Wow was I wrong! I don't want to bore anyone or excite anyone too much so we'll just go through the names of the different parshiyos, a few direct quotes, and how they all connect and give us a direct path to where we need to be heading. That's all...
Devarim: "These are the words that Moshe spoke to all of Israel...Devarim 1:1" Moshe gets all of Israel together, every Jew until the end of time, to review the first four Books of the Torah, with veiled rebuke, and more than seventy new laws. "May Hashem, the Lord of your fathers, add on to your numbers a thousand times, and bless you as He has spoken to you.Devarim 1:11" Bottom line is, listen to Hashem, follow His Torah, and you will be blessed and blessed and blessed. Simple.
Va'eschanan: "I pleaded with God at that time, saying...Devarim 3:23" All you have to do is Plead! Pray! Daven! Simple! Cry out! Scream! Laugh! Sigh! Whatever it takes, in whatever language, at whatever time, in whatever place! All you have to do is start your own personal relationship with Hashem! Then the sky is the limit!
Eikev: "If you listen to these laws, observing them and carrying them out, God your Lord will guard for you the covenant and the kindness that He promised your fathers Devarim 7:12" Again very simple, listen and observe and receive Gods kindness!!! Why wouldn't you?!?!? "V'haya eikev tishmiun..../If you listen...Devarim 7:12" Eikev/if literally means heel. There are many lessons taught about this lets just try and learn the most simple one. When playing "tugawar" the first rule is to dig your heels in the ground. We are living through the toughest war that mankind has ever seen and we are on the front lines, every step is a battle, so we have to Listen, Plead, and dig our heels in!
Re'eh: "See, I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse...Devarim 11:26" Once again simple. It's up to us, all we have to do is choose! And if we choose the blessing then we merit getting to Re'eh/See Hashem in all of His glory in the Beis Hamikdash at least three times a year!
Shoftim: Ok, so far we've listened to the words, we've pleaded, we've grounded ourselves, we've been able to finally see clearly. Now we have to further ground ourselves. The initial spark and excitement is over. We have to set up systems. We have to appoint judges and officers. We have to listen to people wiser than ourselves, no matter how smart we think we are, no matter how good our idea is, we must always ask. And not only ask "...Do not deviate from the word that they tell you either to the right or the left. Devarim 17:11" It's hard at first because we all love being independent thinkers and doers, but once we subjugate ourselves to the people who are smarter than us, the people who have more experience than us, our lives will take a turn for the better.
Ki Seitzei: "When you go out to war against your enemies and God your Lord delivers them into your hands, and you take some of them captive. Devarim 21:10" Now that we are properly grounded and we have proper guidance the time has come for us to go on the offensive. Not if you go out to war, but rather "When you go out to war!" We unfortunately were brought up to think that life could be easy, that we could reach a certain plateau and just glide. Not true! One of my favorite lines I heard from one of my rebeim, The Mash, Rav Yisroel Blumenfeld shlita. "Yidishkeit and life in general, is like walking up a down escalator; once you stop going up, you right away start going down." We always have to be on the offensive, sometimes more, sometimes less, sometimes this way, sometimes that way, as long as we never stop fighting, never remain stagnant. "...and you take some of them captive. ibid" A person can overcome his or her yetzer harah/evil inclination by using that very thing with which it seeks to overpower him. Your arrogant, be arrogant about your Torah learning and good deeds, one day you'll do it for real etc. The examples are endless.
Ki Savo: Ah! Finally we've caught up Baruch Hashem! "It will be when you enter the land....Devarim 26:1" After we've done whats needed to be done until now. After we've committed to and gone out to fight Hashem's war, now we can enter the Land that Hashem, our God has promised to us! And not just enter, but we will also posses it and dwell in it with all of the blessings that Hashem made to us. So how to do we do it? By being Bikurim. Simple, no? By being the first of the fruit, through constantly renewing ourselves, and by always bringing our A game. Simple as that! The Jew's gift of Bikurim symbolizes that he or she dedicates everything that he has to the service of Hashem.
To end off for now we go back to the beginning. "See! God your Lord has placed the Land before you. Go up and take possession, as God, the Lord of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid and do not loose heart. Devarim 1:21" As always Hashem always puts whatever it is that we truly need, right in front of our eyes! It's ours for the taking! We just have to at least long to, desire to, hope to take it!
Have a great Shabbos everyone!
Etan
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