Jewish Recovery Thought - Dvarim

Dvarim

“These are the words that Moses spoke to the entire people of Israel.”
Deuteronomy 1:1.

The book of Deuteronomy begins Moses’ final address to the Jewish people before entering the Land: “These are the words that Moses spoke to the entire people of Israel.” Unlike the rest of the Five Books of Moses, which are “the word of G-d,” the words of Deuteronomy are attributed to Moses. That does not mean, forfend, that this book is of mortal invention, but rather that Moses delivered these words through divine inspiration. In the first four books of the Torah, Moses merely took direct dictation from G-d, precisely relaying each word without regard to his own understanding. The words of the Book of Deuteronomy, however, were first integrated into Moses’ own consciousness. This does not mean that the content of this book is somehow diluted or compromised by having passed through mortal understanding. Rather, what it means is that Moses achieved such a level at which G-d’s word could be faithfully transmitted not just through his mouth but also through his brain.

And there is a reason why this fusion of mortal and G-dly intelligence occurred when it did, in the days just prior to entering the Land.

After forty years of wandering in the desert, protected by miracles, the people were poised to meet their destiny and to face the “real world.” They would need to be able to apply the most rarefied spiritual concepts to ordinary life. In other words, they needed to hear G-d’s word integrated within and conveyed through human intellect.

As a rabbi, I have personally wondered how it is that the very same thought that I had come across in my studies couldn’t help me overcome my alcoholism, but when heard spoken – in slightly different words – by another alcoholic, had a profound and transformative effect. If G-d’s own word hadn’t worked on me, how could the word of a mere mortal? The answer, of course, is that this was G-d’s word – as understood and communicated by another human being who shares my disease. “G-d speaks through people,” we have often heard. Spiritual concepts are worth little to us in fending with everyday life if we never hear them spoken in simple, human terms, filtered through the mortal, finite mind of another alcoholic.