Drash Cards for Devarim (5770)

by Marc Mangel

• The Shalach (R. Israel Horowitz, ~ 1600) sees Matot/Masei/Devarim as one unit to get ready for the 9th of Av. But reading his commentary, I cannot find out why.  Something for next year!

• What we read today: Moses recounting the wandering for the generation about to enter the land.  Why retell the wandering? What do we learn from it?

• The generation of the Exodus saw the miracles (Plagues, Red Sea, Sinai)

• Hearing is less certain than seeing — this is why Moses had to recount the details to them to reduce the uncertainty of God’s vision for Israel  — that they are not just given the land, they are going to have to work hard to get it,

• What do we learn? The generation about to enter the land will achieve something more than the previous generation — they obtain the inheritance by working for it.

• The Rebbe said “Only by descent into material concerns, the translation of God’s will into practical action, lead to fulfillment of the inheritance”. We learn: “The highest achievements of the spirit are won in the earthly and not heavenly realms”

• What are these earthly realms:  How we eat, how we treat other people, how we treat the environment.

• Everything we do HERE is an opportunity to make God’s vision a reality