Parshat Devarim In Memory of Shimshon Ben Shalom

Weekly Chassidus - Sefer Beis Yitzchak D'Turka

אֵ֣לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר דִּבֶּ֤ר מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶל־כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּעֵ֖בֶר הַיַּרְדֵּ֑ן בַּמִּדְבָּ֡ר בָּֽעֲרָבָה֩ מ֨וֹל ס֜וּף בֵּֽין־פָּארָ֧ן וּבֵֽין־תֹּ֛פֶל וְלָבָ֥ן וַחֲצֵרֹ֖ת וְדִ֥י זָהָֽב׃

Deuteronomy 1:1

These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan.—Through the wilderness, in the Arabah near Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab,

Let us examine the wording of this above verse. Wasn't it the case that Moses was hard of tongue and had a speech impediment, like we see that he himself says this to HaShem -

שמות ד׳:י׳

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֣ה אֶל־יְהֹוָה֮ בִּ֣י אֲדֹנָי֒ לֹא֩ אִ֨ישׁ דְּבָרִ֜ים אָנֹ֗כִי גַּ֤ם מִתְּמוֹל֙ גַּ֣ם מִשִּׁלְשֹׁ֔ם גַּ֛ם מֵאָ֥ז דַּבֶּרְךָ֖ אֶל־עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ כִּ֧י כְבַד־פֶּ֛ה וּכְבַ֥ד לָשׁ֖וֹן אָנֹֽכִי׃

Exodus 4:10

But Moses said to יהוה, “Please, O my lord, I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now that You have spoken to Your servant; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

Therefor HaShem gave Moses his brother Aaron to be his spokesman. So how is it now that Moses all of a sudden has a role reversal and is puts on the persona of a harsh rebuker of Israel with confidence and strength. Furthermore, let us examine another wording issue.. now that he is coming to rebuke the people, and list each specific time they caused anger before the Lord, why is he then referring to them by the name Israel, which is a name of endearment, he should have called them by the name of Jacob, which implies a much lower level.

במדבר רבה כ׳:כ״ג

, כָּל מָקוֹם שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר הָעָם, לְשׁוֹן גְּנַאי הוּא, וְכָל מָקוֹם שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר יִשְׂרָאֵל, לְשׁוֹן שֶׁבַח הוּא,

Bamidbar Rabbah 20:23

Every place that “the people” is mentioned, it is an expression of shame; but every place that “Israel” is mentioned, it is an expression of praise.

And there is what to say with the help of Heaven by prefacing with a Medrash -

דברים רבה א׳:ב׳

דָּבָר אַחֵר, אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים, זֶה שֶׁאָמַר הַכָּתוּב (משלי כח, כג): מוֹכִיחַ אָדָם אַחֲרַי חֵן יִמְצָא מִמַּחֲלִיק לָשׁוֹן. ...אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בְּרַבִּי סִימוֹן, מַהוּ אַחֲרַי, אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא כִּבְיָכוֹל משֶׁה הוֹכִיחַנִי אַחַר יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהוֹכִיחַ לְיִשְׂרָאֵל אַחֲרַי, לְיִשְׂרָאֵל אָמַר (שמות לב, ל): אַתֶּם חֲטָאתֶם, לְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אָמַר (שמות לב, יא): לָמָּה ה' יֶחֱרֶה אַפְּךָ בְּעַמֶּךָ.

Devarim Rabbah 1:2

Another explanation of the first verse in Deuteronomy based on Proverbs 28:23 "He who rebukes a man will in the end find more favor than he who flatters him." Rebbe Yehuda says in the name of Rebbe Simon.. what does it mean that 'in the end'.. The Holy One Blessed be He says, its 'as if' Moses is rebuking me regarding Israel, and is rebuking Israel after me.. To Israel he says "You are sinners", to the Holy One Blessed be Be he says "Why are you angry at your people"?

And it is asked in the Holy writings of the Kedushat Yom Tov on the above text.. "To Israel Moses is calling them out for being sinners, (Exodus 32:30 "The next day Moses said to the people, “You have been guilty of a great sin...)” and to HaShem Moses is calling Him out for being angry at the people of Israel (Exodus 32:11 "But Moses implored his God יהוה, saying, “Let not Your anger, יהוה, blaze forth against Your people,".
In what manner is this considered effective and efficient, what is Moses trying to accomplish here? This strategy is usually applied to two humans are who each had wronged each other in which case a person who wants to bring peace between those two people will sit with each one individually and explain that what the other had done against him wasn't so bad, and really what you did was the bad action, and by this plan, he enters within the heart of each man that what happened to him wasn't so bad, and causes appeasement between them. And now regarding The Holy One Blessed be He and the Children of Israel, for what gain was Moses seeking when he told Israel that they were big sinners and he made prominent their sin, and to HaShem when he says why are you angry at the people of Israel? Since nothing is hidden from the eyes of HaShem, and He knows the truth that Israel had sinned greatly against him with the Golden Calf, and HaShem heard Moses tell the people of Israel they are sinners.. so how is Moses here trying to appease HaShem to be lenient and find favor on Israel?" Until here was his question.
And it seems we can answer this with the help of Heaven based on the Holy Rabbi, the prince of peace of Belz, may he be remembered for eternal life, who gives an explanation on the below verse -

