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Devarim: How?

8/1/2011

 
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Moses despairs.

In this week's Torah portion (Devarim), Moses complains to the Israelites about the difficulty of bringing this nation through the desert. Even as he stands with the Israelites on the border of the Land of Israel—their journey almost at its end—Moses reminds them how difficult it has been to get them this far.

He declares, "How can I bear unaided the trouble of you, and the burden, and the bickering!" (Deuteronomy 1:12). Moses knows something about the failures of the human will to do what is right. He knows that the great victory of reaching his lifetime goal will not last forever.

That first word of the verse, "How," has a special resonance this week. In Hebrew it is "Eichah," which is also the first word of the book of Lamentations, which we will read next Monday night on Tisha B'Av. In Hebrew, Lamentations is called Megillat Eichah, "the Scroll of How." 

There is a tradition of chanting the verse that begins "How" in this week's Torah portion to the same mournful melody used for Lamentations on Tisha B'Av. We hear in this verse a harbinger of the destruction of the First Temple in 586 bce, as it is described in Lamentations. There also is an echo of the other catastrophes for the Jewish people that are said to have occurred on Tisha B'Av—the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 ce, the crushing of  the Bar Kokhbah Rebellion in 132 ce, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, among many others.

Both Moses' complaint and the book of Lamentations share a sense of despair. How is it that human beings can be so cruel, destructive, and so forgetful of what is right? It is as if Moses foresees the doom that is the destiny of the people he serves. Eventually, their tendency toward complaint and ingratitude will bring about the destruction of the Temple. How can he bear the thought that his life's mission of service to the Israelites—to bring them to the Land of Israel—will be reversed by their own failings?

This is one of the great questions of human existence. How can we, knowing what we know about human history, continue to offer prayers for our deliverance? Don't we get it? Human beings are stuck in a routine of justifying their own cruelty. We are forever forgetting the values that lead to our own happiness.

Maybe this is the point of Tisha B'Av. This day of mourning exists to remind us—at least once a year—not to forget. It reminds us of the terrible price we pay if we do not treat each other with compassion and forgiveness. Tisha B'Av is our annual peek into the abyss of "How?" so that we will remember to hope for a better world. It's not about mourning for a building. It's not about wishing for the restoration of animal sacrifices. It is about clinging to hope despite despair. It is about envisioning a reality in which we transcend our human failings.
Reb Rachel link
8/2/2011 01:16:58 am

The last paragraph of this post resonates with me deeply. Thank you for this reminder. It's not about mourning the building or yearning for the restoration of sacrifice; it's about noticing, and mourning, our own failings... and then reaching, intentionally, toward hope for redemption and a future which is better than what we have known, what we have been.

Susan Le Gresley link
8/2/2011 08:12:18 am

I agree with Reb Rachel. We as humanity have so much more to accomplish. We stand at a doorway, with world events moving so quickly only those with a deep sense of historical awareness can take it all in.I think we are ready to 'get wings', (see the life of Ants!) In the last days I think the 'generation that passes away', are those who can't find it within themselves to 'leave the nest behind', taking the best of what we have been given to create anew.We don't have to live with the past.You mentioned that the Torah is only concerned with'now'. What is 'Now'? A time to transform ourselves from the 'dictates' of past empires? Perhaps with new revelations, a new door of possibility has indeed opened? God will never desert those who truly seek him in Spirit and in Truth. And He has graciously proven in the past that for the sake of the 'One' He will save all. We stand in momentus times. And indeed a time to reflect, and make significant re-appraisals of treasures overlooked and yet to be appropriated.
I so enjoy your blog.Also the new studies your direction has awakened.


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