Devarim

The final sefer of the Torah begins with Moshe's rebuke of the Jewish people. אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר משֶׁה אֶל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן בַּמִּדְבּר These are the words which Moshe spoke to all Israel on that side of the Jordan in the desert. Rashi tells us that Moshe enumerated all the places where the Jews had angered Hashem. However, out of respect for the Jewish people, he only hinted at them and didn't specify. For example, במדבר in the desert: At that time, they were not in the desert, but in the plains of Moab.  Accordingly, what is the meaning of בַּמִּדְבָּר, in the desert? It means that he rebuked them for their having angered Him in the desert by saying, “If only we had died”.

The chachamim found even more sublime hints in the wording. For instance, the word דברים, could be read “devarim” words, or “devorim” bees, alluding to the fact that, just like bees whose honey is sweet but their sting is bitter, so, too, the words of Moshe contained both bitter and sweet. Even the word במדבר was used as a hint to the sweet side of all the great things that Hashem did for them in the desert, like the maana and the clouds, while also the bitter things, all the complaining that the Jews did in the desert. What was Moshe trying to teach the people? The Ramban, when explaining why Moshe was admonishing now, says that Moshe was teaching a very important lesson. He alluded to all the times the Jews angered Hashem over the years to show them, “look what you did; look how you rebelled, and still look what Hashem did for you. Look at all the miracles that kept happening; the manna didn't stop nor did any of the other miracles.” He was telling us that no matter what we did or what we do, Hashem still loves us. Moshe's last speech was to imbue in us this concept by showing us look how many times we had angered Hashem but yet he still does everything for us.

I heard this Ramban from Rabbi Shlomo Diamond who said, based on a Zohar that we have to know that Hashem loves is and is not out to get us. People sometimes think that because of their sins, Hashem is going to get them, take away their livelihood or health etc. He says that that is not true; when a person sins, he generally feels bad about it. Since Hashem is like a parent, when a child feels bad about something acknowledging he did wrong, what parent wouldn't forgive him? Of course, the parent forgives. So does Hashem. Therefore, illness, catastrophe and the like do not come to a person because of sin; they come about for reasons that we don't understand, for תיקון עולם, that only Hashem knows why. The kind of punishment that does come for sin, the Gemara tells us, is a person putting his hand in in pocket to take out a quarter and instead takes out a dime and has to go back into his pocket. That’s the kind of inconvenience, the type of punishment, Hashem gives to get us away from sin, little inconveniences to remind us to be better.

Rabbi Diamond continued with a parable. Imagine a twenty two year old daughter who's living in her parents’ home. The parents always have taken care of her and she had all that she needed. One night, in the middle of the winter, when it’s freezing cold outside at three o'clock in the morning, the mother comes into the room where the girl is soundly sleeping under her covers, yells, “get out, get out of my house” and takes her and throws her outside. After the initial shock, the girl will say to herself, “I don't know what's going on here but my parents have always had my best interest at heart, have given me everything my whole life. There must be a reason that my mother just did this.”

This is how we must view Hashem. He gives us everything our whole lives. He only wants what's best for us. If He does something that seems to us irrational, we have to trust that there is a reason. We must look at the good that we have had and realize that it's the same Hashem giving it to us. The sweet and sting are always together. Let's strengthen our trust and let the little inconveniences be our hint to improve!