This week we read about Moses, who describes to the people of Israel how God will bring them to the promised land and give them

“…great and flourishing cities that you did not build, houses full of all good things that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant - and you eat your fill”

(Deuteronomy 6: 10-11).

But immediately after a warning comes:

“Take heed that you do not forget the Lord who freed you from the land of Egypt, the house of bondage”

(Deuteronomy 6: 12).

From what do the people of Israel need to be aware of? What can happen as the result of owning an estate one did not labor on, work on but yet harvest its crops?

The connection between the acceptance of the land, full of good, and forgetting God, is not obvious. Why does this gift lead to forgetting God? Sforno says that the warning comes since richness obtained in this way makes most people lure after their passions, which cause man to forget his creator. Another explanation can be that the acceptance of vineyards, orchards and houses, where there was no need to build and grow, can implant in people the sense of being God, sense of pride of one who has it all without effort. From the evacuees from Gush Katif we do not hear such words. People mourn on houses that they built with their own hands. At the same time, there is a feeling of patronizing over the laws of the state, and some would say, over the laws of the Torah. In this time we need to respect the pain of the evacuees for the loss of their home and dream and we need them to respect those following the laws of the state.

We pray that in the coming weekend we will fulfill the call of Isaiah

“Comfort, oh comfort My people”

(Isaiah 40:1).

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Categories: Devarim / Deuteronomy, Vaethannan
Tags: Bo, human rights, palestinians, settlers