Jul 29/06 - Parashat Devarim

Commentary by Chazzan Aníbal Mass

 

A father wants to teach a lesson in life to his young son, so he tells him: “Look, my son, never fall for the illusion of money. In this life there are other important things. And you should never forget that most of the time these are things that human beings should care about more. When I was your age, my son, I had also been taught that lesson by my own father: ‘Not everything is money, my son...there’re also cheques and credit cards...’”

Those who have a good memory may still remember from the last Parashah the sin of the tribes of Gad and Reuben when they prioritized material goods over the education of their children. We learn week after week the impossibility of living a fully Jewish life if we value money and other material things as goals themselves and not as tools to enable us to reach superior goals.

The Talmud says: “The fruit falls near the tree.” From that our Rabbis taught that what our children do with their own lives will depend on what we make of our lives.

In this Parashah, Moshe begins a wonderful speech about the core values of Judaism, and he doesn’t stop until the end of the book of Devarim. What always catches my attention is the fact that Moshe is famous for his difficulties with public speaking (do you remember Moshe telling God that he can’t go to speak with the Pharaoh because of that?) and now he delivers a tremendous speech where we can even find some poetry.

How can we explain this sudden change in Moshe? How can somebody like him, so quiet in the past, be so eloquent now?

I like to believe that Moshe didn’t speak before because talking to the Pharaoh required the use of political words. And he wasn’t a politician. Not at all. To be a politician, you should be able to find the right words to deliver your message in a “beautiful” way, being careful not to offend anybody. Moshe had no idea how to address a Pharaoh in a situation like this.

But now, in this week’s Parashah, Moshe doesn’t need to be polite or careful in the way he addresses the Pharaoh, because he is only addressing his own people, his brothers and sister of Israel. And now, moving out of paternal love—and not political codes—he is able to give a great speech, because he is not pronouncing just simple words, but values of life with full conviction in what he is saying and with great concern about the impact his words will have on their lives. And Moshe is teaching us that if we really love our children we will be able to find the appropriate words to touch their hearts with our values of life.

In this wonderful Parashah, Moshe is telling us that it doesn’t matter if we are terrible speakers at work or have no university studies. If we have something important to say, we shouldn’t start looking for excuses because we’ll find the right words. If there is really something to say, and we believe deeply in what we have to say, we will be able to dialogue with our children in the same way that Moses, perhaps one of the worst speakers in history, was able to talk to his “children” with beautiful words and have an impact on their lives.

Shabbat Shalom.