Again, because it falls during the summer, we rarely hear about or study this portion. Within the portion is a total accounting of each leg of the journey from Egypt, with the location of each and every pit-stop along the way. It is, for this next generation, an accounting of their parents' historic 40 year journey.
Take the time to read the next section which gives, in excruciatingly minute detail the boundaries of God's "promised land" ... This part of the Torah is a legal document, and gives the exact lines of demarcation of the new country where the Jews are to live.
After being given their new map, God goes on to explain how they need to conquer the land. Given the current state of affairs in Israel, it is extremely unsettling to read the ancient dictate:
51 Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 you shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land; you shall destroy all their figured objects; you shall destroy all their molten images, and you shall demolish all their cult places. 53And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have assigned the land to you to possess.
....But if you do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land, those whom you allow to remain shall be stings in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land in which you live; 56
As the French say, "the more things change, the more they stay the same."
Please remember the State of Israel in your thoughts and prayers.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rose
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