Parashat Devarim by Jeroen Reuven Bours

How to speak in public. Among many different things this week’s Parasha teaches us, is how to speak in public. Just by looking at the way Moshe Rabbenu addresses Bnei Israel in this week’s Parasha - versus how he addressed them 38 years ago at Mount Sinai. The greatest similarity in this week’s speech is again the negating of the possibility to enter the promised land anytime soon. Nachmanides analyzes it as follows; When Moshe came down from Sinai, he digressed from his original intended speech. He wished to indicate that the children of Israel had been given the order to go up and conquer the promised land immediately after receiving the Torah, but that their sins had brought on them various setbacks. After this digression, Moshe returns to his originally intended speech with the words: “Hear O Israel, the statutes…” and continues with expounding the law, the ten commandments and the unity of G’d. This kind of twist is often called in the business and political world as ‘managing expectations’. Coming down from Mount Sinai, Moshe understood fully well that this first generation had sinned and wasn’t ready to live by the new Torah let alone be worthy to enter the promised land. The best thing to do in such a case is to change the opening of your intended speech a bit by getting the bad news out of the way first, after which, the rest of the intended speech may follow. Now, in this week’s Parasha, 38 years later, Moshe finds himself standing in front of the first and second generation and has to deliver the same grave news. Abarvanel wonders why Moshe confines his words of reproof of Bnei Israel’s unworthiness to enter the promised land, to the story of the spies only. Moshe could have easily referred to the golden calf - the major sin of their parents, and then to the story of the spies, the new sin of the children. The answer comes from Rabbi David Hoffman who points out that Moshe wanted to point out the parallels of the situation. For his address this week, Moshe can point to history instead of just law. He can draw the similarities between the sinning and therefore unworthiness of the parents and the unworthiness of their children. Any modern speech writer will let you know that an ‘I-told-you-so-moment’ does not make for a compelling argument. Blame is not an argument. Blame is not even a lesson. In this week’s address, Moshe points out to facts, to the historic proof of a mistake being made twice. This new generation has only to learn the lesson of history. Had Moshe relied on a tirade of blame, he could have used the sin of the golden calf - a sin that directly opposes the lessons of the Torah and the Ten Commandments. But Moshe is the ultimate speechwriter. He knows quite well that a 38-year old example, or mistake by their parents wouldn’t resonate here. All he has to do is to use the present day sin: the story of the spies. There are are two expressions that Rashi compares as a difference in behavior between the first and second generation. Rashi points out that by comparing the words ‘ Ye came near every one of you’ - as is written of how the spies approached Moshe before going out to the land, is an unruly way of behavior. It meant that there was no order in coming together and that people pushed themselves to be near to Moshe. At the revelation of the Torah however, the phrase: “Ye came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes and your elders.” - refers to an orderly behavior. Here, the children let their parents go first, and the elders let the heads of the Tribes go first. An experienced speech-giver like Moshe knew that this audience is a different audience compared to 38 years ago. It’s an unruly group of people. Moshe knows how “to read the room”, something a good public speaker needs to know. That alone may be the reason why his address is different from his address 38 years ago. And that’s how this Parsha, among other things, became a lesson in how to speak in public.