SAN DIEGO — This week’s Torah portion takes readers into the fifth book of Torah, Deuteronomy. The Jewish people have wandered for forty years and are again standing right outside Israel. They are ready to cross into the Promised Land. Before they can, however, Moses speaks to them. This last Torah book is all about what he tells them.
The first parashah begins: “These are the words Moses spoke to all of Israel,” to all the Jewish people he led from Egypt, to Mt. Sinai to receive God’s laws, and finally to the land promised them by God. Moses shared his wisdom, describing why the people had to wander, reminding them that forty years ago, they also stood at this exact place, waiting to cross into Israel.
Moses reminds them of how they angered God by not trusting they could succeed if they entered. To punish them, God had them wander away from their goal until all the grownups who doubted God were gone. Since Moses cannot enter the Promised Land either, because he disobeyed God, he stands before the people to instruct them in the same way a parent might teach their children.
What you can do: It is good to listen to your parents or grandparents as they share their wisdom with you. Like Moses, they don’t want you to repeat the mistakes they made in the past.
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Marcia Berneger is a retired elementary school teacher as well as a teacher at Torah school. She is the author of such children’s books as Buster the Little Garbage Truck, and A Dreidel in Time.