Yes, You are loved - Devarim 5786

Moshe’s physical time on Earth was coming to an end.  He spent the last 40 days of his life preparing the Jewish people for their new life in Israel without his personal leadership.  Like a loving leader and shepherd, he reviewed the laws that would keep our people through all the lifecycles and challenges of the future.  He also talked about their missteps, and sometimes it can sound harsh.  But when we look a little deeper, with the perspective that Moshe had sacrificed so much for his people even when they had sinned, we can see the love in his words.  

An example of his devotion to his people was after they had sinned with the Golden Calf, worshipping an idol 40 days after Hashem had revealed himself to them at Mount Sinai.  Hashem had threatened to annihilate them and make Moshe himself the patriarch of a new nation.  Moshe asked Hashem “if [you don’t forgive them] erase me from your book.”  The Torah which was Moshe’s great life’s accomplishment was less important to him than the people who had committed such an egregious sin.  So if we see what seem to be harsh words, it makes sense to recognize that they are actually words of love. 

Rashi says this at the beginning of the Parsha, regarding Moshe’s obscure references of names of places, some of which don;t seem to exist (Devarim 1:1):  “Since these are words of reproof and Moses lists here all the places where they angered the Omnipresent, he did not explicitly mention the issues but merely alluded to them, out of respect for Israel.”  He hinted at their sins with “places” like Lava, Tofel, Di-zahav, so as not to cause them embarrassment.  

A little later in the Parsha, Moshe talks about the aftermath of the spies’ returning from their tour of Israel and frightening the people (Devarim 1:27):  “You slandered in your tents, and said, ‘Out of G-d’s hatred of us, He took us out of Egypt, to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to annihilate us.”  This sounds like a pretty strong condemnation.  Let’s go a little deeper and see what Rashi says:  Out of G-d’s hatred of us. He really loved you, but it was you who hated Him. As the common saying goes: “Whatever you feel about your friend is what you imagine he feels about you.”  In other words, Hashem actually loves them, but they hated Him and so they imagined that He hated them.

Why did they think Hashem hated them?  The next Rashi explains that they felt that Hashem’s taking them out of Egypt was motivated by hatred.  Egypt, they felt, was a much more fertile land than Israel because it was watered by the flooding of the Nile river.  In fact, the truth was the opposite, as the Torah says:  “For the land to which you are coming to possess is not like the land of Egypt, out of which you came, where you sowed your seed and which you watered by foot, like a vegetable garden.  But the land, to which you pass to possess, is a land of mountains and valleys and absorbs water from the rains of heaven.”  Much better and easier.  So this was slander, and Moshe called them out for it.  So where do we see the love?

Well, the Rebbe points out, Moshe is really telling the people how much Hashem loves them!  Even though they slandered Hashem and felt hatred for Him in their hearts to the extent that they thought that He hated them, nevertheless Hashem actually loved them.  Moshe is telling us that there is nothing that will stop Hashem’s love for us, and if we feel He hates us, that is just a product of our own negative feelings.

This message is especially poignant at this time.  On Wednesday we entered the “Nine Days,” when we mourn the destruction of the Holy Temples.  From the first of Av until the ninth, and half a day on the tenth, we refrain from eating meat or drinking wine (except on Shabbat), laundering clothes, and certain other activities in order to remind us of the bitterness of the exile and motivate us to work to bring Moshiach.  The reason we were exiled, our Sages teach, is because of our sins, especially hatred among our people.  We might think that Hashem hates us because of our negative actions that led to our loss of independence and all the harrowing pain of exile.  Moshe tells us in Parshat Devarim, that we always read on the Shabbat of the Nine Days, that no, Hashem loves us no matter what.

The people thought that Hashem hated them because they felt hatred in their hearts.  If they would know that Hashem truly loved them, they would respond with love to Him.  King Solomon said in Proverbs (27:19) “As in water, face answers to face, so is the heart of a person to a person.”  The reflection of our face in the water mirrors the expression on our face.  Similarly, a person’s heart reflects the feelings of the other.  This is true also in our relationship with Hashem.  When we recognize and feel Hashem’s love for us, this should reflect in our relationship with Him.  

When we love Hashem, this also translates into loving our fellow, because we love the one whom our beloved loves.  And when we express our love to Hashem in our thought, speech and action, as well as our love for one another, this will bring Hashem’s love for us in a more revealed way.  The Nine days, including Tisha B’Av, will then be days of rejoicing, as we celebrate in the third Holy Temple.