Devarim – Shabbat Chazon – Erev Tisha B’Av
There is a calendar match-up between the seven days of Pesach and most of the rest of the calendar, using At-Bash – an alphabetical scheme which matches alef with tav, bet with shin, gimel with reish, and so on, ending with the pair kaf and lamed. It goes as follows:
Alef-Tav: The first day of Pesach falls on the same day of the week as Tisha B’Av (and Shiv’a Asar b’Tamuz).
Bet-Shin: The second day of Pesach falls on the same day of the week as Shavuot. (So too, Yom Yerushalayim.)
Gimel-Reish: The third day of Pesach falls on the same day of the week as Rosh Hashana (Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret also).
Dalet-Kuf: The fourth day of Pesach falls on the same day as Kinyan HaTorah (i.e., Simchat Torah) in Chutz LaAretz.
Hei-Tzadi: The fifth day of Pesach falls on the same day of the week as Tzom (i.e., Yom Kippur). Same for Tzom Gedaliya, except it gets pushed off to Sunday when 3 Tishrei falls on Shabbat.
Vav-Pei: The sixth day of Pesach falls on the same day of the week as did Purim a month earlier. (Using the word Plag adds to the list that Purim and Lag Ba’Omer fall on the same day of the week.)
Zayin-Ayin: The seventh day of Pesach falls on the same day of the week as Atzma’ut (referring to 5 Iyar, although Yom Haatzma’ut often gets postponed or “preponed”).
Chanukah is the only holiday that doesn’t fit in because of the fact that there is a 30-day Marcheshvan in some years and not in others. Asara b’Tevet also doesn’t fit because of the varying Marcheshvan and Kislev number of days.
With all of that said, let’s focus on Tisha B’Av.
Tisha B’Av is like the first day of Pesach – Lo B’DU, meaning it cannot fall on a Monday (yom bet – the second day of the week), Wednesday (dalet), or Friday (vav). With Tisha B’Av we have the additional fact that even though 9 Av can fall on Shabbat, when that happens the fast is postponed to Motza’ei Shabbat through Sunday.
It follows that Tisha B’Av is observed on either Sunday, Tuesday, or Thursday.
The frequency for Sunday combines the 11.51% of years when 9 Av falls on Sunday with the 28.03% when 9 Av is Shabbat and the fast is pushed to Sunday. Thus, the total frequency of the fast being on Sunday is 39.54% (almost 40% – the most common occurrence). Tuesday weighs in at 31.89% and Thursday at 28.57%. (For more insights, there is a link on philotorah.co for a review of Shabbat Chazon and Tisha B’Av.)
Parshat Devarim is always read the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av – with Mattot and Mas’ei being combined (most often) and read separately (a rarer occurrence) to see to it that Devarim is Shabbat Chazon. This is most appropriate because Devarim contains Moshe Rabeinu’s telling the new generation poised on the threshold of Eretz Yisrael about the Sin of the Spies – that which caused a 40-year delay of the Jewish people’s entry into the Land. The Mishna in Taanit lists five calamities that occurred on the 9th of Av – and first on the list is the Sin of the Spies. The other four events on the list are all associated with the Churban (the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash). But the sad, mournful nature of Tisha B’Av began on that 9th of Av in the year 2448 to Creation, when the people cried for no good reason and Hashem said that we would have good reason to cry on that date in the future.
Parshat Devarim is average size for a sedra, with 105 pesukim (average in the Torah is a bit more than 108 pesukim). The average for the Book of Devarim is only 87 pesukim per sedra. Sefer Devarim has 11 sedras – 5 longer than Parshat Devarim and 5 shorter.
This sedra has two of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah – both related to judges, but with lessons for all of us. There are formal judges, and the rest of us, every so often, are in the position to judge – as parent, teacher, employer, family member, or friend.
Now let’s take a look at the Book of Devarim within view of the whole Chumash. Here are the numbers of sedras, pesukim, average number of pesukim per sedra, number of mitzvot, and the average number of mitzvot per sedra in each Book of the Torah:
Bereishit: 12 sedras; 1,533 pesukim; 128 pesukim per sedra (“pps”); 3 mitzvot; 0.25 mitzvot per sedra (“mps”).
Shemot: 11 sedras; 1,210 pesukim; 110 pps; 111 mitzvot; 10.1 mps.
Vayikra: 10 sedras; 859 pesukim; 86 pps; 247 mitzvot; 24.7 mps.
Bamidbar: 10 sedras; 1,288 pesukim; 129 pps; 52 mitzvot; 5.2 mps.
Devarim: 11 sedras; 956 pesukim; 87 pps; 200 mitzvot; 18.2 mps.
Taking the whole Torah together, that comes to 54 sedras; 5,846 pesukim; 108.26 pps; 613 mitzvot; and 11.35 mps.
Vayikra and Devarim’s sedras are the shortest; Bereishit and Bamidbar’s are the longest; Shemot is near average.
Vayikra and Devarim are the big mitzvah-books, with Vayikra having no sedra without mitzvot.
The whole Book of Devarim takes place in one location – Arvot Moav – in the 37 days from the first of Shevat in the 40th year of our wandering through the 7th of Adar when Moshe Rabbeinu was taken from us.
It is Moshe Rabbeinu’s farewell address to Bnei Yisrael – and what a farewell address it was!
The Vilna Gaon points to the opening pesukim of our sedra (and of the Book of Devarim) which spans five pesukim between “These are the things that Moshe spoke…” until the word leimor (saying), as containing a blueprint for the sefer. Specifically, the words dibeir (spoke), which appears twice, and the word bei-eir (explained) point to three distinct sections in Sefer Devarim.
The first section comprises the sedras of Devarim, Va’etchanan, and Eikev. In these three sedras, Moshe reviews the history of the previous 40 years and lays the foundation stones of Judaism: the Aseret HaDibrot (10 Commandments), the first two passages of Shema, and the mitzvot of Birkat HaMazon (including, by Rabbinic law, all berachot) and davening.
Then come the sedras of Re’eh, Shoftim, and Ki Teitzei (and the first part of Ki Tavo) which contain 176 mitzvot – almost 29% of the Torah’s mitzvot in 6% of the Torah’s text.
The third section is the rest of Ki Tavo, Nitzavim, Vayeilech, Ha’azinu, and Vezot HaBeracha. In these sedras we find accountability, reward and punishment, free will, the mitzvah of teshuva – all serving to give rhyme and reason to the way of life that Hashem wants for us, His People – a life of Torah, mitzvot, and chesed.
May we properly mourn Yerushalayim and be privileged to see and rejoice in its rebuilding, bimheira v’yameinu – Amen.
