The opening pasuk of Parshas Devorim lists many places that Klal Yisroel journeyed through during their years in the desert – a pasuk that seems simple, but like every pasuk in the Torah, is laden with deep meaning. The pasuk begins with “Elah devorim asher diber Moshe el kol Yisroel” – these are the words that Moshe spoke to all of klal Yisroel – and then then the pasuk goes on to list many places that klal Yisroel visited in the desert. These places are not just listed to recap the journey through the desert; there are many deep messages hidden within these words. Says the Ohr Hachaim, each of these places alludes to a different characteristic that we should aim to acquire: eiver hayarden, bamidbar, ba’arava, mol suf, bain paran, u’bain tofel, v’chatzeiros, v’di zahav.
The first one is Eiver, which means the other side. We have to adopt the virtue of Avraham Avinu who was known as “ha’ivri”, as the entire world was on one side and he was on the other. This means that Avraham Avinu stood up for the truth although the entire world opposed him. This is how we must approach our avodas Hashem – with confidence that we are doing the right thing. We cannot be afraid of public opinion, of being laughed at and mocked. We need to only be embarrassed from Hashem.
The next one is Yarden, hinting to the fact that a person has to be “yirde es libo” – he should have a healthy measure of self-criticism always present in his heart. A single dose of genuine self-criticism is more effective than one hundred lashes, and that’s alluded in the word Yarden.
The third place is Bamidbar, teaching us that person has to make himself like a wilderness, like the barren desert, and that is the trait of humility. Humility is the greatest of all character traits, as the Torah praises Moshe Rabeinu, “v’ha’ish Moshe anav m’kol ha’adam al pnei ha’adama”. If one has humility, there is no reason to praise him in other things because humility includes everything.
The fourth trait is hinted to with the word ba’arava, which refers to the responsibility we have to admonish our fellow Jew when necessary. There is an aspect of humility which leads a person to refrain from rebuking; he thinks, “who am I to give mussar?” But this reasoning is wrong. “Ba’arava” comes from the word arvus, responsibility, since all yidden have a responsibility for each other. If we witness a wrongdoing, we must speak up and admonish as necessary. However, we must be careful when admonishing that our words of rebuke be given over in a way that is areiva – in a sweet way, so that the mussar achieves its intended goal of drawing our fellow yid closer to Hashem and the Torah.
The fifth place is Mol Suf, which teaches us that one has to constantly think of the day of his death, the yom hamisa. Mol suf – the end of a person and the ultimate purpose of his life should constantly be before his eyes. He has to remember that this world is just a hallway, a prozdor, and the world to come is the palace. The only way to gain entrance to the palace is by preparing oneself in the corridor, and so one must live each day with a vision of olam haba in his mind. This is our goal, and there is only one way to achieve it – by living a life of Torah.
The sixth is ben paran uben tofal; paran is from the lashon of pe’er, an expression of beauty, alluding to the well-known statement of the Chovos Halevovos that one should always appear happy even as internally he is worried about his spirituality. Tofal means plain, tasteless – symbolizing the worries that a person should be holding in his heart. These worries are of spiritual nature and are supposed to be present in a yid’s heart at all times. He should not be at peace with his current spiritual level, since he should always be striving for better and more. However, this inner worry should remain within his heart and not affect his happy appearance.
The seventh trait is vi’lavan, that one should have a pure and clean heart, as vi’lavan has the root word of lev, heart. A yid should distance himself from hatred, jealousy and negative thoughts on others, keeping his heart clean and pure.
The eighth is va’chatzeiros, referring to chatzros Hashem, the Bais Hamedrash. Like Yaakov Avinu who sat in the tents and learned Torah non-stop, a yid should aim to learn Torah consistently. Continuous and persistent learning is the key to acquiring Torah; sporadic learning can never achieve the same result.
And the last one is v’di Zahav, we should say, “Dai!”, enough, to zahav, gold. We must not be drawn to the illusions of this world; the desire for wealth and all physical pleasures. One cannot pursue physical pleasures while actively pursuing avodas Hashem – it’s either one or the other. We should train ourselves to be satisfied with basic necessities, and that is what Moshe Rabeinu was alluding to when he said v’di Zahav – meaning that one must say “enough” to gold and refrain from pursuing it. Another explanation is that whatever one has should be enough in his eyes, as though he has all the gold in the world.
The yidden journeyed through the midbar, and all of us journey through our own lives. There are many stops along the way, each one designed to bring out the best in us. Let us live by the words of this Ohr Hachaim, aspiring to reach these lofty goals that are hidden in the words of pasuk alef, Parshas Devorim.
