Thinking Torah Blog

I don’t know about you, but I can definitely do without reminders of my experiences that were less than positive. I can remember too many times in my younger life when my mother would ‘remind’ me of all the things that I’d really love to forget. It is not pleasant when someone brings up difficult memories of behaviors that could and should have gone differently and we could have done better. While harsh, it was her way of offering a loving lesson on how to not repeat my mistakes and get onto the right path.

This week, we begin the last book of Torah D’varim (Deutoronomy) and Moses sounds just like my mother, reminding the Israelites of their journeys through the desert and how they just didn’t quite get it right at each of the various steps along the way. For a man slow of speech, Moses had quite a lot to say since the Book of Deuteronomy is pretty much one very long tale of caution to the Israelites as they prepare to go into The Land without him. He is perhaps the last elder from the exodus generation and like the others who left Egypt, will not enter and claim the territories that God promised to our forebears. As the people stood on the precipice hoping they were ready, Moses clearly knew the difficulties of staying on the right path. He brought up harsh memories of wrongdoing as a way of guiding these difficult children to raise, with love, to do what is right. 

So, in speaking of doing right in such sweetness and love, I want to take this moment to thank the many of you who have been so wonderful in the way you reached out to me with your kind words of support and prayer! Your messages were just what I needed and were so helpful to me as I face my health challenge head on! I do not yet know when I’ll be having surgery and how much time I will need to take off, but I do promise that the office (and my email auto message) will keep you posted if you are looking for me during that time. Until then, I am here!!

In the Hebrew dictionary, D’varim translates as: words, speech, utterances, and things with nuances of business, occupation, acts, matters, cases,…lots of possible translations that imply not only what we say but how we act upon what we say. I like to read into this word that righteous action should be the business of our lives. 

May we hear the voices that help us rise to our highest selves and aspire to not only healing the words but acting righteously upon them!