Parshah Devarim
TL;DR of the Text
Moses recounted his accomplishments.
Major Themes
Religion vs. humanity
The overpopulation myth
*Important attribution note: All quotes listed in this article are credited to the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash. Here is an Extremely Clear Citation so I don’t get in trouble: Nosson Scherman, Hersh Goldwurm, Avie Gold, & Meir Zlotowitz. (2015). The Chumash: the Torah, Haftaros and Five Megillos. Mesorah Publications, Ltd.
Deuteronomy 2: 33-34*
“Hashem, our God, gave him before us, and we smote him and his sons and his entire people. We captured all his cities at that time, and we destroyed every populated city, with the women and small children; we did not leave a survivor.”My partner grew up without religion, so he has a different mindset than I do when it comes to religious topics (He also edits this blog - hi, honey!).
It’s understandably difficult for him to grasp why religious people are so closed-minded. The religious texts are so obviously genocidal, so violent, so inhumane! If people were just more open-minded, they’d see the truth about how disgusting these stories are!
The hard part, I tell him, is that the vast majority of religious people are not dogmatic. In fact, most religious people spend 95% of their daily lives doing everything they can to ignore their religion and its requirements. From the Christian parents who accept their gay children to the Senegalese moms who refuse to perform FGM on their daughters*, day in and day out, billions of religious people perform daily actions that they perceive to be a flagrant violation of their religions.
(*FGM is not a religious requirement in Islam, but many cultures believe it’s a religious requirement, so the point still stands.)
In spite of the incredible fear instilled in us by religion, most of the time, humanity wins. If we have to choose between a hurtful but religiously correct action vs. a religiously incorrect but humane action, the vast majority of us choose the latter, which is really quite amazing, considering the depth of religious fear.
No matter how strong our religious beliefs are, when it comes to our actions, they often pale in comparison to our love for the people who share this planet. 9.5 times out of 10, our intrinsic morality wins over our religion. We may excuse it, find ways to reframe it, or ignore it entirely, but no matter what, we still choose our fellow people.
Most parents still choose their gay children. Even if people aren’t comfortable with it because it grates against their religious beliefs, when confronted with the choice between religious purity and their children’s love, they’ll choose love.
Solidarity is a hard thing to break. People have been trying since we crawled out of the caves, but they haven’t succeeded yet.
Deuteronomy 3: 3-4*
“Hashem, our God, gave into our hand also Og king of the Bashan and his entire people, and we smote him until no survivor was left of him. We captured all his cities at that time; there was no city that we did not take from them.” Our planet has more than enough land for everyone. No one needs to be a colonist. Even with our highways, oil refineries, ludicrous water-based sewage systems, and private lawns and pools, there is STILL enough land for everyone. Imagine what would happen if we switched from a private luxury/public poverty model to a public luxury model. We’d have so much land we wouldn’t even know what to do with it. (What we definitely should not do with it is continue a water-based sewage system instead of one based on composting.)
We don’t have an overpopulation crisis; we have a consumption crisis.
We have to obliterate the concept of might = right. We don’t need to disturb people living peacefully on their land. There’s enough land!!
Deuteronomy 3:22*
“You shall not fear them, for Hashem, your God - He shall wage war for you.” Militaristic from the beginning.
*Again with the Extremely Clear Citation so I don’t get in trouble: Nosson Scherman, Hersh Goldwurm, Avie Gold, & Meir Zlotowitz. (2015). The Chumash : the Torah, Haftaros and Five Megillos. Mesorah Publications, Ltd.
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