Nehar Deah

Devarim

The Opening of the Book of Devarim: Condemnation and Rebuke

At the beginning of the fifth book of the Five Books of Moses we find a lengthy introduction which reads as follows: “These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan, in the wilderness, in the Aravah [plains], adjacent to Suf, between Paran and Tofel and Laban and Chazeroth and Di-Zahav. Eleven days journey from Chorev via mount Seir up to Kadesh-Barnea. In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel of all that God had commanded him” (1:1-3). According to this introduction, which determines the place and time that the Book of Devarim was recited, or at least the opening of the book, the children of Israel were situated on the far side of the Jordan, on the eve of their entry into the Land of Canaan, at the beginning of the twelfth month (which later would receive the name “Adar”) of the fortieth year since their departure from Egypt.

Other books of the Torah also open with an introduction which describes the place where they were recited, such as the Book of Vayikra (“And he called to Moses and God spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying”) or Bamidbar (“And God said to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year after their departure from Egypt, saying”),but the Book of Devarim is an exception in terms of wordiness of the geographical description and the Sages felt a need to express their opinions on this. Also: the verse “Eleven days journey from Chorev via mount Seir up to Kadesh-Barnea” (verse 2) seems detached from the preceding verse and for this too the Sages needed to provide an explanation.

It seems that in the Tannaic Midrash on the Book of Devarim, Sifrei Devarim (which we will deal with in “Nahardeah” when discussing the Torah portion of “Eikev”), there are a number of homiletical explanations which attempt to understand this geographical detail and the emphasis on the fact that the route from Chorev to Kadesh-Barnea took eleven days. Apparently the Midrash on this verse found in the names of the places a basis for Moses’ rebuking of the nation, while listing all their sins, crimes and stubbornness, one after the other:

“‘These are the things that Moses said to all the children of Israel on the far side of the Jordan’ - teaches that he rebuked them for what they did on the far side of the Jordan’; ‘In the wilderness’ - teaches that he rebuked them for what they did in the wilderness … ‘on the plains’ - teaches that he rebuked them for what they did on the Plains of Moab, and therefore he says ‘and Israel dwelt in Shittim’ (Bamidbar 25:1)”. It seems that the redactor of the Midrash mentions in general the undesirable behavior of the nation during the wilderness period and in the period they dwelt on the far side of the Jordan and even brings as one example what happened to them on the Plains of Moab when the children of Israel were promiscuous with the daughters of Moab in Shittim. After this the Midrash continues and mentions a number of stories from the Books of Shemot-Bamidbar where the nation revealed its wicked side: “‘adjacent to Suf’ - teaches that he rebuked them for what they did at the Sea”, and the reference here is to the Re[e]d Sea and the story of the lack of faith that the nation showed when they saw Pharaoh and his army catching up to them (Shemot 14:10-12). Also: “‘Between Tofel and Laban’ - the thoughtless words they uttered about the manna and he quotes ‘and our soul has reached its limit with the insubstantial bread’ (Bamidbar 21:5)”. The Midrash makes use of this opportunity, when speaking of the manna, to tell that it was “white like coriander seed” (Shemot 16:31) and asserts that disgraceful and tasteless things were said of the manna. Also the name of the next place, “Chazeroth”, merited its own explanation: “and Chazeroth” - He said to them, ‘why did you not learn from what I did to Miriam in Chazeroth?’” and here the Midrash refers to the story of Miriam who contracted leprosy when she spoke badly of her brother when the nation was “in Chatzeroth” (Bamidbar 11:35 and onwards). Lastly: “and Di Zahav [Gold]” - He said to them … the incident with the [Golden] Calf was the hardest of all for me”.

According to the Midrash, Moses lists to the nation their many sins and in addition the Midrash says of the verse “Eleven days journey from Chorev via mount Seir up to Kadesh-Barnea”: “If Israel had been worthy after ten days, they would have entered the land, but since their deeds were unacceptable, God decreed upon them another forty years”. If the people of Israel had been worthy, the whole journey of Mount Sinai, Chorev and up to Seir on the far side of the Jordan on the eve of their entry into the land, would have taken only ten days, but since the nation sinned and acted criminally, especially in the story of the spies who were sent from “Kadesh-Barnea” (more about this place in the “Nahardeah” discussion on the portions of “Mattot-Mas’ei”), the journey became one of forty years. According to this we should read the verse as follows: the usual route from Chorev to Mount Seir normally takes eleven days, but due to the incident at Kadesh-Barnea, it took forty years.

