A thought on Parshas Devarim

"...v'hin'chem ha'yom..." "...and here you are today..." (1:10) Moshe Rabbeinu reviews the events of forty years in the wilderness, contrasting how the group of slaves had now become a great nation. "Just look at us now!" he seems to say in our verse. "Once we were forlorn and today we are mighty and proud!" This is one way of understanding the grammatical use of the word "ha'yom" which literally means "the day." In context we understand that it means today. However, we might ponder the use of the word with its literal sense. What would the Torah, through Moshe, intend by saying that "and here you are the day?" Rabbeinu Avigdor makes this very observation, and offers some ideas. In a sense, we Jews are, or are meant to be, "the day." That is, we have things in common with daytime. Just as the world cannot function without the day (by virtue of earth's orbit and rotation, and by virtue of the necessity of having light with its many healthy and practical functions), so too the world is not supposed to exist without its Jewish presence. We bring light, in many ways, to civilization and to society. We are meant to be shining examples. We are meant to blaze the trailways out of cultural and moral darkness. Hence, we are the day, as Moshe states. Moreover, suggests Rabbeinu Avigdor, we also are the spiritual equivalent to the day through our study of Torah and our performance of mitzvos. The world needs our avoda through Torah and adherence to HaShem's plan. As our sages teach (Avos 1:2), these are the very pillars upon which the world depends. Without them, there can be no existence. Day (and night, and time itself) would be meaningless and would cease were HaShem's Torah to be forgotten. We give the whole universe its light of day. Personally, I would consider adding to this pshat the fact that our verse goes on to say "(and you are the day) like the many stars of the heaven." It is possible to maintain the interpretation of Rabbeinu Avigdor and to carry it further: we are the day, and just as the stars of the heaven also cast light when the sky is dark, the Jewish people are expected to shine on even in exile, even when the world around us is in its darkest hours. We are the day which the world needs, and even when there is no day light, the points of illumination which we cast through keeping Torah and observance strong can never be extinguished. It cannot stop. We are shining stars. Even when the world is in a daze, we are its days. Good Shabbos. D Fox