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ושננתם לבניך ודברת בם בשבתך בביתך ובלכתך בדרך ובשכבך ובקומך

And impress them sharply upon your sons, and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk upon the way; when you lie down, and when you get up. (6:7)

A simple reading of the pasuk implies that one is to teach the commandments to his children/students, who are considered like his children. He should also speak words of Torah, with the primary topic of his conversation always being Torah-oriented. Last, he should occupy himself with Torah at all times: when he is in his home: or when he is traveling: at night when he lays down to sleep; and when he arises in the morning – Torah must be his primary focus in life. Perhaps, we might apply writer’s license to interpret the pesukim as an orientation for parents…

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ואהבת את ד' אלקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך

You shall love Hashem, your G-d, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your resources. (6:5)

In his thesis on ahavas Hashem, love of the Almighty, Horav Eliezer Papo, zl, author of the Pele Yoetz, writes, “Love for Hashem – there is no quality/virtue better than it, for all service to Hashem, and (indeed) all Yahadus, Judaism, is derived from it.” Loving Hashem is one of the Taryag, 613, mitzvos. It is a constant mitzvah, one which is fulfilled only through thought and contemplation, resulting in a person’s awareness of Hashem’s beneficence and all that he owes Him. The Pele Yoetz writes that love of Hashem takes on two different forms or dimensions. The first, which…

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אז יבדיל משה שלש ערים

At that time, Moshe designated three cities. (4:41)

In Sefer Mishlei 24:30-33, Shlomo HaMelech teaches us the inevitable consequence of indolence. Al sadeh ish atzeil avarti, “By the field of a lazy person I passed and behold, it was entirely covered with thorns, its face covered with weeds, and its wall of stones was in ruins. I saw, and I took a lesson: a little sleep, a little dreaming, a little folding of the hands to rest; your poverty will come racing after you.” The wisest of all men tells us that it does not take much. A little slacking off, and one gets into the habit. Habit…

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וצו את יהושע וחזקהו ואמצהו כי הוא יעבר לפני העם והוא ינחיל אותם את הארץ

But you shall command Yehoshua, and strengthen him and give him resolve, for he shall cross before this people and he shall cause them to inherit the Land. (3:28)

Upon a cursory reading of the text, the phrase, “For he shall cross before this people,” is superfluous in light of the following phrase, “And he shall cause them to inherit the Land.” Clearly, if Yehoshua was leading the nation in Eretz Yisrael, he would cross before they did. In his Aderes Eliyahu, Horav Yosef Chaim zl, m’Bagdad, distinguishes the leadership characteristics of Yehoshua’s from that of his Rebbe and predecessor, Moshe Rabbeinu. Yehoshua “crossed” before the nation, very much like a monarch who precedes his people. Moshe, on the other hand, was a roeh, shepherd, who led from “behind.”…

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