Matt Feldman’s Bar Mitzah Speech

We just had a Bar Mitzvah at BHC!
Here is Matt Feldman’s speech

D’var Torah on parshat vaEt’hanan – Matt Feldman
presented to the Bethlehem Hebrew Congregation on 15 Av 5781 / 24 July 2021

Shabbat Shalom!!!

My Torah portion is parshat Va’etchanan from Deuteronomy, the fifth and final book of the Torah. It opens with the painful words, “And I pleaded.” These words are spoken by Moses as he describes to the people his disappointment at not being allowed to cross the Jordan River with them in order to enter the Promised Land.

The parsha is a continuation of his last long speech to b’nei Yisrael, the Israelites, while they are camped in a valley on the east side of the river.  He tells them to observe all the mitzvot, or commandments, given by G-d and reminds them about their experience at Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai, where they received the Ten Commandments. But when he recites the Ten Commandments here in this parshah, the words he uses are somewhat different from those that he has shared with b’nei Yisrael in the Book of Exodus. 

Why? I wondered why Moses felt the need to change G-d’s own words? It turns out that I am not the only one who has wondered about how the Ten Commandments evolved from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Even ancient commentators were puzzled, especially because a few of the changes in the two versions are significant. For example, in the Exodus version, the fourth commandment says only to remember Shabbat, which we can do by reciting the blessings for this special day aloud. But here in parshat Va’etchanan, Moses tells the people to keep Shabbat, which implies that we should do certain things on that day. If you look at the carving of the Ten Commandments above the aron kodesh, the ark, behind me, you will see that the version from Exodus is used. 

Another example of an important difference can be seen in the tenth commandment. The Exodus version only prohibits someone from acting on the desire to take another’s wife, servants, house, or belongings. It does not require the higher standard set here in Deuteronomy, where it seems to be saying that we may not even think or daydream about desiring what belongs to another. 

The Midrash, a collection of ancient explanations for parts of the Torah that are difficult to understand, includes a suggestion that the version of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus was written by the hand of G-d on the tablets that Moses smashed. Remember that he broke them in anger when he came down from Mt. Sinai and saw the people dancing around the golden statue of a calf.  According to one midrash, the version here in my Torah portion is considered to be the second version, the one that Moses wrote down himself at G-d’s command.

Another ancient commentator suggests that G-d first offered the Torah to all the nations of the world, but that they rejected it. This leads to the idea that the Ten Commandments in Exodus are what they would have looked like if all nations had wished to accept the Torah and live by it. According to this interpretation, the version in Deuteronomy is for the Jewish people alone. 

Other commentaries interpret the differences in the Ten Commandments by taking into account the most obvious difference between the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy: the fact that Deuteronomy is Moses’ own telling of the other four books of the Torah, which the Jewish tradition says were spoken by G-d through Moses.  Therefore, the Exodus version is how G-d himself said it, while Deuteronomy tells how Moses recounted it. 

I would like to add another interpretation. In my opinion, miracles like the parting of the Red Sea, and the manna that appeared in the desert for the Israelites to eat, are over now,(pause) and they’ve been over since Moses struck the rock to get water, back in the Book of Numbers. This makes me think about how things change or evolve over time, and of how the Jewish people have had to evolve and cope with the fact that miracles, without human involvement, may no longer  happen. We need to know how to live with this fact!

If I may add, I think Moses realizes that his authority is at stake. Because until this point, Moses spoke to the people with G-d’s own words, doing everything G-d told him to do, like bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, sharing the Ten Commandments with them, and teaching them how to live according to all the other mitzvot, other commandments, both in the desert and eventually in their promised land. But once G-d told him he was not going to make it to the promised land, he realized they would need to hear some of these ideas in stronger language. And so, for instance, he now spoke in a way that would make the Israelites not only think about Shabbat, but do it every week. And this is why in my Torah portion he tells them to keep Shabbat, rather than just remember it. In addition, Moses is afraid that the Israelites will start to desire what they don’t have, so he adds to the tenth commandment a phrase about controlling your emotions, in this case the emotion of desire, coming from jealousy.

Although we are used to seeing this (point to the ten commandments behind and above) version of the ten commandments from Exodus. It is very important to remember the version from Deuteronomy as well, a reminder that we live in a world where we are all partners with G-d, and must help make our own miracles.

I would like to thank, of course, Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum, President Dave Goldstone, Vice Presidents Martin Kessel, Jack Karp, & Leslie Dreier. 

Thank you also to all the members of Bethlehem Hebrew Congregation.

I would also like to thank my parents, Cyre & Michael Feldman, for putting this event together with the Congregation. I would like to thank and acknowledge my family for traveling 149.9 Miles via I-93 N to come to my Bar Mitzvah.

Shabbat Shalom!!!