The Portion of Devarim

The Sting of the Bee

The Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) is also known as "Mishne Torah" (the repetition of the Torah) because Moses, in his farewell address to the people, reviews all that has transpired since the exodus from Egypt to the rapidly approaching day when the Children of Israel will enter the Promised Land.

Among the events that Moses recalled was the sin of the spies, which was then followed by the sin of those people who insisted on going forward despite the Lord's clearly stated prohibition "do not go up and do not fight" (Deuteronomy 1;42).

Moses describes the latter's encounter with the Amorites and the expected result. "And the Amorites, dwelling in that mountain, came out towards you and pursued you as bees do…"(ibid 1;44).

As we know, when bees swarm and sting human beings the bees then die.

While the Amorites won the battle and blinded the Israelites eyes, as bees do, their victory was short lived, as it is written "And I destroyed the Amorites…(Amos 2;9).

An allusion to this is found in the accompanying picture where we see two prongs emanating from the letter "ayin" (the Hebrew word for eye) in the word "ta'asenah" (as bees] do", symbolizing first victory and then defeat. (Rokeiach on the Torah)

The Three are Rabbi Yehuda Glick, famous temple mount activist, and former Israel Mk, and then Robert Weinger, the world's greatest shofar blower and seller of Shofars, and myself after we had gone to the 12 gates of the Temple Mount in 2020 to blow the shofar to ask G-d to heal the world from the Pandemic. It was a highlight to my experience in living in Israel and I put it on my blog each day to remember.

The articles that I include each day are those that I find interesting, so I feel you will find them interesting as well. I don't always agree with all the points of each article but found them interesting or important to share with you, my readers, and friends. It is cathartic for me to share my thoughts and frustrations with you about life in general and in Israel. As a Rabbi, I try to teach and share the Torah of the G-d of Israel as a modern Orthodox Rabbi. I never intend to offend anyone but sometimes people are offended and I apologize in advance for any mistakes. The most important psychological principle I have learned is that once someone's mind is made up, they don't want to be bothered with the facts, so, like Rabbi Akiva, I drip water (Torah is compared to water) on their made-up minds and hope that some of what I have share sinks in. Love Rabbi Yehuda Lave.

Healthy brains require healthy livers. (Science Photo Library/Canva)

If I only had a brain--Judy Garland and Ray Bolger