Shabbat

Portion Devarim : How to Escape the Holy Temple' s Destruction (9 AV)

Portion Devarim : How to Escape the Holy Temple' s Destruction (9 AV)
 
Moses - Moshe - faced a lot of criticism in his long and rough life but
 
Here at the end of his days - in the next few -  portions he teaches
How to survive - how we survived - in the Holy Land for 800 years!
 
And then with less than 100 years' exile - living surrounded by antisemites - 
 
how to make it for another 400 years!
 
How? What can we see in what seems just a portion of historical review?
 
It's the Holiness at EACH STEP that Answers the Crises of the Time.
 
Ttowards the end of the portiòn - Moses reviews
 the Israelites'  tribulations in the desert and says -
 
THOSE OLD WARRIERS. PASSED ON (from the time of the Spies)
 
And then he writes about those waiting to enter Israel
 
he praises the Israelites
 
AND THÈY LISTENED TO G-D'S COMMANDS
 
And finally towards the end of the portion
 
 he adds names of places the Israelites were conquering and hoping to live in
 
THÈIR NAMES ARE ... UNTIL THIS DAY
 
And Indeed the Names of most places hére in Isŕael 
 
are the same names given 3000 yeaŕs ago! Preserved despite all the nations who 
fought us and exiled us and moved populations into Israel
 
And Moshe says in the last sentence of the Portion
 
DO NOT BE ÀFRAÌD!
 
And to those words, I add, now a few days before Tisha B'Av
 
Don't be afraid TÒ CELEBRATE THE SHABBOS - that great gift
 
Shabbat Shalom - Shabbat of Chazon (of VISION)
 
Rabbì Andy Eichenholz