Everyone who strives to understand the Torah has no fear in the spiritual or physical worlds. By learning, his soul has nourishment, and he is physically protected by its advice as to how to repent and return to his Master. Even if death has been decreed to him, it, and all other bad decrees, can be abolished.
Thus Hezekiah, a King learned in Torah, was healed in its merit and given an extra 15 years of life, even though the prophet Isaiah had informed him of his impending death.
In the beginning of this Torah portion, Moses tells the Jewish people that G-d got angry at him for praying so much to be allowed into the land of Israel. The Hebrew word used here for "became angry", "yitaber", is unusual, and is etymologically derived from the word for "pregnancy", "ibur".
When the righteous pass away, they serve as channels of divine influence to the followers they had when they were alive. In this sense, G-d acts through (or is "enclothed in") these righteous individuals and He becomes, so to speak, impregnated with them and His Divine beneficence is channeled through their souls.
The mystical meaning of the verse "And G-d became angry with me because of you" in this context is: "And G-d became impregnated within me on your account - for on account of your sins I was gathered up from this world before my time."
When the Holy Temple was standing during King Solomon's reign, G-d's majesty consisted of 24 letters; when it will be rebuilt it will again consist of 24 letters. This is what is meant in the verse "I shall make your battlements of rubies [in Hebrew, "kadkod ", which can be understood as meaning 'twice 24']."
In the messianic future, we have the number 72 (24 X 3), i.e. the Ineffable Name spelled fully as words. G-d's name will then be whole and His light will be displayed in all its power.
When we add to the words of the Shema Yisrael the twenty-four letters (in Hebrew) of the formula "May the Majesty of His glorious kingdom be blessed forever", we express our absolute faith in this future display of G-d's majesty and experience a faint echo of an affinity to the Hereafter.
In the first verse of this Torah portion, Moses recalls his prayer to G-d that he be allowed to enter the Land. He is denied and instructed to empower Joshua as the new leader "for he shall inherit the land for them".
Listening to a teacher is a much different experience than hearing his student, since the concept is so clear in the teacher's mind. On its deepest level, this is similar to the difference between sight and hearing. In Kabbala, Moses, the transmitter of G-d's wisdom, exemplifies sight.
Moses wished to impart to his people a higher perspective when he asked G-d permission to see the Land and thereby bestow that vision upon it. Even after being told that Joshua would lead them into
the Land, he still wished to enter the Land and see it for this purpose.
This Torah portion opens with Moses' description of how, at the end of the forty-year detour in the desert, he pleaded with G-d again to let him enter the Land of Israel, and how G-d refused that the Jewish people to be granted Moses' level of spiritual perception.
Moses knew that the generation standing before him was not on the same level of spiritual perception as was the preceding generation, who had witnessed the miracles of the Exodus and the giving of the Torah. He wanted to accompany them into the Land in order to boost their divine consciousness to give them the strength to conquer the Land in the fullest, most spiritual sense.
Rashi brings two commentaries on the first word of this week's Torah portion, "Ve'etchanan": The first is related to the concept of a free - in Hebrew, "chinam" - gift, referring to Moses' request of G-d to allow him to enter Israel without being judged - even if he didn't deserve it. The second is that "ve'etchanan" is one of the ten words for prayer used in the Torah.
Chassidut explains that a Jew can break out of the boundaries of their abilities and characteristics by receiving a ray of divine light, a "free gift", through the study of Torah. "ve'etchanan" can refer to both "prayer" and the "free" gift
that Torah brings in reaching above worldly heights.
In Spain, the king's advisor learns the meaning of "Hear O Israel"
Shabbat Shalom.
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