The Story of the 5th Book |
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Dear Friends, This week we begin reading the 5th book of the Torah, Devarim or Deuteronomy. It is a book with a huge depth and richness as it tells us the story of the last thirty seven days of the life of Moses and what he chose to convey during those finals weeks of his life. He walked them through the historic events that they had shared together, including the ups and the downs and everything in between, he encourages them to take stock and learn from what had happened, recognize and address their weak points, and do the same for the strong points. He then moves on to reiterating the importance of G-d's commandments and also shares a few new ones and repeats the Ten Commandments and teaches them the Shema. Finally towards the end of the book, Moshe begins to focus on the future, as he exhorts them to be strong and courageous in the journey ahead, and to always remember their individual strengths as well as their collective strengths, and he gives them some tools and messages to review and discuss, so that they will gain the tools and strategies to successfully navigate the unchartered waters that lay ahead and that are we are still navigating to this day. Finally at the very end of the book, Moshe passes away and the five books of Moses are complete and final. Yet the messages of these books continue to inspire billions of people, and of course we as Jews read them anew each and every year, and delve deeper into the inner messages that these words and stories contain. The journey of the 5th book begins tomorrow and its lessons are more relevant than ever before. Please join us at the Shabbat Services and Kiddush for a bigger discussion on these topics and to hear how all of this ties in to the world we live in today, the turmoil in Israel, the 9th of Av, and most importantly, what lies ahead. Thank you to Peter Rozen for sponsoring this week's Kiddush Luncheon in honor of the Yahrzeit of his late father Isaac ben Moshe Z"L. Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos Yisroel |