Parshas Devarim - Tisha B’Av: Bring Along Your Golf Clubs, Stroller, and Gemara

What caused the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash? The Talmud provides a surprising, direct answer from God Himself that continues to challenge us today.

The connection between Parshas Devarim and Tisha B'Av is no coincidence. Both center on honest reflection about past mistakes rather than glossing over uncomfortable truths. Moshe's rebuke in Devarim exemplifies true Mussar – looking back at previous actions with clarity to understand where we went wrong. Similarly, Tisha B'Av isn't merely about mourning something we've never personally witnessed, but about examining the causative factors that led to destruction.

The Talmud in Tractate Nedarim tells us something remarkable: when asked why the Temple was destroyed, neither the sages nor the prophets could determine the reason. Only God Himself provided the answer: "They forsook my Torah." But how exactly? The explanation given is cryptic yet profound – "they did not bless the Torah first." This doesn't mean they abandoned Torah study completely; rather, they failed to prioritize it as their highest concern. While externally Judaism appeared to function properly with mitzvos being performed, Torah had taken a secondary position in their hearts.

To heal this relationship, we must reconsider how we approach Torah study. The Ramban advises not just learning Torah but implementing its wisdom immediately: "When you rise from your book, search in what you have studied to see if there is something you can now fulfill." Our relationship with sacred texts should mirror our most cherished relationships – treating them with care, keeping them organized, and ensuring they're never neglected. The way we pack for trips reveals our priorities; do our sefarim get packed first, or are they afterthoughts?

Ultimately, there is no meaningful Jewish identity apart from Torah. It constitutes our entire relationship with God and provides the framework through which we understand our purpose. By recommitting to blessing Torah first – making it our primary concern in both study and action – we take a crucial step toward rebuilding what was lost. How will you prioritize Torah in your life today?

Chapters

• 0:00 Devarim and Tisha B'Av Connection
• 9:08 Moshe's Rebuke in Devarim
• 15:40 Why the Temple Was Destroyed
• 20:15 Not Blessing Torah First
• 25:50 Ramban's Advice on Torah Study
• 30:36 Torah Books as Priority

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

It has never happened and it will never happen that any other Parsha other than Devarim will be read inside the shul will exit the throat, the voice box of the Baal Kirei leading up to the Shabbos before Tisha B'Av. It will never happen that any other Parsha other than Devarim will be lamed. The Shabbos before Tisha B'Av is codified in Halacha that Devarim, parashas, devarim and the Moed of Tisha B'Av are linked, our best friends, two peas in a pod. They always go together. It's not a pod, they always go together. It's not a coincidence. The Beit Ur Halacha, a commentary of the great Chafetz Chaim, expounds upon what the connection is. And we must also seek to identify the connection between Parshas, devarim and Tisha B'Av, because the Shulah writes you can also see the Zohar in the second volume, page 206, that these great commentators all explain that the Parsha is very connected to the time of year. I shouldn't take you by surprise. Of course. There are no coincidences in Judaism. It is divine, it is larger than life.

Speaker 1: 1:36

So when we explore this topic, well, we must begin with what goes on in Sefer Devarim, what goes on at the beginning of Parsha's Devarim? What is the very foundation and what is the talking points of Sefer Devarim. What goes on at the beginning of Parshat Devarim? What is the very foundation and what is the talking points of Sefer Devarim? Parshat Devarim, and it is Moshe Rabbeinu, taking the podium 37 days before his death, giving a short repetition and synopsis of all of our journeyings throughout the wilderness, noting lessons, reviewing events, rehashing laws, all about the greatest trip between Mitzrayim to the promised land, some sprinkled in additions of rebuke, chastisement to rebuff and encourage, rouse and motivate the nation, to let them know about where they had failed and show them some of their iniquities. Moshe Rabbeinu enjoins the nation that they should keep the Torah and observe its commandments with all of their heart and all of their soul and, no matter what changes where you live, never stop striving to put God's word first. And we learn a fantastic chedush, a brilliant new idea from Moshe Rabbeinu about what true Musser is, about his Parshas Devarim soliloquy.

