66
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 4, 2022
From the Fire Parshas Devarim
Living Beyond the Checklist By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
R
av Yaakov Yitzchak of Peshischa, known as the Yid Hakadosh, zy”a, studied a few psukim from Sefer Devarim every day and encouraged his chassidim to do the same in order to increase their fear of Heaven. He called Sefer Devarim the best mussar sefer. The Maharal, Reb Tzadok Hakohein, and others explain the deep essence of Sefer Devarim, but on a simple level, we must understand the unique nature of the sefer and why Shabbos Chazon, the Shabbos before Tisha B’Av, always occurs on Parshas Devarim. There is a pasuk in Shmuel (2:1:18) which refers to a mysterious book called “Sefer Hayashar,” “the Book of the Upright.” The Gemara (Avoda Zara 25a) offers a number of opinions regarding the identity of this book: Rabbi Chiya bar Abba says in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, “This refers to the book of Avraham, Yitzchak,
and Yaakov [Sefer Bereishis] who were called upright...” Rabbi Elazar says, “This refers to the Repetition of the Torah [Sefer Devarim]. Why is it called the Book of the Upright? Because the pasuk (Devarim 6:18) says, ‘And you shall do what is upright and good in the eyes of Hashem.’” Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmeini says, “This refers to the book of Shoftim. Why was it called the Book of the Upright? Because the pasuk (Shoftim 21:25) says, ‘In those days there was no king in Israel; each person did what was upright in his own eyes.’” The Maharsha, commenting on this Gemara, points out that it is understandable why Bereishis would be called the Book of the Upright since its central theme is the lives of our upright forefathers. It is also understandable why Shoftim would be called the Book of the Upright because the people at that time
were the antithesis of that which is upright. Why, he asks, would Sefer Devarim be called the Book of the Upright based only on one pasuk that uses the word “upright”? Indeed, the word also appears in Sefer Shemos. The Iyun Yaakov, a commentary on the Ein Yaakov, answers that Devarim, not Shemos is called the Book of the Upright because the word “upright” appears four times in Sefer Devarim and only once in Shemos, but this explanation is not satisfying. The Navi must have used the title “The Book of the Upright” to describe the book’s essence and not based on a tally of how many times the word “upright” is used in each book. The Maharsha offers a beautiful explanation. By and large, all of the individual mitzvos are given in the other four books of the Torah. They are given as a list of details; a string of “thou shalts” and “though shalt nots.” The purpose of
Sefer Devarim is to wrap all of those details into a unified whole called a “Jew,” a spiritual identity which is greater than the sum of its parts. The purpose of Sefer Devarim is to teach a person how to go above and beyond each of the individual details of Jewish life to become someone who does “what is good and upright in the eyes of Hashem.” Such a Jew connects the dots of each of the mitzvos into one single transcendent reality. He lives not just to fulfill each of his obligations but to make his Father in Heaven proud. The Gemara (Taanis 15a) says, “Not everyone will merit light and not everyone will merit joy. The tzaddikim merit light and the upright merit joy.” Rashi points out that the upright are on a higher level than the tzaddikim. The commentaries ask how Rashi could explain that the upright are greater than tzaddikim. Aren’t tzaddikim also upright? It must be that while tzaddikim keep
