Devarim exceprts

דברים

Shabbat Shalom

Moshe begins his speech. After letting the Jewish people know that he cannot go with them anymore, because they messed up and ruined Moshe's life, he reviews the concept of setting up a system of leaders and judges. I know you depend on your rabbi for every little thing, because you are lazy... There is a reason this synagogue only has one glorious leader, whose life you are ruining, because you people have no real belief in Gd...You all fear that you might not have a job- wha, wha, wha...You still won't pay your dues

Before continuing with the Mitzvot/commandments and how we must act, Moshe says

1:17- Do not fear from man 'Because judgment is H's'

The end of man is in the ground, filled with dust, dirt, maggots (Pirkei Avot). Kind of like the way the hallway of this shule looks, because nobody wants to hire a maintenance man. No fear of H' and His judgement...you fear manual labor.

There is a calling greater than ours. Sometimes we have to take a stand. Menachem, your suit is disgustingly tacky...And it was at that time, when we were commanded to have the leaders and to judge without fear, that Moshe commanded us all, what we should do. Only then, when we can freely know what is right or wrong based on the non-fear of a person, are we ready to hear the mitzvot and put them into practice.

When you feel like what you are doing is right, you have no fear. No matter how messed up your opinion is...You do it. As wrong as you are, you do it...The kiddush last week...Couldn't even wish a mazel tov. There was nothing tasty or good....The devar Torah which went on and on...And it kept going on....Menachem, you invested in Micronox- the company's name said failure, but you put down $80,000, with no fear. You did not fear the stock market and looked like an idiot for doing so...Belief in Gd, maybe- as that is the only way anybody would put $80,000 down on a company like Micronox. What about paying for your child's education at the Jewish day school? No. Because you do not fear man. You will not give into 

That is why fear of Gd needs to be understood, and we must not mistranslate fear of man and be a Menachem.

Moshe comes right back with a 'now that you understand that judgment is H's, these are his commandments.' You can't just do what you want and call it H's way.

If we know it is H', then we know it is correct. We are then able to do what is right- practice the Mitzvot. Once we have proper judgment in place, we are ready to for the mitzvot. When you fear Gd, you believe in Gd. When you fear the stock market, you believe in a broker who knows absolutely nothing, taking away a percentage of the earnings he lost for me last year...

If we have fear of man, we cannot practice the Mitzvot. If we fear man, we must work on Shabbat, like Menachem, who is running right back to lose more money for his clients today. If we know that judgement is H's and look at the beauty of life and how we are going to be eaten up by maggots, then we can practice the mitzvot correctly and cut the bushes in front of this shule.

But we must first learn to no fear man, so that- like your rabbi- you can share the moral code of the mitzvot with other people...not like Menachem.