Speaker 1: 3:20

The Medrash tells us that Moshe Rabbeinu is the definition of what's being referred to in the Parikchof ches of Proverbs. Shlomo HaMelech says I believe I put the comma in the wrong place. Let's reiterate he who reproves somebody who gives rebuke, someone who gives musr will, in the end he will find favor Then from somebody else, who just tells you, somebody who just flatters you, smooth talks you about why you have never erred. The Medrash tells us that who is this person that does not smooth talk but speaks his peace and tells you where you have gone awry? That is Moshe Rabbeinu and his incredible Sefer Tzvarim soliloquy. When you take this medrash apart, we see here that Moshe is not an idea of telling you how you can do better in the future, how you should improve, but it is a reflection. It is a turning back upon what happened in the past and studying your decisions and where they led to which causative factors must be highlighted. That is Moshe's rebuke, and the entire goal of Musser seems to be looking back at your life and being honest with yourself, trying not to say, no, I didn't really mess up, that was actually someone else's fault. The reason that it went like that was a different cause else's fault. The reason that it went like that was a different cause. Musser says to stop these smooth talking and look with honesty about prior missteps.

Speaker 1: 5:36

I'd like to put forward that this is the connection between Sefer Devarim, between Sefer Devarim, parshas Devarim and Tisha B'Av, because it is not some Kabbalistical practice that we simply sit on the floor during Tisha B'Av and mourn, mourning something that we've never seen. But the soul of it is there? No, hardly. But it is a reflection upon why the temple was destroyed, the causative factors and our previous actions, but we simply seek to relive them, to make them a reality, to impress upon the minds of all that continue to mourn about where mistakes and missteps lead us to. It's to destruction. We do not eat and we do not drink and we mourn and we listen to Eicha. It's all in an effort to try to find the time and the reflective mind, and I love it that for this reason, eichel, the entire lamentation, lamentations, all five of them, these dirges and remembrances, they're all not about what happened as the temple was deconstructed and set aflame, but it is a long description of the actions that led to the destruction, of the actions that led to the destruction. Yeshayahu mourns, jeremiah laments that the boys were hanging out where they shouldn't and the girls not acting as they should as they should. It's a looking back and remembering what went wrong and then learning from it To re-inspire proper action. It is, of course, the very same Theme as Parshas, devarim and Moshe's tone, and so today, following that theme.

Speaker 1: 8:33

I would like to explore with you what it is, that is the lesson of Tisha B'Av, and not to guess at it, but to take a message, a direct message from the prophets, the sages and from God, god himself, as to what went wrong and then reverse, engineer what we should do to rebuild that third base Hamikdash, brick by brick, and it should be very soon in our days. And thank God for the Talmud, for the holy Babylonian Talmud, talmud Bavli, it's there for us to coddle, cuddle us, educate us and inspire us and every aspect of Judaism. Everything is there. Torah has been transcribed and in the Talmud and Tractate Nadarim, nestled in the very top of page 81a, you will find the answer to why it is that the base of Amikus was destroyed. We do not need to guess.

Speaker 1: 9:44

The Gemara says why was the temple destroyed? Why was the land lost? The Gemara says the matter was asked to the sages. It was asked to the nevim Below Parshuhu. Nobody could figure out why did the Beis Hamikdash get destroyed? It must be that everything was intact. If the sages and the prophets could not find any shortcoming below Parshuhu, they could not explain why we lost everything. It must be that there wasn't any obvious cause. Nobody could understand it Until Hashem stepped in and explained the matter Himself. Hashem stepped in and explained the matter himself.

Speaker 1: 10:45

Dechsev v'yoymer Hashem al-ozvom es toirosi, v'lo shoma'a bekoili v'lo holchuba, that they forsook my Torah. They forsook my Torah. Now, how did we forsake the Torah? The Gemara continues to say is it that we didn't listen to it as the verse continues, or is it that we did not go in its laws? These seem to be two ways of forsaking that the verse mentions. So what exactly is the specific forsaking of the Torah? Zokt Hashem?

Speaker 1: 11:31

Hashem explains in his infinite wisdom Omer Rav, yehuda Omer Rav, and this is our key line She'en mevarchen ba'torat chila. The severe punishment, the. Nor walked therein the expression of that. They have not obeyed my voice and they have forsaken my Torah. It is all to find its expression and definition in that we did not bless the Torah first. She'eimivarchim ba'torat chila. They did not recite a blessing over the Torah first.

Speaker 1: 12:21

We immediately are taken aback, number one, as to why that leads to a destruction of everything. Not blessing the Torah. We have never been told that. Make sure to bless my Torah in the morning, otherwise I will remove everything from your midst. Obviously, every blessing is crucial because it's God's desire that we bless him.

Speaker 1: 12:50

But what does the Torah literally mean? That we did not bless the Torah first? This is a subject of great debate. The Ron and Rabbeinu Yonah, both great medieval commentators, understand this to be in the connection that we have to Torah not blessing it first in some way that it may have been without the right, sensitive and heart-filled, passionate blessing. It was much more monotonous than it should be. It wasn't a proper understanding of Torah's depth and infinitiveness.

