The Torah/Devarim

Questions Here are a few of the questions that the Rabbis raised about this Torah reading: Why did Moses include the stories that he did from the Israelites’ history, while skipping others?Menachem Leibtag. “Questions for self study for Sefer Devarim.” At http://www.tanach.org/dvarim.htm Why did Moses start his address in Deuteronomy 1:1 by listing names of places?Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 32a; The Sapirstein Edition Rashi: The Torah with Rashi's Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated: Devarim/Deuteronomy. Edited by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg. Vol. 5, at 2. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1997. 0-89906-030-7. How does the story of the appointment of judges, first told at Exodus 18:13–26, differ when Moses retells it, in Deuteronomy 1:9–18?Pardes from Jerusalem. Why did Moses bring up the topic of the judges in Deuteronomy 1:9–18 at the point in his speech that he did? Does this relate to the commandments that he will teach in his main speech?Menachem Leibtag. “Questions for self study for Sefer Devarim.” At http://www.tanach.org/dvarim.htm Does God alone fulfill the promise of Deuteronomy 1:10 that Jews will become as numerous as “the stars of heaven”?Elie Kaplan Spitz. “On the Use of Birth Surrogates.” New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 1997. EH 1:3.1997b. Reprinted in Responsa: 1991–2000: The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement. Edited by Kassel Abelson and David J. Fine, 529, 535–36. New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 2002. 0-916219-19-4. How big was the bureaucracy of the heads of tribes, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of tens, and officers”?Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 18a. What does the Torah mean in Deuteronomy 1:16 by the instruction to “judge righteously”?Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 7b. How does the story of the spies, first told in Numbers 13:1–14:45, differ when Moses retells it, in Deuteronomy 1:19–45?Pardes from Jerusalem. Does the Torah ever exaggerate?Babylonian Talmud Chullin 90b, Tamid 29a. What’s the connection between parshah Devarim and Tisha B'Av?Mishnah Taanit 4:6; Babylonian Talmud Taanit 26b, 29a. Does God punish people for the actions that they take before they reach age 20?Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 89b. If God forbade the Israelites from occupying the territory of Ammon and Moab in Deuteronomy 2:9–19, how could the Israelites acquire the land of Ammon and Moab that Sihon had conquered?Numbers 21:26; Judges 11:13–23; Babylonian Talmud Gittin 38a. While the generation of the wilderness died out, did God communicate with Moses?Babylonian Talmud Taanit 30b, Bava Batra 121a–b. Why did Sihon resist the Israelites’ passage through Sihon’s territory? What does it mean that God hardened Sihon’s heart?Numbers Rabbah 19:29. Once God instructed Moses to begin to drive Sihon out, why did Moses send Sihon a message of peace? Is there an obligation to try to make peace even in a war of necessity?The Sapirstein Edition Rashi, at 35–36. Torah With Ramban's Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated: Devarim/Deuteronomy. Edited by Nesanel Kasnett, Yaakov Blinder, Yisroel Schneider, Leiby Schwartz, Nahum Spirn, Yehudah Bulman, Aron Meir Goldstein, and Feivel Wahl. Vol. 7, at 65–67. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2008. 1-4226-0114-5. Why were the tribes of Reuben and Gad to fight at the vanguard?The Sapirstein Edition Rashi, at 43. Notes