Divre Torah - Parsha Vaetchanan - JR-Project.org 2026

7/24/2026 Vaetchanan – Michael Dweck in Honor of My father Ezra Chalousi Dweck A”H Moshe A”H stands at the edge of the Land. He has led, begged, pleaded, suffered with the people for forty years, and now the one thing he wanted most — to enter Canaan — and is denied. He could have collapsed into bitterness, instead he chooses the opposite. Humility. He turns to the people with the Shema. “Hear, O Israel: H-shem is our G-d, H-shem is One. “Love G-d with all your might and Teach it.” The Shema does something crucial. It says: we are not defined by who sits in the front or by who’s more refined, more impressive. It’s medicine that binds us to a greater ethic, One for Israel and Israel for One! (Where do you think the musketeers got it from) don’t forget to take your meds before bed hu! Tisha B’Av is the day we mourn the destruction caused by baseless hatred — when people treated one another as less-than, when someone decided they were better, purer, holier, smarter. It was the everyday arrogance, the petty exclusions, the “not my kind” attitudes that becomes the disease. When people believe their ego is their authority, community dies. Moshe offers the cure. He doesn’t ask people to be identical. He asks them to be orientated — toward G-d, Torah, toward one another. He says: teach this, the Torah and Mitzvot! Make it a living thing that enters your surroundings your streets, homes, synagogues. Tisha Ba’Av teaches us what division does. Vaetchanan shows us how to rebuild by becoming one, this is what G-d gave Moshe to give to us. The work is to overpower your ego it’s not your amigo in this case, go forth and find a real amigo! The JR Project teaches discipline in humility. It helped me write this. When you train together, you learn to rely on someone you might normally dismiss. You learn that their strength is your strength. That's the Shema. The training teaches you what Moshe was trying to teach, I need you. We need each other. Imagine being there to lift one another up! ואהבת לרעך כמוך—Love your neighbor as yourself, not because they’re like you, but because you have committed to the Almighty’s Torah values. July 13, 2026 in Tomkins Square Park at a music festival antisemites burned an Israeli flag, yesterday a triple stabbing on the upper west side. Choose JR protect yourself and others. The JR Project is about building teams who trust one another. If you can, apply, join, or support these efforts to turn identity into capability. http://jr-project.org Finally, choose humility. Moshe’s legacy is not the bitterness; it’s the people he united. When we reach out to others, we transform grief into community, and community into protection. Shabbat Shalom.