Speaker 1: 13:33

The Rambam in chapter 2, gate 2 in Moron of Vuchim, in the guide to the perplexed, the third of Rambam's trifecta of three sevarim that he authored and gate number 2, says a fascinating shot that we did not bless the Torah first is referring to how the law says explicitly that when you call people up to get an aliyah at the Torah, first goes the Kohen, second goes the Levi and third goes a Yisrael, but not so fast. If there's a Yisrael that should be a massive Talmud Chacham. He goes first. The Torah scholar goes before the Kohen. He goes first. The Torah scholar goes before the Kohen.

Speaker 1: 14:08

In those days they did not honor the Torah and in some places they called the Kohen up and the Levi up for the Aliyah before the Talmud Chacham. And that's what the Gemara means that they did not bless the Torah first, that they did not call up those that are fluent in Torah, those that are our champion scholars in Torah. They were not first to make the blessing on the Torah A fascinating understanding of the Gemara, but the most literal understanding. If we literally translate the words, I think we have a very obvious takeaway, an obvious rebuke here. We see here that the Jura's people, they did Torah, they even blessed Torah.

Speaker 1: 15:03

Because the Gemara does not say that they did not bless the Torah. It says they did bless the Torah, however they did not bless the Torah. It says they did bless the Torah, however they did not bless it first, it did not take precedence, it was not their first priority. What does blessing mean? They did not connect it back to the source of all blessings. They did not put it as the 1A, rank it high above everything else, as the number one and first thing in their life. They didn't bless, they did not praise the Torah first. As if their son would walk home from school and you ask about everything that went on in his day his lacrosse game, his chess game and his relationship with his friends and how he tied his shoes and if he used the restroom that day and you never inquire about his Torah study or his relationship with his Rebbe or with God. Torah took a back seat. That's what it means to not bless Torah first, that it was not priority 1A.

Speaker 1: 16:16

With this literal understanding, it does shed immediate light as to why no one else could figure out this challenge. Because it says here that Judaism was functioning beautifully, all 613 were being kept. That Judaism was functioning beautifully, all 613 were being kept. The only sin that no one could possibly conjure up not the sages and not the prophets. No one could explain what the definition of that. They did not follow my voice, they did not walk therein. What does that mean? Nobody knew. How could nobody know? Because we were doing everything. We were learning and doing Torah and checking for Shatnez and not eating meat during the nine days and not eating meat during the nine days. But it was not the passionate, maybe even obsession, a healthy obsession and love. It wasn't high ranking or as high ranking and as prioritized as it should be in the lives of the Jews, and that is something that only God can ascertain. So for the rest of this podcast.

Speaker 1: 17:38

I would like to accept that critique and then learn together here in certain ways how we can ensure that we prioritize Torah in a way that will hopefully let us re-engineer a way to build a base on Meknesh, because if we can prioritize Torah and make a blessing upon it, it seems like the Almighty may take that as some element of a tshuva and a reprioritization of what's important. And then maybe Hashem will say oh, you really think it's special. Sure, of course, now you need a house, you need a base on Mikdash, you need a place to be able to come up three times a year because it's important to you, and you also need a place to be able to do all of the mitzvahs that are authored inside of Sefer Vayikra. You need a place to do that because, oh, now you care, now you prioritize it, now you bless it.

Speaker 1: 18:33

First, maybe if we start in a blessing on Torah first comes from the Igeres Haramban, the great Moses ben Nachman Nachmanites the 12th century Rishon in one of the great letters that he writes to his son. That admonishes his son and coaxes him, cajoles him to live a humble and modest life. The very end of his letter he instructs his son to read the letter at least once a week and it will help him to live a successful life. I'd like to point out one line here that's monumental, fundamental to how we should view Torah and our relationship with it and how maybe we've gone a bit in the wrong direction in this area and it's become kind of a forgotten art and it really should be brought back to life as a way to prioritize Torah.

Speaker 1: 19:42

It says there on Banvah, be scrupulous to read Torah constantly. Okay, asher Tuchal L'kaima, so that you can fulfill it. Interesting. It seems like you'll only be able to fulfill it if you read it constantly. Takeaway number one. But then the Ramban gives you practical advice About how you should read Torah and what you should do after you read it constantly. Takeaway number one, but then the Ramban gives you practical advice about how you should read Torah and what you should do after you read Torah.

