Everything Has Consequences

It is no mere liturgical coincidence that Parshat Devarim always falls on the Shabbat preceding Tisha b’Av, the day that marks the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, the devastation of Jerusalem, and, with it, the loss of Judean sovereignty. Rabbinic tradition recognized a literary and theological connection between this opening parashah of Sefer Devarim, its haftarah, Hazon Yeshayahu, and Megillat Eicha, the Book of Lamentations, which is read on Tisha b’Av.

This connection is articulated in a well-known midrash that opens Midrash Eicha Rabbah (1:1):

“How does the greatly crowded city sit alone? She has become like a widow. Great among the nations, a princess among the states: She has become a vassal” (Lamentations 1:1).

“How [eikha] does she sit [alone]?” Three prophets employed the term eikha: Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Moshe said: “How [eikha] can I bear alone…” (Deuteronomy 1:12). Yeshayahu (Isaiah) said: “How [eikha] did the faithful city become a harlot?” (Isaiah 1:21). Yermiyahu (Jeremiah) said: “How [eikha] does the greatly crowded city sit alone?” (Lamentations 1:1).

Rabbi Levi said: This is analogous to a noblewoman who had three friends. One saw her in her tranquility, one saw her in her corruption, and one saw her in her disgrace. Similarly, Moshe saw Israel in its glory and tranquility and said: “How [eikha] can I bear alone your troubles?” Yeshayahy saw Israel in its moral decline and said: “How [eikha] did the faithful city become a harlot?” Yermiyahu saw Israel in its disgrace and said: “How [eikha] does the greatly crowded city sit alone?”

Sefer Devarim, as a whole, represents Moshe’s final message to Israel, delivered both before his death and before the people enter the Promised Land. The Torah introduces Moshe’s final address with the words:

“These are the words (eleh hadvarim) that Moshe spoke” (Deuteronomy 1:1).

For the sages, these opening words contain a deeper connection to the themes of rebuke and national destiny that define this season. In the earliest rabbinic midrash on the book, Sifre Devarim, the sages draw out of this phrase a characterization of Moshe’s final address:

“Now, did Moses prophesy only these? Did he not write the entire Torah? For it is said: ‘Now Moses wrote this Torah’ (Deuteronomy 31:9). What, then, does the Torah mean by saying, ‘These are the words that Moses spoke’? It teaches that these [but not all] are words of rebuke, for it is said in Moses’ final song: ‘Then Jeshurun grew fat and kicked’ (Deuteronomy 32:15).” (Sifre Devarim 1, Finkelstein ed., p. 1)

In this midrash, Moshe is portrayed as Israel’s foremost prophet, whose words of admonition were intended to shape the destiny of Israel as a nation. As he recounts the nations whose lands Israel passed through and conquered, Moshe conveys a powerful message:

And in Seir the Horites used to dwell, and the sons of Esav dispossessed them and destroyed them in their onslaught and dwelled in their stead, as Israel did to the land of its inheritance which the Lord gave them. (Ibid. 2:12)

Implicit in this verse is the idea that nations do not endure simply because of their power or success. Their continued existence is conditional upon their moral behavior. The nations that Israel encountered lost their place in history because they failed to uphold the values necessary for their survival and the well-being of their citizens.

This message, expressed both implicitly and explicitly throughout Sefer Devarim, Moshe’s final address, becomes a central theme of the prophetic tradition, as we are reminded by the prophets, Yeshayahu and Yermiyahu who follows him. The words of Moshe are not merely a historical reflection on Israel’s past; they are a warning and a challenge, a reminder that the destiny of all of us, indeed, every nation, not just Israel, is bound to the choices it makes.