שמות ל״ב:ל״ב

וְעַתָּ֖ה אִם־תִּשָּׂ֣א חַטָּאתָ֑ם וְאִם־אַ֕יִן מְחֵ֣נִי נָ֔א מִֽסִּפְרְךָ֖ אֲשֶׁ֥ר כָּתָֽבְתָּ׃ וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה מִ֚י אֲשֶׁ֣ר חָֽטָא־לִ֔י אֶמְחֶ֖נּוּ מִסִּפְרִֽי׃

Exodus 32:32

[32] Now, if You will forgive their sin [well and good]; but if not, erase me from the record which You have written!” [33] But יהוה said to Moses, “Only one who has sinned against Me will I erase from My record."

On this verse, we must understand what book Moses was talking about. Another thing we must understand, that after HaShem saw Moses love and dedication for the people of Israel, that he went as far as to risk his own life for them, why doesn't HaShem listen to Moses and forgive the people of Israel? The answer is that HaShem did hear his prayers and forgive them immediately, as we see in the Talmud -

ראש השנה ט״ז ב:י״ב

אָמַר רַבִּי כְּרוּסְפָּדַאי אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: שְׁלֹשָׁה סְפָרִים נִפְתָּחִין בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, אֶחָד שֶׁל רְשָׁעִים גְּמוּרִין, וְאֶחָד שֶׁל צַדִּיקִים גְּמוּרִין, וְאֶחָד שֶׁל בֵּינוֹנִיִּים. צַדִּיקִים גְּמוּרִין — נִכְתָּבִין וְנֶחְתָּמִין לְאַלְתַּר לְחַיִּים, רְשָׁעִים גְּמוּרִין — נִכְתָּבִין וְנֶחְתָּמִין לְאַלְתַּר לְמִיתָה, בֵּינוֹנִיִּים — תְּלוּיִין וְעוֹמְדִין מֵרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה וְעַד יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, זָכוּ — נִכְתָּבִין לְחַיִּים, לֹא זָכוּ — נִכְתָּבִין לְמִיתָה.

Rosh Hashanah 16b:12

Rabbi Kruspedai said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Three books are opened on Rosh HaShana before the Holy One, Blessed be He: One of wholly wicked people, and one of wholly righteous people, and one of middling people whose good and bad deeds are equally balanced. Wholly righteous people are immediately written and sealed for life; wholly wicked people are immediately written and sealed for death..

So we see that since HaShem says he will destroy the people of Israel, certainly they were written in the book of the wicked, which is a book for death, and Moses is now standing in the inner most chambers before HaShem, and he sees the book of life and the book of death both open before HaShem, and in the book of life he saw that it was only his name, and in the book of death he saw all of Israel, may HaShem have mercy. And Moses then prays to HaShem saying, if I have favor in your eyes, erase me from the book of life, and if you don't forgive them, I want to be written in their book with them, as I don't want to be in my own special book, rather I want to be together with the people of Israel. So when HaShem saw Moses high level of sacrifice for Israel, He responds to Moses saying He will fulfill his will and remove their iniquity from upon them, and whoever has sinned against me, I will erase them from my book, which we can see means that he will erase them from the book of death, and place them in the book of life. And these are the words of this wise one.

And we will preface now with what I had explained based on the below Medrash -

דברים רבה ב׳:י״ד

, אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן כְּשֶׁמִּתְכַּנְסִין מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לוֹמַר אֵימָתַי רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה וְאֵימָתַי יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אוֹמֵר לָהֶם, לִי מָה אַתֶּם שׁוֹאֲלִים, אֲנִי וְאַתֶּם נֵלֵךְ אֵצֶל בֵּית דִּין שֶׁל מַטָּה.

Devarim Rabbah 2:14

Rebbe Yochanan taught - When the ministering angels gather before HaShem they say, "When is Rosh HaShana, and when is Yom Kippur".. and HaShem responds "Why are you asking me, let us go together to the courts of humanity and ask them"

And this matter is a wonder that HaShem and his entourage of ministering angels need to seek information from humanity to know when Rosh HaShana is? Isn't HaShem the organizer of times and dates, and everything is revealed before him, so whats going on here that HaShem says let us go together to inquire from the courts of mankind?
And there is what to say based on whats taught in the holy writings. HaShem desires kindness, and when HaShem sees that in the heavenly courts we are found guilty for some action, HaShem goes down to the human courts to deal with us, for our best interest, as we can see in the Talmud its established accordingly -

סנהדרין י״ז א:כ׳

אמר רב כהנא סנהדרי שראו כולן לחובה פוטרין אותו מ"ט כיון דגמירי הלנת דין למעבד ליה זכותא והני תו לא חזו ליה

Sanhedrin 17a:20

§ Rav Kahana says: In a Sanhedrin where all the judges saw fit to convict the defendant in a case of capital law, they acquit him.