Speaker 1: 20:14

The ka'asher takum min ha'sefer t'chapesh ba'asher l'madetot im yeish bo'dover esher tucha l'kaimah. And after you stand up from your book, search in what you have studied and read. Is there something that I now can fulfill? The Ramban wants there to be a step, a pause, after you learn to do something. He wants us to be able to close our gemaras and then think about what did I just learn about? Close our gemaras and then think about what did I just learn about? I learned the laws of Nezikin of how I should be careful in money. Well, what did I just learn? How can I now do that thing? How can I incorporate that into my life? In a weird way, it seems like this is a lost art.

Speaker 1: 21:03

Many of us engage in Torah study as kind of a discipline or maybe even an obligation of an old science of how things should be, or maybe even we deal with our learning as something that needs to be fulfilled so we feel better about ourselves, or so that we can put a check box next to Judaism so that we can then go on to what is now our next interest. But Torah and the goal of its study. The reason that it is the far and away most important part of Judaism is because through it you will do. That is the entire goal of the Torah's wisdom to get you to do, of the Torah's wisdom to get you to do. But sometimes we don't connect the dots. We learn and learn and learn and learn and learn, and somehow we never paused after the learning to say now what can I do? And every single gemara and piece of Torah is practical and I'll leave it at that is practical and I'll leave it at that. But the immediate part here of this talk, for this section is practical, is that the prioritizing of Torah means that it's so real to you and special to you that when you learn the Torah to heal our relationship with it, it should become so important that we get up from our books and then seek not to bury our gemara back into the shtender or into our back seats, but instead to kind of leave it open in our heads to now then become a part of our lives and let it take center stage in form of action.

Speaker 1: 22:56

I always love when you reread the voices of the prophets and their psukkim and how sometimes they hit in the most literal way. Sometimes this prophet even says something that seems like it's part of a new cool sprach that goes all around that the kids say nowadays and this time it really works. Isaiah, chapter 29,. He is lamenting the fact that he's going around handing out sefarim. I go around, I hand out books and to everyone it's like a closed book. I can't read this gemara. I don't know what it's saying. I ask people here's a Gemara, here, young boy, here old man. Please read this text. The prophet continues I don't know how to learn, I'm not a scholar. Gemara Chumash, mishnah Tehillim, it's understanding. It's Halachos, the base, yosef in the tour, the Rambam, that's for the scholars. Just tell me what I need to do and how I can minimally go about my obligations. The rebuke from the prophet rings, true. He's screaming the same loud, musser-filled proclamation of people the wisdom of Torah is there for you to learn, for you to internalize, for you to take to heart and for you to then get up from the Sfarim and say now, what can I do? Because it's all there, the wisdom to help you live and show you. Point number two can be shown here and about the way that we can prioritize Torah. I'm going to use sepharim Torah books as the hyperbole, as the muscle, the parable, that how we should relate to Torah.

Speaker 1: 25:07

There is this famous slogan that goes around that is quite important, sponsored. It's on the backs of many cars. It says never leave children in a hot car unattended. It says never leave children in a hot car unattended. That is good advice, because it can be a tremendous sakana to leave children even for a short while in a hot car. But I often think about what my high school rabbein, when they used to ask us to close our gemaras and when we would go on trips. We'd close our gemaras at the end of class and not leave them open, and to make sure to pack our gemaras when we would go away on trips, because you never leave children unattended and your gemara and your chumash and your mishnah and your tehillim is your baby, it is your family, it is your priority. And if it was the priority priority, then the same should ring true that you should never leave your gemara in the back seat of a burning hot car, left unattended, for it shows blatant disregarding of how important it is to you. Now, obviously, it's not the same level as leaving a child unattended and, yes, you can get the Gemara in a different form or you can have it on your phone. But the point I mean to be making is that the books that you study from the ancient wisdom and the way that you relate to it should be in a very real way that you treat it like a Never leaving your baby alone in the car, never leaving your skimaras just left open straight about. It's precious to you, it's special to you, it's real to you. When you pack your car any father knows this One of your big moments to shine is how you can get everything to fit in the car.

Speaker 1: 27:08

I always make sure when I'm traveling, first goes the stroller, because that is priority number one, don't forget it. Then goes the tefillin oh, and we need the golf clubs, oh, and I can't forget the wife and the kids. That also goes in there. That's got to be prioritized as well. But sometimes at the end there's no room for everything else. There seems to be room in the car for the laptops and iPhones, but barely any room for me to bring home my Gemara, or barely any room to bring the books thatara, or barely any room To bring that, the books that I'm reading now in Torah literature, or my washing cup that I like to keep next to my bed, because it's an extra gemara that I do. I won't bring that. It becomes well. It takes a back seat, no pun intended or pun intended and our priority is where we rank things in our life and lives. They really take center stage when you begin to pack the car and I cajole you to pack the car in a way that you don't leave out your important Torah things, meaning that you prioritize them.

