Dvarim

At the beginning of the book of Devarim, Moses reviews the history of the Israelites’ experience in the wilderness, starting with the appointment of leaders throughout the people, heads of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

This week's Torah portion reveals that the entirety of Jewish history, with all its uplifting joys and terrible hardships, was determined in advance.

Rav Yaakov Moshe Harlop, a venerated student of Rav Kook and one of the heads of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav after his teacher's death, often spoke of the contemporary phenomenon of baalei teshuvah, returnees to Torah observance. The problem was that this was far from a widespread trend at the time – 80 years ago, give or take – and his students wondered what he was referring to. On the contrary, it seemed that society in the Land of Israel was deteriorating towards secularism...