And the reason for this above seemingly strange law can be understood based on the Rambam, that the law of a matter can not fully be clear unless there are defenders and attackers against a certain matter in regards to the clarity of a law, therefor, if everyone is in a single agreement to make someone guilty, its automatic that the case isn't clear to get to the law, then the defendant is then made innocent by default, since its not possible that no one in this court saw reason to argue on the ruling of his counterpart. And these laws are relevant only in the courts of humans, however, in the heavens, the truth is always revealed and clear. So if a man is truly guilty, then the heavens will decide his guilt, and there is no way to find his innocence. However, our HaShem that desires kindness seeks the courts of man, and receives the verdict on us down here instead.. as it's taught regarding HaShem making us exempt from punishment by deferring to courts down here.

תנחומא בובר, משפטים ד׳:א׳

ר' אלעזר אמר אם יש דין למטה אין דין למעלה, אם אין דין למעלה יש דין למטה, כיצד אם יעשו התחתונים דין אין דין למעלה, לכך אמר הקב"ה שמרו את המשפט מלמטה שלא תגרמו לי לעשות משפט מלמעלה, הוי ואלה המשפטים.

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Mishpatim 4:1

R. Eleazar said: If there is judgement (din) below there is no judgement above; if there is no judgement above, there is judgement below. How so? If those below carry out a judgement, there is no judgement above? For this reason the Holy One said: Observe justice (mishpat) below so that you will not cause me to carry out justice (mishpat) above.

Based on this, we can very well understand the Medrash, that when the angels above look down on Israel and their actions, and seek to bring them to punishment through the upper courts of justice, G-D Forbid, so they right away ask HaShem when is Rosh HaShana, which is the day of judgement, and the time has arrived to bring them judgement. So this is when HaShem says back, let us both go down to the courts of humanity, which means that HaShem is saying, let us act like the courts down below, in which case, if the whole court finds someone guilty, he becomes innocent! And this is in our merit, as it leads us to be acquitted and written in the book of life.
And this is the intention here of Moses, our faithful shepard when he calls out HaShem for being angry at the children of Israel , as he saw that the people of Israel indeed did a very grave sin, may HaShem have mercy. He devised a plan to save them from all evil through him creating a verdict for them on the lower earthly courts, as Moses himself was an aspect of a whole court, as we see in the writings of the sages -

סנהדרין ט״ז ב:ט׳

ואין עושין סנהדראות כו': מנא לן כדאשכחן במשה דאוקי סנהדראות ומשה במקום שבעים וחד קאי

Sanhedrin 16b:9

Moses stands in place of the seventy-one judges on the Great Sanhedrin.

So Moses says to Israel, you have done a very grave sin, and you are guilty for punishment, and if there is judgement down here, we alleviate you from upper judgement, and with words they can be saved from judgement, and this is why Moses asks HaShem why he is angry at his people? Because they were already forgiven via the lower courts, and if thats so.. there should exist no more judgement in the upper worlds!
And now let us return to our initial question at the beginning of the Parsha. That the intention of Moses was to bless Israel and to shower upon them only goodness, until the end of days. And through his tremendous love for his people, he acted with tremendous self sacrifice, and spoke out to Israel even though it was incredibly hard for him, as he was speech impaired, but for the good of Israel he strengthen up and acted accordingly, simply to nourish them with goodness. So thats why he spoke to them harshly, in order to establish the court ruling on them down here, not allowing the upper courts to act in judgement, and by default then making them free from punishment.
This is also why he calls them Israel, the name used for praise and endearment, and also why Moses starts off with rebuke with words against them, and finishes off with blessings in bounty for them, as we see below -

דברים א׳:י״א

יְהוָ֞ה אֱלֹהֵ֣י אֲבֽוֹתֵכֶ֗ם יֹסֵ֧ף עֲלֵיכֶ֛ם כָּכֶ֖ם אֶ֣לֶף פְּעָמִ֑ים וִיבָרֵ֣ךְ אֶתְכֶ֔ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר דִּבֶּ֥ר לָכֶֽם׃

Deuteronomy 1:11

May יהוה, the God of your ancestors, increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as promised.—

Ands its a wonder, as he started off giving them massive rebuke, what room is there to finish off with such a blessing? But based on our words it can all make sense, that the nature of his rebuke actually caused their blessing! That since he rebuked them and ruled against them all, it was as if he made them all innocent, making them fit for the blessings of HaShem 1000 times over, and this is correct, with the help of Heaven.