Devarim: Where to begin?

Devarim is a very different book from the other books of the Torah. Its time span is short; it opens with a note that Moshe begins this recitation on the first day of the eleventh month (Shevat) in the fortieth year of the exodus. It concludes with the death of Moshe, which, according to tradition, took place on the seventh day of the following month, Adar. It lacks historical narrative in time, but recapitulates events within the context of sermons. Besides that, it does state numerous mitzvot, many of which are new to Devarim.

Parashat Devarim opens one of Moshe’s discourses, starting in verse 6. He begins with these words:

.ה’ אלקינו דבר אלינו בחרב לאמר רב־לכם שׁבת בהר הזה

Hashem, our God, spoke to us at Horeb saying: Enough of you dwelling by this mountain.

This seems like an unexpected place for Moshe to begin his address. For we all know that Moshe’s activity began in Egypt. The Exodus from Egypt is a foundation point for Israel in its relationship with Hashem as redeemer. Why does Moshe begin with this moment, when Hashem tells Israel to leave Sinai, and not from when he stood up to Pharaoh?

The answer, as I see it, has everything to do with the very reason for taking forty years to wander the desert, the story that Moshe soon discusses. Those who left Egypt were unable to leave the slavery mentality, and the dependency it entailed, behind them. Forty years later, the salve generation dead in the wilderness, a new generation stood before Moshe, one that did not know slavery, one that did not remember the watermelons and the garlic of Egypt. The task at hand for this new generation was to conquer and build up a homeland. They had to learn the responsibilities of statecraft and self governance. This was not a task for slaves, or a slave mentality. So Moshe begins at a point where the people are told to move forward to inherit the land. Moshe protests that he, alone, cannot handle the needs of all the people, and so he establishes a bureaucracy of sorts. (Yes, the order here is not in sync with the narrative in Shemot, where this division is made before coming to Sinai, and is made at the recommendation of Yitro, Moshe’s father in law. But we will find numerous accounts in Devarim that will not sync exactly with earlier books of the Torah, which is not an issue to deal with here.) There is no reminder here of slavery whatsoever. They are reminded of the lack of faith of their parents’ generation, both out of fear brought on by the report of the scouts, and of bravado by those who who went ahead, against Hashem’s command, and sought to conquer the land on their own.

The lesson to be gleaned from this has to do with limits to how and when we use our sense of history, our past experience. If Israel were to continue to think of itself in the context of its slave past at a time when they had to think of establishing their new home, they would be mired by that modality. Slaves think reactively, they are not free to take matters into their own hands. This generation had to learn responsibility, and they had to learn trust and faith. In chapter 2, Moshe recalls when they could and could not attack others, when to negotiate. They were learning important lessons that could serve them well in their future situation.

There is a terrible temptation to look back at past weaknesses and exploit them in the present, to use them as an excuse for current problems. When the Torah has us look back on that painful past, it is more often to teach us to be the opposite - be kind to the stranger because of your experience as strangers in Egypt. Our mission is to build a collective life of hopeful purpose, not one of fearful reaction.