As we read in the Torah, the Jewish people wondered how it was possible for the world to worship with intense loyalty the false gods and imperfect faiths. Because of this vexing question, the Jewish people as a whole also succumbed to such worthless worship and falsity. This in turn led the Jewish people to wonder why they suffered such an onerous fate in their history.

 

The Torah itself will teach us in a later chapter that the nations of the world will also wonder in amazement as to the extent of the destruction that the Jewish people and their land will suffer at the hands of others. And even though the Torah proposes an answer to this question – that the Jewish people were guilty of forsaking their God and faith – they seem to be entitled to complain that the punishments inflicted upon them were unduly harsh and cruel.

 

The descriptions of these punishments that appear in this week's Torah reading, in their graphic detail, leave little room for imagination of the disasters that will fall upon the Jewish people individually and nationally. If there is a portion of the Torah that truly rattles our cage, this week’s reading is certainly the one.

 

There are no easy words of comfort that can be offered to ameliorate the stark accuracy of the parsha or soften its impact. The only slight comfort that I can derive is that all of this, which has transpired literally before Jewish eyes over the last century, was predicted long ago, and that the words of the Torah remain true for all eternity.

 

Ramban, writing in the thirteenth century, stated then that the accuracy of the words of Moshe uttered seven hundred and fifty years earlier should be sufficient to renew the faith of every Jew in the veracity of Torah and the tenets of Judaism. How much more so is this relevant to our times and generation living as we do nine hundred years after the time of Ramban. The total accuracy of what Moshe prophesied is itself a proof of that truth as well as the greatness of his character and leadership.

 

Rabbi Akiva taught us that the fulfillment in every detail, of the prophecies of doom and destruction, is itself a confirmation of the accuracy of the prophetic writings about our redemption and restoration to physical and spiritual greatness and serenity. I had a history teacher who said that Jewish history is really mainly a story of pogroms and books. That is far too somber an assessment. It is much more than that. It is more importantly the history of loyalty and tenacity, creativity and purpose, faith and achievement and an undying belief in a better tomorrow for the Jewish people and all of humankind.

 

Shabbat shalom

 

Rabbi Berel Wein