We need to ask why the Sages saw this list of places and sites as conveying deep and harsh words of rebuke. It can be claimed, that its context in the Book of Devarim was the cause of this. In Chapter 1 of the book, Moses, in his historic speech, mentions the sin of the spies (verses 22-36), its punishment that they would not be allowed into the land (verses 37-18) and the decision of the nation to rebel against God’s words and to fight the Emori, a war which ended with a bitter defeat (verses 41-45). It could be that these topics, which appear during the chapter, colored the introduction with its colors of rebuke.

Another possibility, no less interesting, to understanding the Midrashim we have brought, is learnt out from the fact that during the chapter Moses mentions his intention to establish a judicial system, captains of thousands and captains of hundreds etc, in order that they help him to bear the burdens of the nation and deal with the tensions in its midst (verse 12), expressions that do not compliment the interpersonal relationships that existed within the nation. Moses phrases this, his last complaint against the nation, as follows: “I cannot bear you alone … how can I bear your struggles and your burden and your arguments alone” (verses 9-12). It is interesting to note that the word “eicha” (=how) appears here for the first time in the Torah (and will reappear another four time in the Book of Devarim). The word “eicha” also open the Scroll of Eicha, the Scroll of Lamentations over the destruction of the Temple and is found in it a number of times, as an expression of sadness and mourning. It must be noted that it is our custom to read the Torah portion of “Devarim” always on the Sabbath before Tisha Be’Av (the Ninth day of the month of Av). The three weeks before Tisha Be’Av - and also the nine days from the start of Av until the fast day - are days of sadness and national stocktaking which at its basis is also self rebuke. The Sages repeatedly asked themselves which factors lead to the destruction of the Temple (both the First and Second) and found many reasons to blame the destruction on the undesirable behavior of the people of Israel, especially in the interpersonal sphere. In light of the constant connection between the Torah portion of “Devarim” and Tisha Be’Av, and in light of the word “eicha” in the Scroll of Lamentations and the Torah portion, can we assume that the understanding of the introduction to the Book of Devarim as words of rebuke and reprimand were born out of the atmosphere of the days on which they read this portion in the synagogues? In contrast to this captivating possibility, it must be stated that in the period of the Tannaic Midrashim the Torah reading cycle had not yet been established as a one-year cycle and therefore the portion of “Devarim” did not always fall before Tisha Be’Av. On the other had, recently more evidence has been found that in the land of Israel, even in the Tannaic Period, in parallel to places where the Torah was read in a triennial cycle, there were already places where the Torah was read in a set annual cycle and in might be that it was in one of these places that the Midrashim that were dealt with above were born.

Professor Avigdor Shenan
Hebrew Literature Department

Calendar - Tisha Be’Av

On the Sabbath before Tisha Be’Av we always read the Torah portion of Devarim and it is interesting to discover - see discussion in main section above - that in this portion (1:12), the word “eicha” (how) appears for the first time in the Torah. This word, as is well known, has a connotation of lamentation and is also the opening word of the scroll read on Tisha Be’Av.

The day of the ninth of Av has by tradition become a day of mourning and fasting over the destruction of the two temples , the first by the Babylonians (in the year 586 BCE) and the second by the Roman (in the year 70CE). The custom to fast in commemoration of the destruction of the first Temple is known already from the Book of Zachariah (who refers to this fast as the “Fifth Fast” [8:19]). But on what day exactly was the Temple destroyed?

With reference to the first Temple, we find two similar answers in the Bible. According to the Book of Kings (Kings II 25:8) the Temple was burnt down on seventh of Av while according to what is written in Jeremiah (52:12) the event happened on the tenth of this month. Why then was it specifically the ninth of Av that was declared a day of mourning? The Jerusalem Talmud (Taanit 4:9 [69b-c]) solves the problem while describing the destruction in detail. According to the description, on 7 Av the Babylonians entered the Temple; on the 8 Av they demolished it; on 9 Av they set it alight and on the tenth of the month the building burnt down to the ground. According to this, the 9 Av commemorates the harshest of the events - the beginning of the burning of the Temple.

The Second Temple probably did not burnt down specifically on the 9 Av, Josephus Flavius, the Hellenistic Jewish historian, who lived, worked and wrote during the period of the destruction, declares 10 Av to be the date of the destruction. However, since 9 Av was already declared to be the day commemorating the destruction of the First Temple, tradition also declared the destruction of the Second Temple to be on this day. In this way Tisha Be’Av became a day that has always been one of calamity and the Mishna (Taanit 4:6) also dates other calamities that happened to the nation of Israel to this day, such as the fall of Beitar after the failure of the Bar Kochba revolt (in the year 135CE).

