Community Development

A Taste of Torah: Weekly Commentary from the JTS Community

Parashat D'varim 5764
Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22
July 24, 2004     6 Av 5764


The prophet Hosea addresses the role of words in the sacred task of returning to God. With poetic brevity, the prophet declares, "Take words with you and return to the Lord" (Hosea 14:3). How appropriate it is that Parashat D'varim, this Shabbat preceding Tishah B'Av, begins with the Hebrew word d'varim, words. Encamped on the other side of the Jordan River in the land of Moab, Moses "undertook to expound this Teaching" (Deuteronomy 1:5). Precisely how does Moses undertake to expound the Torah? And, how can we understand Moses' teaching in light of Hosea's declaration?

Two commentators explain Moses' holy endeavor. Rashi (1040-1105) believes that Moses was turning outward, beyond the Israelite community. Moses, according to this sensitive commentator, was busy "explaining the Torah in seventy languages." That is to say, Moses was opening Torah, not just to the Israelites, who were the direct recipients of God's Revelation at Sinai but also, to the many nations of the world. Moses took to heart God's promise, that the nations of the world will be blessed through Abraham and his descendents. Moses' action was a pedagogical turn outward, to build bridges with - and enrich the world - through Torah.

Abraham Ibn Ezra (1080-1164) argues for an alternative understanding of Moses' teaching. He writes , "behold, Moses began to explain to the children born in the desert all that happened to their ancestors and he taught them all of the commandments that the ancestors heard from the mouth of God." For Ibn Ezra, Moses pedagogical mode was a turn inward - toward the Israelite community. The Prophet of Prophets recognized that Israelite history did not begin and end with him. Rather, Moses understood the need to be oriented toward the future and to build a people using their rich past. Educating children propels Torah forward.

Michael Walzer, a luminary in the field of contemporary political science and a passionate student of Judaism, takes this thought a step further. "Perhaps," he states, "we should simply say that the covenant is carried forward on a flood of talk: argument and analysis, folklore and expansion, interpretation and reinterpretation" (Exodus and Revolution, 88).

It is d'varim (words) that play a central role in Torah. Words of Torah, as Rashi explains, build bridges to the outside world; words of Torah, as Ibn Ezra writes, insure the future of the Jewish people; and words of Torah, in the precious words of Hosea, have the ability to return us to God. As we begin the book of Deuteronomy, may each of us reflect on the power of words in our tradition. For it is words that create relationships - with each other and with God.

With Wishes for a Shabbat shalom!
