Devarim ~ Deuteronomy 1:1- 3:22 Making Torah Personal ~Mussar~

This parsha is examined through a Mussar lens, focusing on a particular middah. Of the 48 Ways to Wisdom, the 35th is to "Love Criticism", Ohev et ha'toch'achot / אוהב את התוכחות. This parsha, always occurring on Shabbat Chazon, before the week of Tisha B'Av, offers us many verses that allude to this middah. What can we learn about recognizing our faults? How does Moses' beginning speech allude to how we give and take criticism? We make instinctively think that Moses' rebuke of B'nai Yisrael is unkind, but in what ways does this model the responsibility of a leader?

תוכחה = reproof, rebuke

The Hebrew word for criticism, toch'acha, is from the same word as hoch'acha, meaning "proof." The best way to get someone to change is not through harsh rebuke, argumentation, or intellectual persuasion. The only way to convince anyone of anything is by clear and obvious proof. The person must see for himself what he is doing wrong. ~Rabbi Noah Weinberg z"l

Do you think you're perfect? Of course not. So if you want to reach your potential, look for constructive criticism. When someone is committed to reaching a goal, they'll accept incredible doses of nagging, harassments and insults. Think of what an Olympic athlete willingly endures from coaches!

One of the reasons we have difficulty accepting criticism is because it comes at times when we're not emotionally prepared. It catches us off guard. On the other hand, when you invite criticism, you're in a position to deal with it calmly – to accept or discard the information. Plus the fact that you're asking for it means you'll select a more reliable source, you're more likely to take it seriously, and... it's good practice for when you get it unexpectedly! ~Rabbi Noah Weinberg z"l

• This parsha begins Moses’ repetition of the Torah to the assembled children of Israel, his final farewell.
• He reviews the events that occurred and reiterates the laws that were given in the course of their forty-year journey from Egypt to Sinai to the Promised Land.
• He rebukes the people for their failings and iniquities, and tells them to keep the Torah and observe its commandments in the land that God is giving them as an eternal heritage—to where they will enter after his death.
• Moses recalls his appointment of judges and magistrates and reviews the journey from Sinai through the great and fearsome desert; the sending of the spies and the people’s subsequent spurning of the Promised Land. He repeats that God decreed the entire generation of the Exodus would die out in the desert.
• He recounts some more recent events: the refusal of the nations of Moab and Ammon to allow the Israelites to pass through their countries; the wars against the Emorite kings Sichon and Og, and the settlement of their lands by the tribes of Reuben and Gad and part of the tribe of Manasseh; and Moses’ message to his successor, Joshua, who will take the people into the Land and lead them in the battles for its conquest.

According to the Sifri, the numerous place names listed here are not landmarks indicating where Moses spoke these words—indeed, some of these places do not even exist as geographical locations. Rather, these are words of rebuke by Moses to the people of Israel. Instead of mentioning their sins outright, he alluded to them with these place names. ~Sifri, Rashi

When a person thinks that he has left his misdeeds behind him, that he rightfully should put unsavory past deeds out of his mind, and that he has achieved a new life respectability, for such a person a hint is more powerful than an open criticism." ~Rabbi Yechiel Perr, Devarim.

The past though, can not be denied...otherwise there is backsliding

The Torah gives life to all creations, for with it the Holy One created the world, so all vitality is from the Torah. For this reason, it liberates language... Sefat Emet, Devarim 1871

Surely Moshe understood himself to be the elect of Israel. So, to the contrary, this is the meaning of [his statement that he cannot speak]: Moshe our teacher represented the collective wisdom of all of Israel. Therefore, so long as the Israelites were not ready [to receive God's words], Moshe was not "a man of words" because his speech included the speech of B'nei Yisrael...~ Sefat Emet, Devarim 1877

In other words, Moshe's initial impediment was not due to his own inability to speak but to his inability to be heard. He did not resist leading the people on account of a disability....Their unreadiness to listen made him unwilling to speak. Moshe's journey toward words, then, was not a move from silence to speech, but from isolation to solidarity, from a ruptured relationship to a repaired one. When the people's openness to hearing met Moshe's openness to speaking, then devarim, words, spilled forth. Indeed, when that unity of leader and the led was reached, it unlocked both the power of the leader and the energy of his followers. A be'er, a wellspring of creativity and devotion, sprung forth. ~Rabbi Erin Smokler

The mountain we’re talking about is Mount Sinai, scene of the most monumental event in human history: G‑d’s revelation of His wisdom and will to man. Still, G‑d says: “You’ve been hanging around this mountain long enough. Move on!”

In our lives we also have moments, days or years of revelation, times when we learn and grow and are enriched. But the purpose must always be to move on, move away, and carry the enlightenment and enrichment to someplace else—some corner of creation that awaits redemption. ~The Lubavitcher Rebbe

This verse is usually read with the sad tune of Megillat Eichah on Tisha B'Av. The word eichah would normally be eich...but here there is an additional meaning...