On 9 Av we read the Scroll of Eicha (Lamentations) in the synagogue, which according to tradition, was written by the prophet Jeremiah, and it is a complete day of fasting. On 9 Av, Halacha (Jewish law) requires that all the prohibitions of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), relating to eating, drinking, washing, anointing, wearing leather shoes and sexual relations, be kept. As time passed, additional customs came into existence for this day, such as dimming the lights in the synagogue, reading the Scroll while sitting on the floor, removing the cover from the Ark, (morning) prayers without a tallit (prayer shawl) and tefillin (phylacteries), avoiding greeting people and more.

From the later afternoon hours, close to the afternoon prayers, themes of consolation begin to enter into 9 Av. During the afternoon prayers tefillin are put on and one is allowed to sit on a raised chair etc. All this is about the sources of the tradition, but in the future the day of mourning itself will become one of happiness and consolation, because the Messiah will be born on 9 Av. On the basis of this hope there are those who - since the Middle Ages - have called the month “Menachem Av” (Av of Consolation).

Literature of the Sages - Midrash Eicha Rabba

On Tisha Be’Av the Scroll of Eicha is read in synagogues. The scroll is the first among the books of Neviim (Prophets) and K’tuvim (Writings) and therefore obviously first among the Five Scrolls (Song of Songs, Ruth, Eicha, Kohelet [Ecclesiastes] and Esther) which merited an entire Midrash which deals with it alone, something which till then was exclusive to the Five Books of Moses. The Midrash, known as “Eicha Rabba” was redacted approximately in the year 500 CE in the Land of Israel. It was written in Hebrew and Galilean Aramaic and it also has a number of words in Greek and Latin interspersed.

Midrash Eicha Rabba comprises of two halves which are significantly different from each other:
(a) A collection of thirty six homiletical discourses, probably given in the synagogues before the reading of the Scroll, during in the period of the Sages. The number 36 is customarily interpreted as being the Gematriya (numerical values assigned to each letter) of the word Eicha. Since these discourses were meant to be an introduction and illumination of the Scroll, they all relate to the first verse of the Scroll, “how does the city sit alone”.
(b) Analysis of the verses of the Scroll, one after the other, while linking various issues to the words of lamentation in “Eicha”. While dealing with a scroll that speaks of the destruction of the First Temple, this Midrash builds a discussion of the many calamities that have befallen the nation of Israel through the ages: the decrees of Antiochus during the Hasmonean period, the destruction of the Second Temple, the failure of the Bar Kochba revolt and others.

Many stories are interspersed into Midrash “Eicha Rabba” and some deal with the destruction of the Temple and its causes. One of the famous is a story that declares “due to Kamtza and Bar Kamtza Jerusalem was destroyed”, which deals with a period of religious laxity and weakness of character among the religious and social leadership. Other stories tell of the terrible cruelty of the enemy (that rivers of blood flowed through the land) and the bitter fate of the great men of the nation specifically and the common people in general. In this framework a number of stories of martyrdom are brought and the best known of these is the famous story of “Chana and her Seven Sons” (though in this Midrash the mother is not called Chana, but rather Miriam or Martha). This is the story of a mother who was forced to see her seven sons being slaughtered before her eyes because they refused to bow down to idols. Eventually the mother commits suicide, and the Midrash does not criticize her for this. Another well known story is that of the “Ten Martyrs” who were killed by the Romans in various brutal ways, the most well known of whom was Rabbi Akiva. Also Bar Kochba (known here by his original name Bar Cosiba) has much discussion devoted to him and is described in this work as being of excessive confidence and bringing destruction on the nation.

Despite this, we surprisingly find stories and messages of consolation and hope in this Midrash, such as the story of the birth of “Menachem son of Chizkiya”, the Messiah, on 9 Av, or a series of humoristic stories on the intellectual superiority of the people of Jerusalem over the people of Athens, the main city of wisdom in the ancient world. In the Midrash we also find stories of the wisdom and learnedness of the children of Jerusalem, as if the redactor was trying to say that despite the loss of national and political independence and despite the destruction and its horrors, the roots of a positive future were not uprooted and they are embedded in the spirit of the nation and the wisdom of its young sons and daughters.