Va’etchanan

As with last week (and the next several weeks worth of parshiyot), we are once again hearing a recounting of the books of BaMidbar and Shemot. However, the book of Devarim feels more like Moshe Rabbenu’s final recounting before he passes away rather than an objective narrative. It’s what I imagine most older people would do/would want to do before they die; leave their version of their life lessons and stories behind to both try and teach the next generation some lessons as well as to make their point of view known one last time.  

Sometimes older people say really ignorant and hurtful things. And they also don’t really understand technology or anything new. This leads to the assumption that the elderly are to be dismissed and not to be paid attention to. It’s an unfortunate trend in our society and one that I think this week’s parsha speaks to. Up to this point we had seen Moshe Rabbenu stumble and fall. We have seen him at his weakest and we see him have to heartbreakingly admit to his followers that after all this time leading them through the desert, he would not be allowed to enter Eretz Yisrael. Yet, his final recounting gets an entire book dedicated to it. The final book of the Chumash, no less. Moshe gets the actual final word according to Hashem. That’s kind of a big deal. Maybe the Torah is trying to tell us something. Just kidding. OBVIOUSLY it is.

Interestingly enough, in this week’s parsha we get the words to the Shema prayer. This is probably heretical to say…but I’m going to say it anyway. When I read through Sefer Devarim I can’t help but imagine Moshe Rabbenu as a grandfather type figure. In his final words he gives Am Yisrael the quintessential Jewish prayer that all Jews must recite twice a day and preferably before they die. He leaves behind the words that have kept and unified the Jewish people for thousands of years! Not all of us can aspire to do the same with our last words!

Maybe the elderly have some quirky things to say…but in the end they have seen and experienced more than anybody else. That counts for something. They have made many more mistakes than we have and they are human just like the rest of us. But it is important to keep in mind that in the final retellings of their lives, they just might have a special message for us; a message that we may never get to hear again so try to take it somewhat seriously.