Blessings to Infinity and Beyond (Parshat Devorim)

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Rabbi Aaron L Raskin’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

Moshe blesses the Jewish people. He said, "May you multiply 1,000 times the amount." In other words, the Jewish people at that time were about 2 million people, men, women, and children. 1,000 times 2 million would be 2 billion. So, Moses blesses the Jewish people, you should be 2 billion people. And we, the Jewish people, are not happy. We tell Moshe Rabbeinu, "That's it? God blessed us, we should be numerous like the sand of the sea, like the stars of the sky, unlimited. And you give a limit to God's blessing?" Let's look in Rashi. Rashi number 11. Rashi says over there, "Why did it say again by you what it says him and he blessed him?" Kasha diba lachem. What does that mean? "And he blessed them as he has spoken of you." What is that and additional to the blessing of 1,000 times the amount? Says Rashi like this. They said to Moshe Rabbeinu, "Ata noise ain't kitsva l'virchaseinu. You're giving a limitation to our blessings. K'var iftiach b'rachos Avraham. God already promised Abraham. Asher im yuchal ish limnos, just like a man cannot count the sand of the earth, afar ha'aretz, so too the Jewish people will be so numerous that you cannot count us. Am I laying motion I mean no responded to the Jewish people. This blessing of 100,000 is my own blessing. But God's blessing is as he has spoken and that is you'll be unlimited. This is the conversation between motion and the Jewish people and the response motion gives them. Now, you don't have to be a rocket scientist. You don't have to be a mathematician. But we all know infinity is a lot more than 2 billion.

Jump to a moment

1. 0:00Moshe blesses the Jewish people. He said, "May you multiply 1,000 times the amount." In other…
2. 2:06This blessing of 100,000 is my own blessing. But God's blessing is as he has spoken…
3. 4:08infinite. So this is the Remez for the future. What is the Drush? The Gemara in…
4. 6:11It doesn't mean we're doing nothing. What it means is we're not doing as much as…
5. 8:16means you're not doing the will of God. Because you have to fulfill your potential. It's…
6. 10:17that's why teshuvah has the power to work retroactively and to fix the past. Even though…
7. 12:19right time, in the right place, this brings about a blessing of God, which is truly…
8. 14:21infinity and finity together. And when you unite both of these realities, infinity and finity, then…
9. 16:24the bread. I took the flour, and I took the water, and I kneaded the bread,…
10. 18:25On one hand, the month of Av represents destruction of the first temple and second temple.…

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