This Week's Torah Portion
Parashat Devarim
The weekly Torah portion — its big idea, discussion questions, and lessons already prepared.
Big Idea
Looking back at our shared journey helps us find the courage to step forward into our future with trust instead of fear.
Discussion Questions
- 1.The word 'Eichah' ('How') links Moses's administrative exhaustion in our Parsha to Isaiah's lament over social injustice in the Haftarah, and ultimately to the destruction in Lamentations. Why do you think a community's decline so often begins with the quiet erosion of daily justice rather than a sudden external threat?
- 2.Moses tells the judges to be completely impartial: 'hear out low and high alike. Fear no one.' How hard is it to be completely fair when your close friends are arguing with someone you don't know very well, or someone who isn't popular?
- 3.Moses had to choose wise helpers because there were too many people for him to guide alone. If you were picking a team of helpers to build a giant blanket fort, what qualities would you look for in your friends?
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