D'varim:

Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22

OVERVIEW

This Parsha begins the last of the Five Books of The Torah, Sefer Devarim. (Deuteronomy) This Book is also called Mishneh Torah, "the Repetition of the Torah" (hence the Greek/English title Deuteronomy). Sefer Devarim relates what Moses told the Bnei Yisrael during the last five weeks of his life, as they prepared to cross the Jordan into Eretz Yisrael. Moses reviews the mitzvos, stressing the change of lifestyle they are about to undergo: From the supernatural existence of the desert under Moses's guidance to the apparently natural way of life they will experience under Joshua's leadership in Eretz Yisrael. The central theme this week is the sin of the spies, the meraglim. The Parsha opens with Moses hinting to the sins of the previous generation who died in the desert. He describes what would have happened if they hadn't sinned by sending spies into Eretz Yisrael. Hashem would have given them all of the land from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates including the lands of Ammon, Moav, and Edom without a fight. He details the subtle sins that culminate in the sin of the spies, and reviews at length the sin of the spies, and its results: The entire generation would die in the desert, Moses would not enter Eretz Yisrael. He reminds them that their immediate reaction to Hashem's decree was to want to "go up and fight" to redress the sin; he recounts how they wouldn't listen when he told them not to go, that they no longer merited vanquishing their enemies miraculously. They ignored him and suffered a massive defeat. They were not allowed to fight with the kingdoms of Esav, Moav or Ammon -- these lands were not to be part of the map of Eretz Yisrael in the meantime. When the conquest of Canaan will begin with Sichon and Og, it will be via natural warfare.

Overview courtesy of Rabbis Newman and Sinclair, Ohr Somayach