

עזרא תיקן להם לישראל שיהו קורין קללות שבספר ויקרא קודם עצרת ושבמשנה תורה קודם ראש השנה. והמנהג הפשוט שיהו קוראין במדבר סיני קודם עצרת. ואתחנן אחר תשעה באב. אתם נצבים קודם ראש השנה. צו את אהרן קודם הפסח בשנה פשוטה. לפיכך יש שבתות שקורין שחרית שני סדרין כגון אשה כי תזריע וזאת תהיה תורת המצורע. אם בחקותי עם בהר סיני וכיוצא בהן כדי שישלימו בשנה ויקראו אותן הסדרים בעונתן:

We all think that you have to lein Devarim before Tishba B'Av and get in the pasuk of "Eicah esa livadi..."and m'meila, it just happens to work out that Va'Eschanan then falls out the week afterwards.  Rav Soloveitchik showed from this Rambam that just the opposite is true.  The reason we end up leining Devarim before Tisha b'Av is because Va'Eschanan always has to come after Tisha b'Av.  Va'Eschanan is the nechama for destruction as it tells us that even though there may be galus and churban, ultimately we will enter Eretz Yisrael. 

1 comment:

  1. "ultimately we will enter Eretz Yisrael"

    that Moshe was shown* the ultimate geulah we see from the word [v']shamah, 34:4, equal to shamah, the last word of Yechezkel (in 48:35)-- you have seen that culminating matzav, Hashem tells Moshe, but you shall not cross over to it

    {but maybe Moshe made it into Eretz Yisrael incognito!? again Yechezkel: the wide-eyed son of Buzi helps to finalize a revival of dry bones (perek 37)-- but whose bones, and where?? some say Moshe dug his own grave, as did the 600,000 who were killed bamidbar, for lack of faith; Moshe was buried in a valley, and the dry bones are seen scattered in a valley; the bones, refreshed, comprised a chayil gadol, a great army, a term that also describes the 600,000, back in the day. So, would these resurrected troopers be given another shot at making landfall across the Yarden? they continuously circled the uncharted valley with their tzitzis in hand, eager to impress [v'lo-sasuru] their old teacher, but Hashem could not have them, however penitential, 'mocking the poor', so He Himself revived Moshe, by Mouth, on-the-spot. Then the group-- but not as a reconstituted army --went with Moshe at their head-- but not as a public prophet --up to Eretz Yisrael, as according to Rabbi Eliezer on Sanhedrin 92b, where they blent with the existing population, further adventures pending... (it would be for Davidic men, not Moshe, to be king, as Yaakov spoke, 49:8-10, and as confirmed by Yechezkel, 37:24-25) [so Moshe (first) died east of the Yarden, toward the rising sun: a captain must go down with his crew, with the original set of 600,000 men...but that needn't be the end of it!]}

    * "carry the vision with you", the previous post

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