Shabbos Parashas Devarim - 5775

Shabbos Parashas Devarim - 5775

Rabbi Hal Miller

But you did not wish to ascend, and you rebelled against the mouth of Hashem,

your G-d. [Devarim 1:26]

This Shabbos is the ninth of the month of Av, the day known as Tisha b'Av. On this

date in history, some of the biggest calamities in Judaism have occurred. Why this

particular week? Our verse gives us an answer.

Moshe spoke these words. To what incident was he referring? This was to the reaction

of the people to the report of the spies. They returned from their look around the promised

land, reported how great the land was, but said that the people there were too strong,

and could not be conquered. Instead of relying on G-d's promise that He would fight

their wars for them, they panicked.

Yeshayahu 1:3, from our Haftorah, says, "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey his

master's crib; but Israel does not know, My people does not consider." A few verses

later [1:8], it says, "Behold I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land

which the L-rd swore unto your fathers." The tie here is that even an animal knows what

it needs to do. We, who are supposedly above that level, ought certainly to go do right

things.

In the story of the plagues of Egypt, each succeeding plague was more serious than

the one before it. In the description of the laws of tzaraas, the Torah describes the

occurrence as first on a person's objects, then on his house, then finallly upon his

body. There is a progression in what are effectively punishments for not learning a

lesson. Here too, as the Malbim notes, there is a progression: ox, then donkey,

then Israel. Since more is expected at the higher levels, failure means the failing one

is lesser that those of the previous level. Israel, who should have been at the highest

level, chose to fail the test, chose to rebel.

When faced with these other calamities, the answer should have been clear: turn to

G-d. The reason we mourn on Tisha b'Av today is that our ancestors turned away

instead, and we have not yet turned back properly ourselves.

When we are tested, whether it be the report of the spies, the attacks upon Jerusalem,

or any of the other calamities, the key is our response. If we act at least as well as

the ox, who knows his owner, or the donkey, who knows where his meal will be

provided, we will survive. If we cast this knowledge aside and rebel, act on our own,

we will be lower than the ox and the donkey, and for that we do not deserve G-d's

blessings. If we instead act on the belief that G-d will protect us, and go forward to

accompish what He set out for us, then we will succeed.