Once again, the times in which we live explain the parsha in a fashion that previous generations could not easily see. Once more our parsha gives us the uplift that comes with living the prophecies of old. These weeks are indeed a "peirush Rashi" to an otherwise overlooked Rashi.
We, in these difficult weeks, living through another most precarious and painful episode in the unfolding birth pains of redemption, must study the parsha of Devarim with great curiosity. After all, it is the beginning of Moshe's final charge to his people; his review and rebuke that will bring the final leg of redemption to a worthy close, that will prepare for an entry in the Land of Israel which will earn Hashem's miraculous protection. It is that context that must cause us to wonder how the oft-ignored grinding review of our travels around Edom, Moav and Amon, and of our subsequent battles with the Emori, find their way into Moshe Rabbeinu's final reproach and reprimand?
I believe that this question prompts Rashi's comment (2:1) at the outset of this fifty pesukim review. He explains that this entire chapter, with all its negotiations with the surrounding nations, their fear of and cynicism towards us, and the difficulties they imposed on us, was all brought about by the sin of the spies. If not for that sin, we would have entered Israel from the southwest, would not have encountered any nations at all until our entry, and certainly not unfriendly ones. Thus, the original sin of Tisha B'av not only caused the forty-year delay of full redemption but it also changed the nature of the final step of redemption.
True, our entry included the great miracles of the splitting of the Yarden River, the battle of Yericho and the sun standing still over Givon, and the successful military uprooting of the native leadership. Moreover, our travels were guided by pillars of clouds, Miriam's well, and the heavenly mon. And yet, plan A was that a newly minted group shaped and defined by the spirituality of Sinai and Yam Suf, entirely untested by the canvas of political reality, would rout thirty-one nations. We were to be anything but a nation among nations.
All of that changed on the very first Tisha B'av, when we erroneously perceived that despite being a kingdom of priests and a holy people, we were still a people which had to prepare for entry into Israel much as all other people do. We cried that night because we, for one night, forgot that our survival and our military prowess was assured by the Almighty, and the battlefield, the beis medrash, and the beis kenesses would activate and earn that assurance. For one night we forgot that while we were to be a people among people, we were to be entirely different and distinct - a kingdom of kohanim and light unto the nations.
And we got the plan B that we thought, albeit with Hashem's infinite kindness and the miracles of actual entry still in place. We did have to negotiate with Edom, explain that we will enhance their economy and not disrupt it, and negotiate the rights of passageway. We sent scouts and we had to sharpen our weapons.
And, apparently, we are watching the continued ramifications of the first Tisha B'av and hearing the recent echoes of Moshe Rabbeinu's poignant parting words. Instead of negotiating with Edom and soft-pedaling with Amon and Moav, our leadership needs to respond to accusations of being callous to humanitarian crises, to judgements of international "courts", to false narratives of a liberal media, and so much more.
We pray that the greater attentiveness that we pay to the Tisha B'avs of old will give us the merit to celebrate the Tisha B'av of our destined future, when it will become a yom tov. May this take place on the Tisha B'av of 5784.
More divrei Torah and shiurim from Rabbi Neuburger