This week, Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship does a somewhat different combination of the recent ‘double-parsha,’ and combines the end of the Book of Numbers (Masei, Numbers 33 through the end of the Book) with the first parsha, Debarim (Deuteronomy\/Debarim 1 through 3:22) in the final Book of the Torah, of that same name. Both have to do with a bit of a recap, as the children of Israel begin to – finally – complete their 40 years b’midbar – in the wilderness – and prepare to enter the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Debarim is vital, and different in many ways, from the rest of the Torah. In large measure, it is not only the last chapter of Moses’ life, but his ‘farewell address.’ And, as Mark never misses pointing out, it is THE most quoted Book by the American Founders during the entire Revolutionary Era. And fundamental to the ‘English – and then American – Common Law.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Erev Shabbat summary and reading of the text:<\/p>\n\n\n\n