Speaker 1: 28:26

You stroll through your bookcases like the great Rabbi Yehuda Ibn Tibin, who translated the Ramam Z'moron Avuchim, the one who translated from Judeo-Arabic the Cholos Alevavos into the Hebrew that we know. He translated so many of the great Torah literatures and he has a famous letter he left to his son all about the beauty of Torah and our relationship with its books, and he writes make sure to keep your library in order. If it is not an ordeal to ensure it's not an ordeal to find a particular book, learn the exact cases and chests where you keep every book. Ensure your spharm are meticulously aligned. My son, make sure your books are your friends. Let your bookcases and book chests be your orchards and your gardens and stroll their grounds, pluck their roses and gather their fruit and spices and myrrh. If your soul becomes weary of one garden, move to another. Then your desire will be refreshed and your soul will be lifted. It becomes real to these scholars. It becomes a passionate love. Your relationship to Torah and the reason that I want to yell about the Torah here and our relationship to it, that I want to yell about the Torah here and our relationship to it is because making it priority number one is imperative to rebuild the base on Migdash, and because I saw something last week that irked me Because somebody was trying to promote Judaism, promote God, build God and godliness in the world was for a fundraising purpose, but they kept saying the words we want to spread Jewish identity, meaningful Jewish identity.

Speaker 1: 30:16

My friends, there is no such thing as Jewish identity and there is no point in trying to spread something that doesn't exist. Ein Ha'uma, we are not a nation except for Torah. Our Jewish identity is Torah, our Bill of Rights, our Declaration of Independence, the way we relate to God. We could never come up with a way to serve God. It is only through the Torah that God tells us how he wants to be served and God instructs us how to live and gives us our Jewish identity.

Speaker 1: 30:49

It comes in the written form. It's called the Torah, and all of the literature and the Torah and the Svarim and the oral law and the written law and the Halakha and the Musar and the liturgy. It is all that that is Torah and that is Jewish identity. It is all that that is Torah and that is Jewish identity. It is the spreading of Torah and the understanding of its endless depth Sorry, endless depth that we should be hyper-consumed with. That we should pack the car putting our Torah Sfarim and our Jewish Judaica in first.

Speaker 1: 31:31

Pulling up the covers when you put your Jewish books and your Torah Sfarim away for the night, tucking them in making God your primary concern. If we do this, bless the Torah first. Bless the Torah first, quite literally and quite figuratively, to make it our number one A and chief priority Ki Hem Chayenu status. Then, when God sees that we care so much, maybe he'll rebuild the Beis Hamikdash for us. And if you should ask why why you should make it your number one concern, well, you should remember that you are not entitled to the breath in your lungs. You are not entitled to the breath in your lungs. You are not entitled to the blood coursing through your veins.

Speaker 1: 32:32

The Jewish people were to be left languishing in Egypt, dead and gone, like every other tribe and country and nationality in human history. They've all come and gone, but you are here and you have a life and you have breath in your lungs because the deity, the all-encompassing entity, the omnipresent, decided to love you, take compassion on you, give you a future, give you a life, give you an eternal wellspring of wisdom, guide you, love you, let you sin and give you time to repent, pick you up in your hard times, in your dark times. He gave you life and for that you owe him everything and we are bound to him forever. And all that he asks, after he gave us everything, is that, nasa v'nishma, we just do what he said. God took us out for a reason so that we would do his laws and spread his light in the world, and that's why Torah should be your number one priority.

Speaker 1: 33:55

Maybe that's why, in conclusion, that Devarim is connected to Tisha B'Av, because it's time to reflect, and Musser means to look back and learn from the past and not to gloss over it, and to be honest with past mistakes and to understand causative factors.

Speaker 1: 34:18

That's Tisha B'Av and that's Tvarim. And our lesson today is to look back and to see what caused it, which is not blessing the Torah first and not making God's holy Torah, which is our Jewish identity and its study and its doing of it, not making it and ranking it as the number one A in your life. We didn't bless it first, didn't praise it first, and that's why we lost everything. So today we are re-inspiring ourselves, re-committing ourselves to packing not just our golf clubs and our strollers but also our gemaras and our sidurim and our tefillins, but also our gemaras and our sidurim and our tefillins. And we are committing to not leaving our gemaras left unattended or opened or sprawled about in the backseat of a 100-degree car and recommitting ourselves to God's holy Torah, to God's holy Torah, its study and its performance, in an effort to bless the Torah first and make it our number one priority. And in that merit the Almighty should see our efforts and rebuild the holy Besa. Migdash B'mher B'Aminu.