At the opening of this week’s parasha, the Israelite people are standing ready to enter the Promised Land as Moses reminds them of their covenant with God on Mount Sinai. Following the repetition of the Ten Commandments, Moses says:

These words Hashem spoke to your entire congregation on the mountain, from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick cloud – a great voice, never to be repeated...

This week’s Torah portion is D’varim, as we start the book of Deuteronomy. This week also falls in what is called the “Nine Days,” a period of deep reflection and introspection preceding the commemoration of Tisha b’Av on the 9th day of the month of Av (August 1 this year).

Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Revelation 3:19, TLV

Words of reproof are difficult to hear, and often unwelcome, but they’re essential to a life of knowing and serving the God of Israel. And so the cycle of the Jewish year makes sure that there are times when we can’t avoid such words.

During my nearly thirty years as a Bible College and seminary professor I got asked a lot of questions. When a young ministry candidate in a Pentateuch class once asked me how he could launch his ministry, my answer was very simple and very direct. 

The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 4a–b) discusses our Sages’ belief that God gets angry only once a day. The discussion revolves around the scene of God’s anger at the Golden Calf incident. Moses tries to appease God, and God tells him to wait until his anger passes. 

In this week’s haftarah we read about Yiftach, or Jephthah as he is known in English. He lived during the time of the Judges, an undisciplined time when everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Samuel, the last of the Judges, would anoint Israel’s first king, Saul. But Jephthah lived before Saul’s day.

Ever heard the title Mutiny on the Bounty? On April 28, 1789, Lieutenant Fletcher Christian seized control of HMS Bounty, and set Captain William Bligh adrift in a small boat on the open sea. I mention it here, because we’re looking at one of the Hebrew Bible’s versions of a mutiny—in this case, against Moses not Bligh.

Clothes make the man, or so it is said, but the Torah turns this principle around. Clothing cannot make us something we’re not, but it can remind us what we’re supposed to be. 

The word “deplorable” was bantered about in recent political discourse, was it not?

The word comes to us by way of Latin and French employments, and harks to something or someone that invokes shock, fear or disgust. By contrast, the word “adorable,” harks to someone or something being extremely charming or appealing. 

B’Midbar, the fourth book of the Torah, is so named since it begins “Vay’daber Adonai el-Mosheh b’midbar Sinai (And the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai).” Midrash Rabbah B’Midbar asks, “Why does Adonai give the Torah in the Wilderness?” It goes on to explain that Torah is given in fire, water, and wilderness.